I smell clean people.

Day 84 - 7/10/10
Started out around 8:15, another later one. I hit some trail magic
less then a mile in, a cooler full of cokes, peaches, plums, and
cookies. I ate a plum there, stashed a coke for later, then carried on
up the trail. A little after that a torrential rainstorm hit and I got
poured on. I think it may have been equal to or greater then any
rainstorm I've been caught in so far. But because of the horrendous
heat wave this was a welcome sight. When it was really pouring it was
tough, my shorts, shoes, backpack, etc. were all drenched, but after
it slowed down my body heat dried me out a lot and I was comfortable
again, moreso than I've been in days. About halfway to the first
shelter I passed a couple of dayhikers, and this may sound pathetic
but I've started looking forward to the moment I walk by these people
just so I can catch a whiff of their clean laundry smell. These two
didn't disappoint.

I didn't break until I got to that first shelter, Morgan Stewart, and
had a big lunch there with Trashman and Ohibro. Had my coke with some
mashed potatoes and then a couple of PB flatbreads. Ended up staying a
while, not leaving until 1:45. The 7.8 mile stretch to the next
shelter went by fast, and I made it in before 5. Stayed there for a
bit, snacking and whatnot, then left maybe 20 minutes later. It was
only 3 more miles to where I planned on staying, so I was well on
schedule.

Unfortunately those last 3 were the worst of the day for me. Several
reasons. One, I had a bad fall about 10 minutes out of the shelter.
Probably my worst yet. Slipped on some wet rock and scraped up my left
knee and ankle bad. My knee was the worst, the pain is rough. Feels
badly bruised, something I think I'll be feeling for several days. On
top of that I seemed to be suddenly swarmed by deer flies, and they
wouldn't stop pestering me that whole stretch. They really sting you
when they bite, so I was slapping myself silly trying to get rid of
the stupid things. I swatted and killed at least 30 of them. It was
insane. One thing that did help through that stretch was some music I
had recorded onto my voice recorder. I don't know why this is, but for
some reason Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" is an ultra enjoyable
song to hike to. I listened to it at least 3 times in those 3 miles.
So having that saved me from total misery.

Made it to NY 22 where there's a garden shop on the road that let's
hikers camp out at. At first I didn't know where to go, so I wandered
across the street and up this long driveway because there were so many
cars up there I thought it might be an extention of the garden. Turns
out it was a private residence, and the cars were all there because a
couple was celebrating their 50th anniversary! Whoops! They were very
nice to me though, and even offered to let me stay there in the barn
and join in on their festivities with food and all. I declined because
I felt like I was intruding, but they did give me a coke for the road.
I walked back to the shop and figured out where to go, finding
Trashman and Ohibro already camped out.

The Crusher and Ichabod showed up after me and told us about some guy
parked by the store that had trail magic. So us three walked over,
Trash and Oh were already cooking dinner, and we met the guy, trail
name of Paddy-O. Really cool dude who hooked us up with mini calzones,
chips, iced tea, beer, and his own rendition of an Irish Car Bomb that
he called a Hiker Bomb. That was intense, but good! We hung with him
for a long while, he had a radio playing and LOVED talking about
music, good old music only though, like from the 50's-70's. So we had
a lot of fun with him and a great bit of trail magic to end the day
with.

It's late now, so I'm heading to bed. My knee still hurts, I hope it
feels better by morning. Anyway, goodnight all.

Total miles: 1438.4