7/28/01
The cold morning kept me in the sleeping bag longer than I had planned. Finally around 8:30 I got myself out of the bag and started moving to warm up. There was a lot of condensation on the exterior of the tent, so I let it dry for awhile before packing up. Finn and Redneck pulled out ahead of me, but I left Phantom, Beatle and Sara behind when the morning hike began. The familiar miles passed quickly as I passed little Rock Pond, then began the ascent to White Rocks Cliff. Redneck joined me after I passed him during a pit stop, so we hiked together through the morning. When we reached the side trail to the White Rock Cliff, the fun began. At the intersection of the two trails a large cairn "garden" had been built, apparently over time by a lot of different people with lots of extra time on their hands. Finn joined Redneck and me on the side trail to view the valley below. When we came back up to the intersection with the AT we stopped at "Cairnville", as we had by now dubbed the rock garden, for lunch. Somehow as we ate we were inspired to put together our own cairn to add some character to the garden. We thru-hikers like to dream big, and our creative juices were flowing, so we went for the big rocks to assemble our creation. Soon we had the mother of all cairns built which stood separate from all the other cairns in the garden. We admired our work as Phantom caught up to us, and we took some photos to capture the moment for the memoirs of our adventure. From afar, it appeared that our cairn was on a stage in concert and the other cairns were the audience enjoying the music. After thoroughly entertaining ourselves it was time to hike on to the Clarendon Gorge.
Finn took off with his usual fast pace and Redneck and I left Phantom behind to view the Cliffs while we hiked to the gorge. The trail down to the Gorge was steep and tough on the knees. Redneck and I arrived at the Gorge by late afternoon where we watched a large group of locals swimming in the river below from our perch on the high suspension bridge above. I had to hike the road just past the Gorge one mile to the Clarendon General Store to retrieve my food drop, so Redneck came with me. Thank goodness my package was there or I would have been forced to wait until Monday to get it from the post office. On the way back to the trail Redneck and I visited the Whistlestop restaurant where Finn was already inside anticipating his food. To take advantage of the calorie opportunity and the surprise $20 in the maildrop (thanks Dad!), I ordered a milkshake, salad and cheeseburger platter. After enjoying it all, another milkshake for dessert seemed appropriate. Even though it was only another half mile back to the trail, three very full thru-hikers thumbed a wild ride from the restaurant. We all three fit into a Chevy Nova which already had three occupants, all inebriated. I was thankful that the ride was only a half mile, yet thankful for the ride itself. The mile from the road to the Clarendon shelter was unforgettable. The map profile showed a 500' climb over the mile. Reality was that the entire elevation gain occurred in the first quarter mile up steep clifflike rocks. That huge meal made the climb excessively challenging, but we all made it. When we arrived at Clarendon shelter Phantom was there with his tent set up in a beautiful pine forest. He was eating dinner in the shelter and talking with Sobo "Partyhouse", Straycat, Seven Year Plan and two weekend hikers. A nice fire was blazing in the pit in front of the shelter, a perfect backdrop to the surprise beer Redneck and I hauled up from the general store to share with everyone. Just before dusk China Girl and Lucky Duck arrived (two more Nobo thru-hikers that we met today at Cairnville). I set up my tent, enjoyed a beer with the gang, then settled in for some journaling for the night. Today was one of those virtually perfect trail days, with lots of fun, great trail, and excitement thrown in for good measure. Here are today's stats: low 44, high 78. Sunny. Today's mileage: 16.8; cumulative mieage: 1664.9.
