Mapping the Sheltowee

[I.B.Me]

Day 3 Monday 7/2/07
We left our cozy campsite at 7:22am and I had a hankering for some blackberries to put in my oatmeal. After several miles and only one blackberry, I spooked three turkeys that were standing in the trail. To my surprise they were feeding on ripe blueberries. I stopped long enough to harvest a small bag to flavor my breakfast. I probably should have felt guilty for stealing the turkey’s breakfast but I didn’t. One little trick I do is to only heat water in the pot and prepare my food in the stainless steel cup. After my breakfast of oatmeal or hot granola, I then make a cup of tea also in the cup and then use the tea bag like a dishrag to clean the cup. When breakfast is over the dishes are done. If you can tolerate a little oatmeal texture to your tea, you can save time and water. The special treat of blueberry oatmeal was great! I grazed on blackberries and raspberries the whole trip but this was the only ripe blueberries that I found. We ate lunch at Clear Creek. This is the first water since Hog Creek over 6 miles ago so we pumped our water bottles full only to discover a spigot at Clear Creek trail head just over the next small hill. At approximately 51 trail miles the ridge top views are spectacular reminding me of Auxier Ridge in Red River Gorge. The highlight of the day was when a hawk soared by at eye level while we were walking on the ridge top. While road walking on KY77, I stopped to talk to some people sitting on their front porch and they warned me that bears had been sighted in the area. This was news to me but I had been hanging my food since day one and would continue to use good camp hygiene. We pushed a little to make camp at Gladie Creek (67.8 trail miles) at 9:06pm. The water was deep enough for a swim and I took advantage of it for a much needed bath. I could still vividly remember when my son and I camped at this exact location in 2000. We awoke for a morning swim and had a large fawn run through the creek towards us until finally turning about face at about 20 feet away and fleeing. We were both awe struck at the sight and just watched it all unfold. No such encounter on this trip but I noted that Jack was asleep before I finished my bath. Normally a big eater he did not eat his supper and just seemed spent. Data for day three: 25.8 trail miles hiked, 0.1 extra miles hiked, moving time 9:11, stopped time 3:45, average moving speed 2.8 mph, total average speed 2.0 mph.