Appalachian Trail SOBO Day 39 – That mysterious SOBO hiker
3rd September 2023
Clarendon Shelter (505.9) - Peru Peak Shelter (529.2)
Daily miles: 23.3
Total miles: 536.1
My friends arrived! They arrived in the dark hiking by headlamp, May Queen and Cal arrived around 8pm and Toe arrived about 20 minutes later and they sat outside making their food. There’s a big difference between us and that’s if I had got there after dark I wouldn’t have bothered to eat anything.
We all settled into the shelter and I didn’t need my ear plugs for this one because the sound of the river was enough white noise although there were a lots of pine cones falling on the shelter roof.
I got up and packed up in my usual half an hour and left the others using their stoves to make breakfast. My breakfast was, as always, a bar on the go.
My Queen, Cal and Toe eating breakfast
I stopped by the privy. I still couldn’t go, but I was able to get rid of my toilet paper. Then I went the wrong way! And I fell over in the mud when I slipped off a rock. I only noticed I was going the wrong way when I saw a yellow blaze on a tree. I had to climb up a real steep trail to get back to the right trail and after 15 minutes of hiking I had barely made it past the privy!
I fell over in the mud
This morning was pretty nice trail but again I was not moving quickly, but I was moving. It’s a bit of a blur of ups and downs and bridges and small peekaboo views.
My business partner called me early and I spoke to him as I was descending a really steep rocky park of the trail down to Clarendon Gorge. I also saw another SOBO who was slackpacking. I want to call her Chiquita – or maybe it’s Chiquitita like the Abba song – I can’t remember.
I was hiking along but faffing about a bit and Cal caught up to me at a river crossing. I’m not sure how long he had been there but I was grateful he waited to shout “HEY” until I had picked my way across the rocks and made it to the other side! He asked if Toe had passed me and she hadn’t. She left camp before Cal so he was trying to catch up with her so they could stop for lunch together. Somehow he must have passed her. He stayed to filter water and wait for Toe and I carried on. I didn’t have time to wait around today.
Crossing the railway lines
River
Steep trail
Views at the top
Filtering water from a stream
I love the light coming through the trees
River crossing
I’ve been seeing lots and lots of day hikers, and lots of long trail hikers today. Don’t think I’ve seen any NOBOs, maybe 1. It’s getting very late for NOBOs so maybe we won’t see any more.
It was a bit of an uphill climb away from the river and at the top there is what is called a rock garden, where people have piled rocks on top of other rocks.
The “rock garden”
Around 1pm I stopped to filter water and I ate the rest of my bag of crisps and a couple of brownies. I don’t need to be too careful with my food because I’m going to town tomorrow to resupply and eat real food. It was a quick break before continuing on.
Nice wooden bridge
I walked past a lake where there were some nice views and some nice bog boards and I stopped to speak to a lady who really jazzed me up. She said I didn’t smell, I look strong and I have a tiny pack. All nice compliments! And she also said she met Lemonhope. The mysterious Lemonhope.
Views over the lake
A nice walk along the edge of the lake
The afternoon all blends in to one a bit. It was very hot and humid, the mozzies were back, the trail was a series of ups and downs and I also fell over 3 more time. Not major falls, just slips where my leg and hands got covered in mud, mostly due to wet rocks. On one of them my water bottle went flying out my pack and landed in the mud.
Lovely bog boards! And no bog!
A large fancy bridge
Beautiful construction
The river
The inevitable change is coming
On the final climb of the day up to Baker Peak there were some rocky exposed ledges which gave some nice views and I sat for a few minutes but it was hot up there in the sun. My thermometer read 29°C. It was too hot for me to sit there so I carried on.
HOT HOT HOT
The colour of that sky!
That’s about 84 degrees Fahrenheit
The last mile to the shelter was a mile of bog board. Amazing, stable, not broken bog board, and to be honest there didn’t seem to be a lot of bog around either! It was so pleasant to walk along.
More lovely bog boards
Sunset
Wooden bridge
Another river I crossed without getting wet feet!
When I got to the river just before the shelter there was a bridge but it said bridge closed and to follow a diversion. I couldn’t see a diversion so I walked across the bridge anyway. It was pretty solid.
The shelter had 4 people in it. 3 long trailers and Lemonhope!
I got there about a quarter to 7 and everyone was already tucked up in their sleeping bags. One of the long-trailers asked me if I had a blog and he said he had read it and follows me on Instagram. It feels weird to be recognised! I asked him if I lived up to his expectations!…
I ate my Pringles and cheese and polished off the rest of the brownies for dessert. I wasn’t actually that hungry but I didn’t want to carry them to town tomorrow. I did all my chores as quickly as possible so I could lie down.
Lemonhope was next to me snoring as I was writing this.
I saw headlamps in the distance just after 8pm and knew it was my friends. There wasn’t room for them all in the shelter so they decided to cowboy camp on the tent platform next to the shelter. I went to hang out with them while they were eating dinner. Cal is the same as me when it comes to food. We exist on snacks. Toe and Mayqueen cook proper meals. I honestly don’t know how they do it every night. And they do it so quickly!
It turns out both Toe and Mayqueen made the same mistake I did this morning and went the wrong way down the trail after coming out the privy! Unfortunately Toe went a whole mile out of her way so ended up hiking an extra 2 miles today.
