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June
7, 1983 Tuesday (1757.2 mtg) From
Gonzo!s Appalachian Trail journal
Fried
up our pound of pork sausage this morning for breakfast. For some
reason Jim began to come down with a slight case of diahrea, the
"trail trots," the "Hershey squirts," or other
quaint names that hikers have for that dreaded illness. The
trail presented itself a little better this morning, however our
progress was slow. I had no water at all from breakfast time up
until lunch time at Moreland Gap shelter. I think it was because
I was leary about getting water in this area since most of it was
in lower country with water in streams that the guide recommended
be purified. No really good springs. Sometimes cattle country. Upon
reaching the shelter I tanked up on water, and filled the waterbottle
for the afternoon. Some of the other hikers that had stayed with
us at the shelter last night arrived at Moreland Gap shelter and
began having their lunch just as we neared finishing ours. In situations
like this, it pays to get on the ball. It will most likely be a
race to the shelter for the night. Even though most hikers carry
a tent, as we did, no one really wants to have to set it up, and
particularly take it down and pack it up the next morning if it
happened to rain that night. Jim and I pushed on before the rest
had finished their lunch, and just as Bill Wiggins arrived and reported
that he had lost his glasses. Our goal for the night was Laurel
Fork Shelter. I wanted to get there to take pictures of the nearby
Laurel Falls and also to insure that we would have a space in the
shelter. The trail descends into Laurel Gorge and passes directly
beside the falls before continuing on for another half of a mile
to the shelter. We viewed the falls, but rushed on to secure our
spot in the shelter intending to return for pictures later. At the
shelter I threw off my pack, grabbed my camera, and headed back
to the falls for pictures. I got all set up to shoot a few shots
and discovered that the battery had gone dead! Went back to the
shelter to get extra batteries, like an idiot, not remembering that
they were stored on the camera strap that I had with me the whole
time.
There was evidence of inhabitants at the shelter already when we
had arrived. We met them when we backtracked to take pictures of
the falls. Apparently there was more than one way to get to the
falls. There was Wade, Bobby, and Rich, and three others (two of
whom were from Switzerland). Wade and Bobby were just out of high
school and were probably locals from somewhere nearby. While reading
the shelter register, I read about the shelter's other resident,
a large rat that supposedly came out at night. So far I had not
seen anything like that at a shelter although I had read about rats
at shelters in the Smokies. This shelter was close enough to the
road and in a popular spot that could draw enough people who were
not environmentally conscience enough to take care of their trash.
This could support at least one rat I suppose. Going about our business,
we cooked up some pancakes, and enjoyed two cans of chunky beef
stew, and a couple of peaches that were donated by Bobby. Not wanting
to have any rat coming into the shelter after the cans left over
from the stew, I tossed them out a few yards in front of the shelter
so as not to draw the animals inside. During the night we heard
something playing around with the cans, but never figured out what
it was. I was visited and annoyed during the night by ants crawling
over me now and then - I killed a few.
Gonzo!
Appalachian Trail Journals ©1983
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