7-8-12
AT miles hiked today: 10.4
Total AT miles hiked: 699.9 ooh, so close to 700....
Last night I heard a noise that woke me up. Rockin' Robin was making pshhht noises and looking down the ladder into the garage, right where I had left my backpack unwisely on the floor. We hadn't closed the garage door and a skunk was digging into my backpack. Luckily Robin's noises scared it away and it didn't spray in fear. This morning I found the ziploc bag where I keep my first aid ointments dragged into the corner of the garage with holes chewed through it, but only the neosporin tube was chewed into. Weird. Who would have thought that skunks like triple antibiotic ointment? I need to buy more I guess, now that it's contaminated.
We did a southbound slackpack hike today, which is always fun because you cross paths with all your friends who are heading north. The slackpack was short and we split the Runaway Train temporarily in order to do it. Rockin' Robin and Toe Knee hiked northbound with full packs and Eagle Eye and I took the shuttle to hike southbound so she could get to the store and Post Office to mail a present. Since we were going to the Post Office anyway, I shipped home my Macabi skirt. I have only been using it for bug blocking for weeks now, and I also wear it while doing laundry. It's been too hot to hike in it since Virginia, but I still love it. I'm kind of having separation anxiety, but it weighed 11 ounces! That's almost a pound I was carrying that I didn't use enough. Now that I have my bug suit, the skirt really is extra weight. I will miss you, green skirt. I'm glad I sent it home instead of giving it away.
We knew we would cross paths with Rockin' Robin and Toe Knee today so we set up a little game. We each guessed exactly where we would meet each other and wrote it down. The closest guess wins. Rockin' Robin won by being very close (just South of The Cobbles). We don't know what she won, but she won it!
I'm sore from my falls and long day yesterday, and I'm very happy to be back at the Birdcage again tonight. We went to Walmart and I got a Subway and a blue raspberry slushie All of it was great, but that slushie was so good I'm drooling as I remember it. It was a really fun day and then at the end of the evening Rob got out his guitar and played and sang for us. We even did some sing-along songs where I got to sing harmony. What a perfect ending for a perfectly lovely day.
Whoop and Resource did the 23 mile Mount Greylock slackpack and also came back again tonight, and Magpie, Flint and Byline (?) got the 10 miles to Cheshire and then decided they'd rather spend the night again at the Birdcage, so they called Rob and he brought them back. So we all hung out again and I enjoyed myself immensely. I'm so glad we did this like this, but we have to fly away from the Birdcage tomorrow morning and continue our hike and rejoin our train! They planned to be three miles ahead of us tonight and we need to catch them over Mt Greylock tomorrow. Everybody is making a big deal about this mountain. Is it really that scary?