Catfish Fire Tower to Brink Shelter

Day Two
Tuesday, September 27, 2016
Catfish Fire Tower to Brink Shelter
12.9 miles

It rained last night, but we stayed dry in our tarp tent with just enough room for our two sleeping mats and our gear to be covered. 

Down the hill and right before the road crossing, we came upon Rattlesnake Spring which we had been told was running – it was not – it looked stagnant.  However, at the road crossing of Road 602 we found a six-pack of water left on the picnic table by trail angels.  We topped off our water bottles and proceeded.  Just a few steps further on the trail, we saw a five-gallon bottle of water.  With a number of south-bound thru-hikers in the area, this would prove to be helpful.  Thank you trail angels! 

It was steep going up to a power line and with the rain last night, Wait-up slipped on a wet rock and landed on his left hand and bent his finger back.  It was, luckily, not broken. 

We saw a huge porcupine going down the trail in front of us, and I tried my best to get a picture of it but failed to do so.  I sure didn’t want to get too close to it.  Finally he waddled off into the woods.

The views today were unfortunately shrouded by fog.

It was a hard day today, both mentally and physically.  With every step I took, something hurt.  Either my toes jamming against the front of my shoes, the bottoms of my feet with my usual pain at the base of my toes, new blisters on the side of my heels, my shoulders from the heavy backpack packed with 4 days of food and 2 liters of water.  I was beginning to think, “what am I doing here.”  Then I decided that I had a choice – I could moan and groan or make the best of the situation and enjoy it.  The joy of the Lord is my strength!

We passed three different southbound thru-hikers.  They are easily identifiable by now.  They just have that look about them, plus their backbacks and beards give them away.

We went about a mile past Brink Shelter before stopping for the night.  Very tired!