The Rescue Blues

The Rescue Blues
July 6 Mile 1167- It was a hot 18 miles today. Flute continued her fever and fatigue. We made it to a road crossing with trail magic 6.7 miles in. Webcatcher, the guy with the trail magic had won the lottery and now he sets up lunch for all the hikers every Wednesday. It had been our first trail magic in a while and it was worth it. Pasta salad, deviled eggs, fruit, and a cupcake for dessert. Flute decided to see if Webcatcher knew anyone that could take her to the doctor. We reluctantly parted ways with Flute in hopes that she could find the causes of her illness and get back to the trail soon.
Shadow and I headed another 11 miles to the Rausch Gap Shelter. The afternoon hike was full of interesting occurrences. First off the spring we had plan to get water was burnt orange in color. Seems that this area had been mined and acid seeps from the mountain turning the water and everything around the water a rust color. There are still remnants of a mining village. The landscape of the mountain has been completely changed. It is full of 30 foot tall mounds of dirt and slate with holes to match. You can see were erosion from the changed landscape is washing everything away. The EPA is currently trying to return things to normal by adding a limestone pit to filter the water down stream.
Next we came across a note in the middle of the trail today that had an arrow with the follow written "Warning Rattle Snake 7/6 12:30". We passed the note at 6pm and the snake was still there. Curled up beside the note as if his mom sent it in his school lunch box. Of course we couldn't pass it without Shadow making him rattle. I feel so bad for the hikers behind us.
Now for the exciting news! We saw our first bear today! Technically it was my first and Shadow's second. We were walking down the trail and I looked up from the rocks to see a full grown black bear in the trail. He took off to the West and hid in the woods about 20 feet back. I frozen in my steps and waited to see if a cub would follow, but no cubs. We eased down the trail and could see his mickey mouse ears sticking out from the bushes as we passed.



Country Mouse and Shadow still NOBO (North Bound)