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Jerry’s Cabin to Hog Back Shelter GPS: 16 miles

The knot I tied in the ridgeline held up last night; but I’m really worried it won’t work and I’ll have to sleep in shelters with no pad or worse, have to sleep in the tent on the ground or something. I have an extra one at home so I’m going to ask dad to mail it to me when we get into the next town.

I dropped the bear bags and got out my breakfast: more breakfast bars; yuck! Cocoa Puffs and Cinnamon Toast Crunch. I got them because I thought I would like the sweetness and they have real milk in them; but I’m so sick of these things. We got off to another slow start; Brotherproof Crew didn’t get out of there until 10AM. We only had 13.9 miles to do today though. We’re trying to make it to Ewing TN by Friday afternoon. We really want to see Indiana Jones haha! We also need to re-supply by then. We’ve been carrying a lot of food and I can feel every ounce of it. I’ve been hiking in the back lately. The first couple of weeks I went out front but I think Cyclone was getting pissed at me and he wanted to hike faster up the hills than I did; so he started taking the lead. I like to take my time doing a hill and work up to a steady speed. He likes to charge the hills. I’m carrying too much weight for that. When we came out of Hot Springs I weighed myself with my pack and together I’m at 247 pounds. I have to drag all that weight up every hill and I just can’t charge up. Although our packs weight similar weights, he’s a lot lighter than I am. His is pack is a little lighter than mine but he’s only about 200lbs “on the hoof.” Rolex is in great shape and never complains when he’s hurting. He could do 30 mile days I think, if his head was in it; but, it’s not. We both go too slow for him I think. That’s why we call him Rolex.

We took a break at Flint Mountain Shelter and I was dying to hit the privy. A Marine came up and we talked a bit. “Superman” has been on the trail two weeks and he’s come 300 miles. He’s cruising faster than anyone I’ve seen yet. He was an enlisted Marine and he just got his commission. He’ll probably make it to the finish before he has to be at his next duty station. Semper Fi baby! I sure couldn’t keep up with him; although, he is carrying a 25 pound pack. Sometimes I wish I didn’t have this camera or guitar or all the other junk; but, it’s worth it to be able to document it and of course to be able to play tunes out here.

We took some breaks at some waterfalls and rinsed our faces. The hills were long today and we made it in early and ate twice our daily dinner ration. We’re thinking we’ll probably get in a day early so why carry all the food? Let’s eat it! We met some people, sat around the fire and then, as everyone was going to bed, I pulled out the computer to blog. We’ve got a long one tomorrow and I’m not looking forward to it. As I type, the bugs are trying to eat me alive. I’ll see you guys later. We have some YouTube stuff up so check it out!!

David AKA “Jukebox”

Website:
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