Section 9 Complete!

First the stats:

Springer Mountain, GA to the southern border of Vermont.

Total miles hiked: 1584.4
Days on trail:  103 days minus 13 zeros = 90 hiking days
Average miles per day:  15.4 miles including zeros, 17.6 excluding zeros

Number of times cursing self for hiking in the rain, sleeping in the cold, eating the same food day after day, battling soreness and fatigue, and wondering why he traded his spring semester in college for a never-ending trail:  Thousands, tens of thousands, and possibly hundreds of thousands.

He called home Friday night and again Sunday.  He and Matt have been through lots of rainy weather and they are weary.  They spent Friday, Saturday, and Sunday in hotels along the way.  The orginal plan was to take a zero on Sunday, but they decided to keep moving - in the rain.  I talked to him again today (Tuesday).  He's taking a zero in Bennington, VT.  More rain . . . and more to come.  It's a good thing he's been saving his money, as even cheap hotels become costly, especially for a 20-year-old.

Ward was supposed to pick up a package we advance shipped to him as he passed through Dalton, MA.  Unfortunately, he did not make it to Dalton before the post office closed at noon.  As of Friday he was planning to call the post office to request a forward shipment to Bennington.  I don't know if it was a phone call, or Carolina Kid's suggestion to leave a forwarding address card at the post office, but somehow the package made its way to Bennington where he picked it up today.  He had to hike a long way from his hotel to the post office, and when he arrived he realized he didn't bring the gear that he planned to ship back home.  He didn't want to walk to the post office again, so he will carry extra gear until he reaches the next drop point.  Either that, or he'll wise up and find another solution.  I suspect he'll find another alternative.

We always ask about wildlife and conditions.  He saw a porcupine last Thursday or Friday.  I jokingly asked if he touched it, and he said "no" in a somewhat serious tone (he would have touched it 10 years ago).  The porcupine knew the drill.  He treks to a particular shelter where sweaty hikers rest at the end of the day.  The salt from their perspiration penetrates the edge of the shelter's wood decking, creating something like a salt-lick for the porcupine.  When he talked to Beth on Sunday he brought up the fact that he saw a small bear near Fort Royal, VA.  The bear was harmless and scampered off very quickly.  It's funny he never brought up the bear before now.  Matt also saw a bear . . . a large one . . . while hiking in PA.  Ward and I are allergic to bears.  We discovered this as the bears walked by us during Barnum & Bailey's circus parade at the Greensboro Coliseum when he was a child.  Our reaction to the bear dander was so intense we had to move to the concourse.  I wonder if he had an allergic reaction to the bear he saw in Fort Royal. 

As mentioned earlier, they are exhausted - not only physically, but emotionally.  As Ward described it, he "wakes every day and just walks.  The trail looks the same day after day, and you know it will just keep going".  Ward, who is fastidious about his grooming, hasn't shaved or had a hair cut since last January, and he's ready for a "clean up" (I wanted him to get a shave and cut his hair very short upon reaching the northeast, so that he could better find any ticks that might attach themselves to him, but he will not do so.  He did find lots of ticks until the last week or so, but not more recently.  I hope he's keeping an eye for signs of infection, as Lyme disease is a real risk for hikers.) 

According to Smokestack, and their own calculations, they are about 5 weeks from Katahdin, which would mean a finish in late June.  Of course, they are facing some of the most difficult terrain of the trail, they are exhausted, and they don't know what else they might run into.  Carolina Kid knows the deal from his own experience, and passed on good info - it's tough going from here.  Also, a lot can happen in the next 700 miles.