TRAIL DAY 48
Fri, Apr 8, 2016 Morning. Snow. Cold. How do I explain the value in waking to a tent wall caved in by the weight of white? I’ve said before that I love little things. There’s something special about being in a small space created by thin fabric you transport on your back and expand to accommodate you, your meager belongings and your dog. There you sleep in comfort and consume what you need for the day’s journey ahead in the white world caving in your portable home.
Other needs were met in this little space as well. Forgive any indelicacy here but it has to be mentioned sometime. And forgive me ladies I wish I could invent a way for you, too. I’m not sure I’d undertake the trials of the trail with an aging, low-capacity bladder if I did not have a collapsible, wide-mouthed bottle to function as my urinal. When I started out in training on The Long Trail in Vermont, I used one of my water bottles but shopping brought me to the one I used on the AT. I never leave my sleeping bag, much less my tent. Let it snow, let it rain, thunder, or howl. In the morning, empty, rinse well, collapse, pack and carry. When empty, I have used this bottle to expectorate after brushing when I didn’t want to venture outside after supper.
I will add one last point, when my urinal was full on a cold, cold night, guess what, it kept me warm. I’ll note, too, that I read somewhere that, when it’s cold, you should be sure to urinate before bed so your core energy can go to heating your body instead of liquid waste.
O.K., nuf-a-dat.
I had hung the apple bag of water on a branch outside the tent. It was frozen on top. Emptied, packed, pictured Theo and the dry footprint of our tent and moved on into the snow-dusted forest. It was still cold but clear. A good hiking day. The high winds we had experienced in the driving snows at the top of the bald had been strong enough to blow trees down across the trail.
I took pictures of streams, flowers, moss, leaves and trees, often impressed with the grandeur and majesty of the tall sentinels stretching skyward as if in homage.
There was a long, open descent where the trees didn’t shut you in so much and there was an occasional clearing. It was on one of these that I met “Breezy” coming in the opposite direction. We both stopped and chatted a bit. She was a cute, perky SOBO who was very positive about what lay ahead of me going north. I must have told her that I planned to write about my experience because she was so affirming, saying that I would surely inspire many. I hoped she was right. She was genuinely excited for me and the experiences I would have in the days and months ahead.
I asked if I could take her picture and she said, “Let’s do a selfie.” If I ever locate her through some Appalachian Trail organization, I’ll send her one. She gave me a real boost.
By 5:00 p.m., we’d arrived at the No Business Knob Shelter at 3171′. Others were already in residence: Happy, Magic-Man, “Portugese,” “Purple Haze,” and “B-Hiker.” Portugese was also at Bald Mountain Shelter where he befriended Theo. There’d be more on all these hikers later.
As always happened, when Theo got his pack off, he rolled in whatever was around: dust, dirt, leaves, rocks, anything to stimulate the skin and muscles of the back and be rid of the pack feel. His favorite place to roll and twist was on a rough hill. Here he got double action because, as he moved back and forth, he also slid down the hill getting double action.
As for me and my pack. I felt more comfortable with it on than I did with it off. It fit. It even seemed easier to climb a mountain with my pack than without it. Go figure.
Magic-Man whom I got to know over supper at the table in front of the shelter deserves a little extra treatment. His metabolism was so high that he if ate a chocolate bar, he’d have a zit in an hour. He ate 4 suppers! His furnace ran super hot and so did his brain. His interests were physics, math, astrophysics and independent research on string theory. He was probably two steps away from the singularity. I saw him one more time probably after he took a week off the trail while I kept moving.
A typical night at a shelter. Love up on Theo. Stay warm. Eat. Nighttime hygiene and turn in. Wide mouth even in a shelter. No one was ever the wiser.
Day #48 Bald Mountain Shelter > No Business Knob Shelter 10.6 miles