May 20th: Willing and Able

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35 days walking in total, 359.9 miles completed @ an average of 10.28 miles per
day. We have broken into the 10+ mile per day average bracket and feeling great
about it!
Got out of the camp at 8:30AM. A little later than I had wanted, but we had a
nice hot breakfast with hot beverages afterwards. 1,120' was the mornings climb
up Kelly Knob and to White Rock @ 3,800'. CC twisted her right knee yesterday so
we wrapped it with an Ace bandage this morning. She is dressed like yesterday
with most of what she has for clothing on. We are quite the pair to see in the
mornings. She is dressed for a cool New York spring day, I am in shorts and a
sleeveless T-shirt and sweating profusely within the first half mile. We took it
easy today nursing CC's knee and not moving as fast as we normally do. We bounced
along the ridge for three miles then dropped down to Johns Creek at 2,080'. The
low ground went on for almost a mile before heading back up to War Branch
(Branch - southern term for stream) @ 2,335' near the War Branch Shelter 5.8
miles from last nights camp. We caught up to "Shoebite" who had stayed at the
same shelter as us. She had been a nurse in Alaska and we knew a lot of the same places which made for great story telling. We still wanted to cover more ground as CC's knee was feeling better and the day had warmed nicely to the high 70s with little wind. Shoebite is a local section hiker and knew the trail ahead well. She was going to a remote campsite another couple miles south. We had to Camel Up and carry the water for supper and
tomorrows breakfast. Loaded 1.5 gallons into the water bags and headed up the
mountain. 2.5 miles and about 1,700' in climbing we topped Lone Pine Peak @
4,054'. About a mile more and Shoebite dropped off at her campsite.
There was a man there already, tent up and water containers filled from a very
slowly dripping spring pipe. We had been told the water at the sight was almost
nonexistent, which was true. Not sure how long he had been there, but it had to
be hours to get all the water he had. Turns out it was "Willing" of Willing and
Able. They were walking north with "The Bag Lady" who lives near Rochester, NY.
We have been waiting to meet her ever since Micki our daughter told us about
her. Micki had sent The Bag Lady an Email telling her about us and trying to
figure out where and when we would meet. Last time we were in town Micki had
told us TBL had gone off the trail to do her daughters wedding in CA. When I
broke into a big smile and said I knew of Willing and Able and TBL, he was
flabbergasted. He and Able had just got back on the trail from a couple of zero
days at Damascus and Trail Days. A friend had provided the transportation back
and forth. He also said TBL had just returned to the trail and was about two weeks south of us. Looks like we should meet her within the next week or so.
After a quick chat, CC and I continued on to Wind Rock, and our dry camp. We
ended up doing 10.7 miles, very good for us considering CC's knee. It was doing
much better by the end of the day. The temp is dropping, supper is done, food
bags hung out of bear reach and we are in the tent. It is just after 9PM and
time for lights out and Taps, well at least lights out. There was just the
strangest sounding bird outside the tent. Its song went from a somewhat normal
call to something very near to an old pinball machine from the 60s. Such is life
on the trail.

Patrick, Deborah Mooney aka OD & CC
All Who Wander Are Not Lost

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