Day Fifteen

Day 15

The first thing I do when I get to the shelter is pull off my socks and boots and put on these crocs I bought at Neels Gap. Last night I was going to go to the privy, pull off this sports bra and rub my shoulders with Aspercreme. Thank Jean! Between that bra turning my chest into a uniboob and my pack’s weight, my shoulders have felt pretty sore.

Yesterday morning Zig Foot left his sleeping mattress on the table, so I shoved it in my pack. I knew he would be in the next shelter. I saw a knife laying there as well, and I thought “There’s no way I can catch those young guys” so I left it. Zig was so happy to see me at the next shelter. He told me he’d fetch my water, anything I wanted. He even invited me to dinner in Franklin. Zig is 68 and he has a foot and a half long white beard. He wears a hat with a flap in the front and a flap in the back. He just promised not to give me any more trouble about my snoring.

The infamous Zig Foot

When I got to the shelter, he pointed up to the beam in the Standing Indian Shelter. There, written in charcoal, were the words ‘Zig Foot’ with an arrow pointing to his knife stuck in the beam. We hikers have to help each other.
I sat by the fire with Pyro and J2 drinking my coffee and visiting with them. J2 is Joseph the second. He’s 19 and headed to Maine. I think he’s gonna make it too, because he’s doing 15-20 miles a day. He’s going back to school in the fall to be an accountant. I told him my nephew, Tim, is an accountant for IBM, but he still needs glasses and a pocket protector. J2 already looks like an accountant. He’s skinny with glasses and his ball cap is red and too big for his head.

Wrigley decided to stay here tonight. It started raining right after I got here and neither he nor J2 want to hike in the rain. Bob is here too. He got here in about 2 ½ hours. He says it’s because of his knee, but I suspect that he’s looking out for me. He told me that after Franklin, he’s going to try to catch up to Adam and Jeff. That’s where I’m gonna meet Amy & Jeff, my niece and nephew.

It was a pretty easy day, just 5 miles. I took a bunch of pictures and only had to climb 2500 feet. It got really cold and now it’s raining like crazy. I’m having another cup of coffee.

I am snuggled down in my sleeping bag because it got seriously cold and the rain is still coming down. It is only 5:00 p.m. I am staying put for the night. The rain slowed down so we all went out to hang our food. Most shelters have bear cables but this one didn’t. It was really cool the way we all worked together to throw our ropes over the branch and then find another tree to tie it to. I love this stuff!

I forgot to mention that I walked by the camp with the two military men and asked directions to the trail. They were nice. I’d met them the night before. They pointed me toward the trail and I was following it back the way I’d come when Josh yelled, “Tripper, Tripper, you’re going the wrong way!” He remembered that I was going north and actually led me back and on the right trail. Bless his heart, and Happy Trails to Josh and his buddy.  They were headed south.