deer park mtn shelter

it was cooold last night. low was in the teens and it was about 20 at sunrise. lucky for me a group of sectioning baptist church workers liked to play with fire. they made a nice fire, after much work, right in front of the shelter. gave a little heat for most of the night. got up and made coffee and oatmeal to help warm me. my ankle was a little swollen so I took some meds, taped it, and put on my ankle sleeve. it worked ok. didn't give me too many problems but it's still very sore. most of the day it was sunny and cold. hiked 14.8 miles to this old old shelter. here with about 15 scouts and their leaders. ugh! didn't mention a couple cool things that happened yesterday...mostly because I was upset about my ankle. so here you go. a group of us were hiking spread out over several hundred yards and we passed a group of scouts (not the group here tonight) and their leaders ordered them to the side of the trail so we could pass. when we passed them, the leader said "attention scouts, these are thru hikers. their destination is maine. let them pass."
hehe. funny. then later we passed another younger group that was sitting down eating lunch and the leader made them stand up along the trail and salute us as we passed. funny!
also, 2 other thrus in the last week have stopped me to look at my backpack and ask what and how I've packed - because it's so small. cool
anyway, I have a very short 4 miles into town tomorrow (Sunday), but it will be another good test and then rest for my ankle. I don't want to take off Monday, but I will if I don't feel completely comfortable because I will have a tough couple of weeks getting to Damascus, VA. there are only 2 easy and reliable places to stop and resupply between hot springs and there...and it's over 180 miles, if my math is any good.
later,
L


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