July 9 - 22.3 / 1,657.9

As Samurai and I headed out, I saw a few people walking on the trail on the other side of the stream. I walked a little further and across the stream. However, the people had magically disappeared.

The morning was a pretty easy morning. We wanted to knock out a few miles before stopping. However, we came across some Sprites at a river crossing. There were four left. We decided that we would each drink one a piece and pack one out for later in the day. I also took the time to call my friend Eric who is getting married to Mary Frances. I was hoping to get to go to the wedding, but logistics just didn't work out being this far north. I was pretty bummed cause I really like weddings and dancing at the receptions. Ok, maybe that last sentence was a little sarcastic.

We came down to the road crossing. It was here that I saw Duane's cotton shirt on the side of the trail. It was obvious that it was his. He had talked about getting rid of it since it was causing a rash on his back. It pissed me off pretty good that he didn't take the time to throw it away. I almost grabbed it to pack it and take it to him. I wasn't sure if I was going to see him again though.

We started a climb up Bromley and stopped at the shelter for water. Someone had left a lot of trash and crushed pop tarts. Samurai and I snagged some pop tarts for a snack. We finished our climb up Bromley which is also a ski resort. The last few hundred yards were up one of the ski slopes. The top offered some pretty good views. It was somewhat interesting to see ski runs without snow.

We at lunch at Mad Tom Notch road where we scored some more trail magic. I had a peach and Sam had an apricot. We spoke with a girl and another guy who were walking around a loop. The guy mentioned to skip the trail detour coming up. We had been hearing about a detour which extends the trail 3 more miles. The detour is due to a bridge out over a river.

After lunch we came to Griffith Lake. The lake was beautiful and pristine. We thought about swimming, but had quite a few miles more to go. We were about a half mile from the shelter when I could see Duane and Inferno down the trail. It took almost 20 minutes to actually catch up to them. The whole time I could hear Duane talking. I'm telling you, this guy doesn't stop. Plus he is loud. I wanted to catch up pretty quickly just to let Inferno know others were close by and that she wasn't going to be stuck with this guy. I caught up to them just as they reached Big Branch River, where the bridge was out. I think she was somewhat relieved to see some others. The four of us rock hopped across the river without even getting our feet wet. Thank goodness we didn't take the detour. We arrived at the shelter to find Absent and Sticks already there.

I also used this opportunity to ask Duane about his new shirt. I told him it must be nice to have gotten rid of his cotton shirt. He had no idea I was trying to call him out on leaving his old shirt on the trail. Now I wished I had picked it up. Then I could have had in carry it out. We told him that he needed to get going to continue his big mile days. he had been talking about doing these miles, but Sam and I have been keeping up with him. He ended up hiking on, but I think he only did three more miles.

Absent, Sticks, Inferno, Samurai, and I had an enjoyable evening. I think all of us ended up swimming in Big Branch some time that afternoon/evening. I want to send out a hello to Inferno's brother. I found out he came across my blog since I had mentioned his sister. Oh, technology these days.

I set up my tent in the limited amount of tent space. The bugs are still bad. I headed to bed knowing there was a chance of rain. Only if I knew what was about to come.