TRAIL DAY 93

Mon, May 23, 2016 I was awake at 5:48 a.m. when I took a picture of Theo asleep in the dark.  By 6:15, I was having breakfast in my tent while sitting against my pack and sleeping pad as a cushioned chair.

Sitting like this would have been impossible in my Fly Creek UL2 with its contoured poles.  But the Zpacks tent used my trekking poles, one opposite the other, each holding up the same size vestibule with staked-out guys stretching the roof line taught.  It was a tight arrangement that worked to my advantage at meal times.

I got in the habit of completely emptying my backpack each night but for items mentioned below because I would need almost everything.  Every item had its place in the tent.  Leaving one vestibule closed, I would stand at the opposite and open one and pitch each item into the tent to its regular location:

Back right:    food (in summer; in fall and winter Theo’s quilt would go there and everything else went back left)
plastic garbage bag for wrappers
cooking gear

Front right:   Vestibule: Theo’s saddlebags and the water filter
Inside: Bear bag used flat for Theo’s food bowl

Back left:     sleeping bag
spare clothes
electronics bag
toiletries
water bottles if full; otherwise with water filter
headlamp

Front left:    relief bottle
crocks (pillow)
repair kit with GPS inside (near the pole)

Top of tent:   sleeping pad to self-inflate

The only thing left in the backpack would be my first aid stuff, which I seldom needed, my pack cover and rain gear, snacks in belt or side pouches and lunch bag in the top pouch unless I needed some item for supper.

My backpack would be nearly empty and very light.  I would grab it at the top and bottom so the internal frame and the straps were toward me and I’d swing it while standing at the near trekking pole support and fling it into the tent in a sometimes-successful effort to position the pack so the back was leaning up against the opposite trekking pole.

My sleeping pad would be self-inflating while I got water if I hadn’t already done so.  If I had, I’d simply blow up the pad.

Once inflated, I would fold the sleeping pad in halves top to bottom and slip one end under my pack, the crease near my knees as I did this and then I’d position the other end as a back rest against my pack leaving a double thickness, folded portion in the middle of the pad jutting out from the pack as a lovely seat to a very comfortable chair.

All of this to record my methods with gear and sitting up in the tent very comfortably.  And, yes, the trekking pole could hold me leaning against it with no problem, the guys were that tight and fixed forcing the poles into the ground and supporting each other with opposing tension.  From the be-crocked 6:15 a.m. picture, it appears I had discovered this sitting technique before arriving at the Tye River.

Once fed in easy-chair comfort, it was time to pack up and head for the Three Ridges Mountain.  Now, you would think the name would hold a clue.  Three.  Ridges.  Wouldn’t you think, “Ok, we’re going to climb up three ridges”?  First one.  Then the second.  And then the third.

Nope!

I just climbed and when there was a summit up ahead, I’d think, “Whew!  We’re almost there.”  And, we were almost there all right.  Almost at the place where you could look up to the next ridge.

Now, wouldn’t you think that by the time you got to ridge number two, you’d expect to see ridge number three?  Not this hiker!

I don’t think I even knew the name of the mountain I was on.  I rarely took full advantage of AWOL.  In town, I’d figure out how many days’ worth of food I’d need until the next stop, considering only the profile and the towns or hostels coming up.  I rarely read the names of the mountains.

And I should mention here, if I haven’t before, the profile can be misleading.  What looks like a small ascent on paper can be a challenge “in real life.”

The Three Ridges in the AWOL profile look like foothills followed by a long and fairly steep ascent to the summit of a fairly high mountain.  Underfoot, each was its own summit demanding significant effort.

And, of course, you do what you do on the trail.  You suck it up and keep on going.

The payoff was awesome.

It was another wettest-May day until God smiled on me once again.  At the summit of Three Ridges Mountain, I was blessed with a beautiful clear view under high clouds casting shadows on the bright green mountains.  You could see all three ridges off to the left and across the valley, you could see the long descent off The Priest summit.  The view into the valley the day before had been of terrain on the far side of the Three Ridges from where I was.

There was an outcropping of rock at the summit that invited a rest with a view out over the wide expanse of mountains and valleys.  I took the opportunity to call Bonnie and exclaim and I texted her a picture of what I was seeing right then.  We were together, however briefly, in that extraordinary moment.

Clouds were coming and going as were hikers.  I took pictures of some gal who backed up a little too close to the edge of the rock face for my comfort but she (and I) survived.  Some other hikers who came I recognized and they took pictures of Theo and me basking in beauty.

Soon after I hung up with Bonnie, a downpour started and I got out my rain gear to carry on just a little drier than I’d be without it.

The clouds passed and off came the rain gear.  Perhaps as I was doffing my duds, I decided to have a little fun.  I put my bandana on Theo and took his picture.  I think he was indignant at my antics.

I hiked on in sun over long straight paths through thin forests.  When I noted my phone was full of pictures, I got out my tablet and downloaded them to it via a bluetooth connection as I hiked on.  It took less than a month to max out my phone’s capacity.  The last offloading was under a picnic table soon after meeting Courageous.

Soon Theo and I came to the Humpback parking area.  I remember almost every step of the trail here: the cars parked; the angle of the trail along a field; the return to the woods.  In time a happy mistake would bring us to Humpback Mountain.

The trail soon emerged onto the BRP at mile 13.1 with a view of Three Ridges Mountain.  In the late-afternoon sun, we continued on back into the woods and eventually camped along the side of the trail in damp leaves smack up against a tree.  I have no particular recall of this “stealth” campsite but do remember setting up one of the vestibules around a tree.  It bothers me when there is a blank in my memory bank – perhaps there’ll be an aha moment but it doesn’t seem there’s a lot in pictures or notes to bring that on.  We’ll see.

Reviewing my AWOL notes for this day, I see: “skunk,” “bug,” Theo lost, T. spooked; Wood E/Trail (b/fast rain), glasses in tent.  Some of these were to remind me to remember an associated tale.  The “skunk” I already described – the night before Damascus, Virginia.  Theo lost, you know about.  T. spooked I’ve already described – Theo growling at his own eerie perceptions a few nights back.  The “bug” I have not mentioned.  It may have been this night at this site and may stir my memory of the place.  However, I was in the tent in half light at night with my headlamp on and I was moving the thin, cuben fiber bag my tent came in which I was using to hold some medicines and other odds and ends.  This stuff sack had a long, very thin black line to close the bag with a pinch clasp at the end.  The clasp was some distance from the bag and as I moved the bag, the clasp moved as well but I had not associated the clasp with the bag at that moment and, as it moved, my brain told me there is a monstrous bug in the tent!  As with the skunk and a shadow sometime later, you feel like such a fool when harmless reality sets in.

It’s not that I lived in a constant state of catastrophic anticipation or fear but, at some level, you were ready to be surprised.  I suppose the same thing would happen at home if the circumstances were right.  Relieved you kinda do a soft “gotcha” to yourself and carry on with the next chore.

I don’t recall what “Wood E/Trail” was about but the glasses in tent will come out soon.

If I ate in the tent, I had to get out of my own way to lay out my chair-pad as a mattress.  If I was using my headlamp, I would have the vestibule screen closed to keep the real bugs out.  Once I converted the chair-pad for sleeping, I’d get my sleeping bag out of its thick plastic bag protecting it from moisture and spread it out.  I’d then strip for bed to whatever was comfortable which was a lot less than in the deep south.  Then, I would use J&J powder which I called a shower in a bottle.  If some spilled on the sleeping bag, big deal!  It was super!  Instant unsticky comfort all over.

I brushed my teeth and used the well-rinsed-out relief bottle for my sink and then a urinal.  I fixed my crocks as my pillow and settled in for what a super night’s sleep with plenty of cool ventilation at elevation.  Can you beat it?  Farther north, I began feeling claustrophobic in a motel rooms.  The managed ventilation was stifling.

VOILA!

It came back!

I DO remember this camp site.  It was off to the right side of the trail about 20′-30′ and there was a log about 20′ beyond the tent where I cooked my food.  My confusion about the site came from my assumption that the photos of the tent at a distance were taken from the trail when, in fact, they were taken from the opposite side where I had supper – farther into the woods, away from the trail.  I remember the site well – so glad.

Day #93   Tye River > Stealth Camp at mile 845 13.3 miles