4-15-06
Start: Indian Creek Shelter (AHT), IN
Destination: Leavenworth, IN
Miles: 15.0
Weather: Hot
Last night mom and I slept in shorts and our silkweight short-sleeve shirts ON TOP of our sleeping bags - the whole night! And this morning was warm, too. It's so much easier to do things at night and in the morning when it's not so, so cold.
As we walked, I got all excited about the little limey-colored leaves popping out (yup, they're here!), and mom was all smiley about the dogwood and redbud trees blooming, and all the violets, bluebells, and wildflowers coming out and coloring the forest floor. And yes, I had to ask her the names of all those - she's the gardener! I call them the "purple ones," or sometimes, "the little hangy bellish ones." Those are pretty technical, eh?
It was a hot Saturday on the hiking trails today, so we ran into other hikers, and horseback riders. There were two hikers we ran into that were very cool. One of them goes by the trail name Sept1c_tank - I didn't ask why that was his trail name... I should've, though! He is really into geocacheing, and told me of one very close by. He asked me to find it and sign the log, so we did. We took a little plastic pterodactyl - one of those dinosaur birds, and we left one of our Bravery bracelets. So that was the first geocache we've ever signed!
It got so hot today. It made hiking very tough. Mom actually ran out of water, and we couldn't find any water to filter. I shared mine, but mine was low, too. Finally we came upon the Wyandotte Campground, and darted for the bathroom where there was running water. We guzzled for a bit, and there was no one around the entire campground, so we sat right down on the cold cement bathroom floor. We both ended up falling asleep for a half-hour! It sure felt good.
After we woke up, filled our water, and continued on, we checked our map. Well, it was gone, so we actually didn't check it. I guess 2-1/2 months on the trail and one map lost isn't too bad. We must've dropped it back on the trail somewhere. We were trying to make it to Leavenworth where we had reservations at the Leavenworth Inn. Richard from Aurora got us in touch with the folks from the Inn, so we were very excited to get a bed and shower for the night.
We came upon this old iron bridge on our trail, and if we were able to get across, we'd be on the trail on the other side, only about 8 miles later. That would mean we could get to the Inn and have time for a nice dinner, too! Mom and I decided to attempt crossing it. It was scary. I think we're on our 4th life! In fact, half-way through crossing it, I said kind of laughing as I looked down at the river below us, "Mom, we're stupid!" I'm telling you - humor gets us through everything. It was fun, though. The old iron bridge was basically only beams, and that's what we crossed on. I took some pictures of mom crossing and of my feet with the ground below. It reminded me of Fear Factor - only we weren't harnessed with helmets, and we had backpacks on. It was cool. :)
So we took our shortcut, got to the Inn - which is excellent, by the way!! - and went across the street for steak. Now we're going to crash. What an exciting day!
And... the woodticks are out. I had one on me today. The ticks here have a white spot on their back - weird.
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