21 Jun 05 Day 5 Tuesday

Two other hikers are in the AT Lodge today. One is quite experienced, 'walks alone.' He was kind enough to go through my gear and together we were able to take out what felt like 10 lbs plus the food. The food I had bought was just "add boiling water to rehydrate"-type food. I thought this would be the easiest thing for my first section. Turns out the stuff doesn't taste good and it is heavier, and much more food than I need. So it is getting replaced with better stuff that will hopefully be lighter. I will do a dry pack tomorrow to see how the base weight feels. Base weight is no food or water, just gear. I will lose a bit more weight when I switch from my 30F bag to the 45F bag, as well.

I did laundry today. My clothes were very ripe. I had only one clean pair of underwear, everything else except rain gear needed washing. So I tied a bandana around my chest for some support, borrowed jeans from the free clothes pile, grabbed my raincoat and hobbled over to the laundromat. I also washed my mud splashed gaiters. So now I am in clean clothes again with a clean body just waiting for muscles and blisters to heal. Tomorrow I think I will get food which is a nice walk to judge how good I feel. I may also try for the library and send out e-mails. I have postcards to fill out and a bounce box to start. I also have gear to ship out, so I should warn Jen it will be coming. I think if I am good, I will try to get back on the trail Thursday or Friday. I will start back at Abol Bridge which sets me back about 16 miles, which isn't too bad. At least there is no skipped section. If I can't get a lift then I have to taxi in so Abol is cheaper than trying to get back in to where I left the trail.