TRAIL DAY 71
Sun, May 1, 2016 It was still raining when we awoke on May 1st. In crowded, rain-soaked quarters, waking is more of a communal than an individual event. But don’t imagine vigorous chatter. It is a quiet time, each attending to his/her personal needs: dressing (always modest, usually in the bag), collecting and organizing gear, preparing and consuming breakfast and then off.
Minute-Man and his grandfather, Bill, were there. Bill had returned to the trail for a stretch (I don’t think finishing was in the cards for him). They had slept in a tent as many had. It was a quick, “Hello” and on into the rain-drenched world of woods and swollen rivers. It was an uuuup-level-down-uuup-blip-down-uup-ripple-down-up-blip-bed kinda day. Wet, wet morning and a sun’s-out! afternoon and evening.
I called my oldest, Soren, on this day just to chat. He said, “Dad, just FYI, today’s Hollie’s birthday.” Hollie’s my niece. She is visiting from South Carolina as I write.
“Is today May 1st?” I asked sounding clueless.
“Oh, I can’t wait till I don’t know,” he said, mindful of his very busy schedule.
After reviewing photos, I was just about to write “I don’t recall anything specific about this particular campsite” and then – puff! – there it was – complete memory!
I had been hiking along and, as I did at the first shelter north of Damascus, I opted to hike northbound instead of to a shelter (0.3E) off the trial.
So we moved forward until we came to a small rise off to the west. Theo and I headed up the hill and found a leafy level spot for a comfortable, peaceful night.
We did the usual camp-setup-eat-and-bed routine. I must have had sufficient water because there was none here.
I was pleased with our choice and the extra distance northbound.
Day #71 Jenkins Shelter > Hill past Helveys Mill Shelter 13.7 miles