Watch out for that COPPERHEAD!

Long Pine Pond to Gren Anderson Shelter 15 miles

We got up to a steamy pond and it was beautiful. There were frogs chirping and birds croaking and caterpillars shitting on the tent fly so that it sounded like rain; but, not to be confused with the actual rain that fell in the night. It was awesome. I love the rain in my hammock. The patter of the raindrops on my tent fly is soothing and hypnotic. I love falling asleep in therain while in a tent. I used to love sleeping in my jeep in the rain, down by the beach with the heater and the radio on. I miss ‘ole Lucille, my trusty four-wheeled friend. Anyweay, we got up and packed up and I had to go back around the lake to make sure I did all of the Appalachian Trail while the other guys went around the back of the pond. Much to my chagrin I found a note that Dad had decided to pull off of the trail because he lost feeling in his legs. Dad had a back injury a few weeks ago and he was feeling weird on the trail. When he started up he was worried he would get worse and get stranded way out in the bush so he decided to head on back to the ranch. I didn’t find out until a few hours later ‘cause I was hiking a few extra miles and I was about a half an hour back. While I was hiking I almost stepped on a Copperhead that was basking across the trail. I don’t know how I saw it, I was just about to step on the little bastard and he didn’t move at all. I was like, “WHOAH!” and I pulled back and took a few pictured than tried to get him off of the trail. Copperheads are supposed to be pretty aggressive so I was worried about lifting him with my stick but it looked like he might have just gotten a chipmunk for breakfast so he was pretty docile. I poked him a little and he finally went away into the brush. Needless to say I was a little nervous walking from then on and my eyes were glued to the trail. I met up with Cyclone and Rolex at the Brinks Road Shelter and then we moved on. We got to Culvers Gap and snuck down the road to Gyp’s tavern and got some burgers and pierogies and pizza and stuff. The folks were cool and then we sat there fro like 3 hours. The fellas were starting to talk about getting a motel and I had to put the Veto down. The next shelter was only 3 miles and I wanted to be able to get out of the town. I’m really sick of towns. “They are a trap,” Rolex says and he is right. The terrain here is really leave for the most part although it’s difficult to hike on the rocks with any confidence. You have to watch your step although you can still cruise. I packed up and decided to carry an extra 3 liters of water up to the shelter so we wouldn’t have to purify any when we got here. I left as they were filling their water so they couldn’t change their minds and get a hotel. I pulled in to the shelter a little more than an hour later and met Booger and her dog Buddy. Singer and Land Surfer. We ate dinner and I’m going to retire early. We have great internet service so I’m going to blog and post tonight.

David AKA “Mr. F'n Gentle Spirit”
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