Coconuts New Doo

Here is Christina with her new look. Coconut decided to chop off her locks in hopes of staying a bit cooler on these long hot humid days on the Appalachian Trail. I asked Hollywood what prompted the hair cut and she explained it was Too many days of 102 degrees and 80 % humidity.

I haven't given you many Christina stories because she is the rock solid Energizer Bunny. She just keeps going and going and going. I asked for a couple updates on how the Appalachian Trail is treating her.

Sno calls her Gazelle because of how she hikes with a very fast constant speed and prances with grace like a Gazelle. She has also made the equipment check, gear drop thing. Took a couple pounds off and sent them home. Her pack was already two pounds heavier than Hollywood's empty. She is down to sleeping with just a fleece cover so not needing a sleeping bag saves on weight. On a hike when every ounce counts, dropping a few pounds puts a whole new spring in your step. She has been nursing a sore shoulder but it isn't affecting her bad enough to alter the pace.

She has 'Ripped the book'. Both Melissa and Christina have The A. T. Guide; the same book I have been giving you much of the trail info about. Tearing sections out and mailing them back home is a big thing for hikers. As they go along the trail the guide starts to fill with hand written notes about the places and experiences. It is such a wealth of information. Above is a sample page oriented sideways:
If you look behind the words you can see how the elevation is also illustrated to you. It's a pretty ingenious tome. 

The guide contains enough space to add notes and musings while on the trail. You're Breaking the Seal when you takes pages out of the book and send those memories home. Melissa hasn't ripped hers yet. They offer the A.T. Guide in a loose-leaf format for just this reason. So Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee are on their way home.

She has had a fully embedded tick in her. It's out now. Thankfully, the big ticks don't carry Lyme. It's the tiny Deer Tick that carries that miserable bacteria. Melissa has had a couple of them attached, but so far, she is OK. They already know someone who is hiking with Lyme Disease right now. He contracted it within the past couple weeks and was diagnosed only days ago. Yet, even with Lyme, onward the ramblers keep going. Another hiker that believes that despite every ache, pain, sprain, twist, bite, cut, scratch, allergy, cold, fever, disease, or infection; NOTHING keeps a thru hiker from completing their task of sitting on top of the mountain at the end of the trail.   



Jordan has a tick collar on now. Melissa picked up a generic one while waiting for the prescription one in the next  drop. He isn't staying outside the tent completely every night. Melissa has just banished him to the vestibule. Now when it comes time to put him in the vestibule, he thinks he is allowed all the way in and it becomes a struggle to keep him out of the inner part. Sometimes the fight is too much at the end of a long day, and he just has to sleep outside the tent. For those of you unaware, a typical modern tent has a vestibule area that is kind of like a tent mud room. It is a place to put your stuff you don't want to sleep with, yet still want to keep dry and inside the tent with you.

DEET is now in use. Melissa has been anti-DEET the whole trip, but has given in to it in hopes of preventing the bites and any more ticks. She is one big mosquito bite from head to toe. She has to admit, DEET does work. Personally, I swear by it. 40% DEET keeps the bugs off. No bugs = no bites. No bites = no diseases from said skeeters and ticks. Mosquito and Tick-borne maladies are nothing to play around with. For a day trip, you can get away with something else. But when you're trekking 2200 miles through bug infested woods, you take a different look on chemical warfare.

Today was low humidity, and a beautiful day. A nice breeze has accompanied them so, despite having over 3000 ft of elevation gain in under one mile to do today, it was no problem. Once on top of Bald Knob, it was thirteen miles of relatively even terrain. There are two shelters and three campsites all within a couple miles of each other, so I have no idea where they are setting up camp for the night. She called while taking a break before heading out for the last miles of the day. We had to work out some Tripwire details.

Tailwinds hiking partner is coming out to join the gang tomorrow. He is going to hike with them for the weekend along with his kids. Our newest special guests are about to arrive.