18 July 2012

18 July, By Crocadilly Day 8 Back on the trail! 5miles hiked and currently camped out at Wawayanda Shelter riding out a storm at 1600 hrs! Cannot believe we have been on the trail a week already! I feel so at home out here it's like I have been here for months! We have had a rather chilled last few days which has been great but I am ready to leave town and i think my stomach is too! Too much good food and fizzy drinks! I am surprised I haven't suffered from caffeine withdrawal since I have only had one cup of slightly rancid coffee since we left and that was yesterday - I normally chug a good few cups a day! We have got some instant coffee now so look forward to some of that! I am considering going dry on the alcohol front  for the whole time we are out here as I don't miss it at all or the tv for that matter - I never do! but I bet I change my mind when we hit Scotts friends place at the weekend! So we said goodbye to Tailbone this morning which was sad but am looking forward to having her back on the trail with good feet! It was lovely to see Marti again and also good to get a ride to the trail head so we didn't have to negotiate the death road with the dogs again - it's about a two mile hike back along a major road with barely any shoulder and the kinds of blind corners that people like to cut!  I wanted to push for a 18mile day today - was debating over it especially as the first mile and a half was straight up a massive mountain...  we have until Friday to get to our next stop which is only 28 or so miles away. Today the first shelter is at five miles and the next one is a further 13 mile ahead after that and we only started gone 11am and there is certainly no point pushing my shin for no reason!! So I wrestled with what we should do the whole mile and a half up the mountain.Made it to the top in good time which I was pleased about!  I listened to music for the first time - I normally have the soft drone of an insect to keep me company and my own thoughts Which I like but felt like I needed an extra push up the hill!  Things were going amazingly- I was In a great stride and considering pushing on when a mighty storm passed through soaking us to the core and deafening us with it's thunderous claps which all felt a little bit too close for comfort! Both lightning and thunder at points were incredibly close and frightened me half to death!! The boys were a little spooked but did amazingly well and actually after a while seemed to settle with it all! To say the weather made me move fast is an understatement and the next few miles flew by in a blur of rain and leaves as we practically ran down the paths! I am not sure why i bothered running as by this point everything was soaked to the core! It was great fun though! We made it to shelter where we are still camped out.Tomorrow will be a thirteen mile day on fairly flat terrain! The boys are slowly drying off and after a peanut butter and honey sandwich I managed to peel the wet layers off and am now hunkered down on my bed! We are sharing the shelter with a lovely gentleman by the name of funny bone - he is great and an orthopedic surgeon so how handy is that! Enjoying spending time with him and he is yet another new face on the trail! Again i have been told to be careful with the shin so will take his advice on board. I love being out in storms like this! Despite being ridiculously close to the storm and wet through hiking in the rain is fun! I must admit to hanging onto grim death the cork part of my hiking poles and thinking about the rubber soles of my shoes should I get struck by lightening! I was also thinking about all the time I spent washing the clothes I am wearing yesterday and how I carefully dried them in the sun! What a pointless task that was lol! Should have just left my self to stink! Hahaha! The rain is welcome as it is breaking this hot  patch we have been hiking thru and the news from new York is that a lot of the water sources (not that there seems to be that many to begin with) are all but dry and earlier hikers are reliant on trail fairies for water. So let it rain and let the streams start to run! Thirty pack was at the shelter when we arrived and was just about to leave when out of nowhere the biggest clap of thunder I have ever heard erupted and everything went bright white for a second! Glad he hadn't left yet as he probably would now be resembling a rather overcooked kebab! He did finally manage to leave and there have been no horrid smells of burnt hiker so we assume he got back on the trail okay and met up with everyone else who was ahead of us! No idea where anyone else might be but imagine most must be quite wet by now!  So it's me, two very wet smelly dogs, Papa wolf and Funny Bone hanging out at the shelter as I type. It's so dark and humid I feel ready for bed - time to crack open the trail coffee I guess!!