Appalachian Trail Day 73 – Denton Shelter – Rod Hollow Shelter

Appalachian Trail Day 73

Day 73, 05-11-01

18.9 miles, AT  –  963.8

Denton Shelter – Rod Hollow Shelter

7:20 AM 6:00 PM,  80s

I awoke in another funk today.  I haven’t been very talkative in the early AM.  I’m sleeping well but I think the one day off since the start of Virginia is getting to me.  Im really looking forward to my Day off on Monday.

Today was a good day.  Nice trail, woods, and lots of birds singing.  I ran into a pair of bird watchers.  They were looking for a Kentucky Warbler.

Dicks Dome Shelter was a dive.  Nice location but the shelter itself was falling apart.

At Ashby Gap we met a trail maintainer who offered us a ride to the store and the diner down the road.  At the store there was a Rottweiler, who was 140 lbs.  He was huge!  And his name — Bo!  Poor guy had bad hips too.  He was a big baby.  I enjoyed patting him and talking to him.  We left there and went to the diner.  I had a burger, fries, and a coke.  After the diner, it was back to the store for a pint of ice cream.  Ben & Jerrys Half Baked, Cookie Dough and Fudge Brownie mix.  So good.

Once back to the trail, Surefoot showed up.  He and I hiked the next 3.5 miles to the shelter.  I bathed and relaxed until now and soon it’s off to bed.

No new birds or deer.  I did see a couple of rabbits though.

Scatman 2011-  The store I speak of was also a taxidermy shop.  Interesting mix but all I cared about was the ice cream.  The trail maintainer talked to me about Lance Armstrong and the up coming Tour De France.  Between seeing a dog named Bo (my formed breed and dogs name) and talking shop about cycling I missed my life at home a bit.  Luckily I was having the time of my life and didn’t give it much thought at the time.

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Scatman

Get out there!