May 11th: Cove Mountain Shelter

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Hit the trail at 7:30AM today trying to beat the heat that is giving CC such a
hard time. As seems normal now it was up hill right out of the shelter. Over
Floyd Mtn (3,560') then a long down hill to the Bryant Ridge Shelter (1,320') a
brisk four mile walk, three of which were down hill.
This shelter warrants a brief description. It is a sort of backwoods condo.
The entire frame is done in post and beam, mortised joints held with wood dowels
not nails. The joinery was pure craftsmanship! There are three levels with an L
shaped veranda. I took a bunch of pictures and Matt can post them when they get
to him. It sits on a small promontory with a small stream doing a U around the
structure some 10' lower down. The nearest road of any kind is over 3/4 mile
away and some of the bigger 8"x8"x25' beams had to be bears to bring in. We
stopped here for lunch and gear adjustment.
Departing this fine structure more down hill to Hamps Branch (1,250') then of
course back up the mountain topping Fork Mtn at 2,040' just a mile and a half
from the shelter. The temp here was just hitting 80 degrees and CC was
struggling again. Some of these trail sections are 45 degrees plus for a quarter
mile or more. With a pack on your back and the heat, things can get slow. After
topping Fork Mtn it was down to Jennings Creek at 950'. Temp was neat 85 now and
the creek/river called us. We did not go swimming as the water was just a bit
too cold, however we did soak our feet and rinse out a few clothes items that are a bit gamey. We also had to "Camel Up" here. That is a trail term for take on as much water as you can, the next bit is dry.
Our plan called for us to make the Cove Mtn shelter today. Only problem is
there is no water there. I filled both our drinking bags plus five liters of
water for dinner, breakfast and to fill our bags tomorrow. The next water after
this shelter is six miles down the trail. We made the shelter at 4PM, an hour
and a half to walk three miles and go up 1,025'!
We are the only ones here. I expected this due to the water situation. It will
be a quiet night :-) Dinner is done and I'm sitting here at a picnic table
banging away on this little keyboard. CC is in the tent resting. A squirrel has
been running through the dry leaves near the tent making a ruckus. There was a
sharp, loud whistle, looking over I saw a hawk with rodent in claws lifting back
skyward.
The trail was busy early this morning with northbounders. 357 Magnum (he
started on 3/5 7AM, and wife will meet him in ME with a magnum of champagne),
Walking Cowboy, Rodeo Clown, Trash Bag, Stone Age, Triple Duce, Backyard Boogie.
BB heard us talking to Triple Duce and as we headed down the hill towards him he
boomed out. "OD you best have those WIDE LOAD signs on." I have been hearing
about BB for about two weeks now, he said he had been hearing the stories of a
southbound wide load for a couple of weeks also. Trail Telegraph works well. He
is also an over the road trucker on vacation. We chatted for a bit and headed
off down the hill again. Meeting Toe Socks 1&2 and Whistler. The Toe Socks are
homeless retired folks. They said he had retired recently, they sold their home,
put everything in storage and hit the AT three months ago. Both of them are 62
years old. The trail is full of stories.
Tomorrow we will try to get to Wilson Creek Shelter, 13.7 miles south of here.
Today was our 18th straight day walking since Thorton Gap and our 29th total
day. We have completed 269.6 miles and at an average pace of 2,100 steps per
mile. We have taken roughly 566,160 steps.

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

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