Cow Camp Gap

14 April 2001 ~ Cow Camp Gap ~ 14.5 miles hiked

This shelter is really far off the A.T. It's the farthest I've seen so far, although I've seen water sources for shelters that total .8 miles off the trail in Pennsylvania, but I planned around them. In fact, Allentown Hiking Club Shelter, which is a very nice shelter, has a very distant water source. Really, in PA, it's not that unusual to have to descend most of the mountain you just climbed in order to get water. This one is either .5 or .6, depending on what source you believe and my navigation software says it's a 400 foot descent. I just didn't have a way around it.

Man, was that climb a bitch - 3000 feet at the end of the day. The last 5.6 miles took me from 3:30 until 7:00. Not what I'd call making good time.

I'm sleeping in the shelter since the other guy here is tenting. It seems I'll have it to myself, and there are no bugs to speak of. I hope it saves me some time in the morning. It took me two hours from waking to walking today, which is pretty long. It took me an 1.5 on average on my last long distance hike...I guess I just can't get it together in the morning.

I saw to turkeys just north of the Brown Mountain Creek Shelter. I also flushed a huge bird out of a tree. It was medium brown with some white underneath it's wing tips. I suspect it was some kind of hawk, but who knows. I wish I'd gotten a better look at it, but the tree cover prevented it. I couldn't pick it out of a line up at this point.

I'm very tired, but feeling pretty self-satisfied. Tomorrow, there are no 2000' climbs. YAY! Climbing is a necessity, but hours of continuous up is exhausting. The terrain looks mostly rolling 600-700 foot climbs and descents. I feel pretty OK except for my left big toe. I stubbed it hard a few times, and I got a bloody blister under it. The blister popped accidentally when I was trying to cut away some dead looking skin to see what was going on, so I drained it and betadined it. Hopefully, having the pressure off it will help it not hurt as much tomorrow.

P.O.s I pitched my tent around 10pm. A mouse ran across my head and I suddenly remembered why I don't sleep in shelters.