Day 3 - CrocaDilly's thoughts

13 July, Day 3 trail version 2.0, 12.4 miles, Mashipacong Shelter. Crocadillypig What a day! Thoroughly thoroughly enjoyed myself and really pushed myself to the limit! In the morning we sort of hiked altogether and were looking forward to a swim in a lake which eluded us so we carried on regardless! I have never smelled so bad or been so dirty and i was gutted to have missed the lake especially as we could see it from the trail and hear peals of laughter but I am truly at home on this adventure! I have 34 lbs on my back and that's all I need right now in terms of worldly possessions and  for the most part thats all the weight mentally and physically i am feeling! I feel great and life is good. Life is measured in half hour increments as that is roughly what we take to hike a mile give or take - am hoping to quickly shave off the time - I like to give myself small goals and I am wearing a watch! The terrain is quite rocky and tough going but plugging along - in times where I find I am hiking by myself I like to croc hop - jump from rock to rock as fast as I can without touching the floor camp carona pirate style for those who know what that is! I also have a new game of how many times can I stub my right toe which is now quite painful and whose toenail is probably not long for this world lol! We had a little interlude in a small trail town as the trail hit the main road. We were going to go to a place called joes to go but he told papa wolf rather unpleasantly three times that he would not provide water for the furry boys so we took our business en mass to a lovely little tavern down the road called gyps.diet coke has never tasted so good and we had a lovely view of a lake too so we hung out there for half an hour or so. Then off we set again! Just as we set off papa wolf and I bumped into a former thru hiker called snores who gave us some trail magic! Pepsi and mountain dew! Two sodas within two hrs awesome! Second stage of the day I was by myself and determined to beat the half an hour mile and with five miles ish to go I had a time set to beat - I did and enjoyed every second! Lots of croc jumping and pretty scenery and some awesome rock formations! I did 25 mins to a mile and was super pleased! My shin will probably tell you otherwise but we will push on through together! I am loving it! I hoovered down my dinner and was so excited and happy could not go to sleep so read some news and listened to the rain - such a fab noise on the tent! It has to be one of my all time favourite noises since childhood ! Oh how could I miss my first encounter with a rattle snake! We are hiking along a trail with a bunch of boys from a summer camp behind us who were among the troops at the camp last night when mojo decided it would be a good idea to severely annoy a rattle snake! All I could hear was the rattle and him looking perplexed at it - papa wolf and I screamed at him to come back which he did but the snake was not happy! Throwing stones and sticks did not help so we were forced to circumnavigate said snake. I tried not to think of the irony of leaving the trail to step through vegetation which probably contained a multitude of critters - needless to say I moved fast especially as I had a bunch of fifteen boys behind me and didn't want to look like a total loser! There was some significant croc jumping though whilst holding onto one of the dogs!