app trail day 9

Day 9                               9/20/10

Grassy Island Ridge campsite --> Thunder Hill Campsite (9.1 miles)

First thing you do when you get to the campsite is "kick off your shoes and relax your feet"... "juust kiick it, juuust kick it" Man, our dogs are barking. I think that means that your feet hurt or does that mean that they stick? Well either one applies. We just finished 5500 ft of elevation change today, climbed 3800 feet, descended 1634 ft. shoot me now.
Had some awesome sleep btw. Better than the hotel. No real views today started by climbing hickory stand then highcock. haha. Guessed I was being punished for writing that . My pen just gave out and I had to wait for Seth to be done with his. told Seth that he should have posed for Highcock pretending to smoke a doobie and pointing at his crotch, but there was no view so he didn't. Leaves are so pretty with their reds, maroons, yellows and oranges. The gnats were hounding me today (called them our cheerleaders always in our ears) all day. Had to hold off on lunch (pepperoni and crackers) until they went away some. I have been bitten everywhere, even my legs and I'm always wearing pants so i think there's fleas in our tent. Yum. Someone get me some frontline. It's kinda cold out here right now. So after Highcock, we had to climb up Thunder Ridge only 2.1 more miles but what a doozy. It was getting dark and we had to hustle. Seth was leading at this point and he was thinking to himself, "Victoria doesn't have anything to fear out here (I had gasped at a imaginary anaconda moments before) I mean the slope either side of the ridge was so steep that no bigger animals would be on it. Well, except maybe a deer, hmm or maybe a bear..." Right as the word was leaving Seth's brain in a thinking bubble, did he look to the right up the mountain and he saw a bear (just goes to prove that I'm usually right). Seth was quite some distance away and he big-eyed whispered, "hey babe." Well the bear heard him and booked up up the mountain. Seth told me what he saw and my jaw hit the ground. He pointed up and said that I still might be able to catch a glance-I did. I saw a hairy, black ass motioning away. However, for all I know that could have been Carl Winslow out there in his usual position that Harriet never knew he fancied. Yep, he's a gay. Kinda sad I didn't get to see it at a "safe distance" though rest of the time, we spent whistling and singing so the bear would stay away. Sleeping with the bear mase in the tent from now on. Seth and I made it to camp in the dark, set up and exchanged foot rubs. Read a little and now we're gonna munch on something quick before Seth puts up the bear bags, more deliberately than ever before. Hard day even though the first 7 miles didn't seem too bad, but in reality were treacherous. Proud of ourselves. Anywho, time for a ho-ho!