Hiking Trail Journals

Appalachian Trail 2003 - Chelsea's Journals

Entry #75 - June 17, 2003

5:30 PM - Rain=Insane

Left in the rain this morning. Took our time & didn't get going until around 9 or so - we had already decided we weren't going to do the 21 miles. All we cared about was at least getting to the store to get food. Sometime around 11 or 12 we reached the trails to Loft Mtn Campground - the store - yippee!! But of course, this Park is a pile of crap and when we got up there, it was closed. A sign on the door said it was due to a power outage. That's it. No one to be seen, everything shut down and locked. We stood in the breezeway staring in the windows at all the food & supplies, and touched (nay, carressed) the outside vending machines and pondered whether anyone had ever died of hypothermia in June in SNP or if we'd be the first. Took off after a half hour or so. There was still hope - the wayside and restaurant a mile down the Trail.

Yes, we were foolish enough to take the side trail downhill a half mile, only to find those closed also. Thank you kindly, SNP, for being such inconsiderate buttholes that someone couldn't have walked a hundred yards down to the Trail back at the campground & put out a sign to let starving thru-hikers know the stores were all closed. Very bitter today.

Walked 6 more miles to the Pinefield Hut where we are now, with Green, Turtle & a couple older section hikers. Still raining. Who knows what we'll do tomorrow. It's over 20, or only 8. We have hardly any food since we were planning on this stretch being full of it.

It's full of it all right!!

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