August 2 - Old Station

Bridge Dance, to appease the Bridge Gods so we don't have to cross creeks anymore

Ugh, mosquito hell most of today. Tons of lakes around mean tons of mosquitos. I was running for a lot of it to try to get a break.

Once we got out of the mosquitos, it was literally flat. Normally we'll call something flat if there just aren't 200 foot climbs or descents every couple miles. But this was flat. We also noticed something weird going on... the place seemed unnatural. And then we realized all the trees were planted in rows and were of the same species. We were in a plantation.

Finally, we made it to Old Station, where we got our package from the (friendly) postmistress Sue. Then over to the store, where we got Taco Tuesday and milkshakes. Overall, when we left Old Station, we decided it was the least hiker-friendly place we'd been. There were no public restrooms at the store, and the nearby campground's bathrooms, we were told, were for "paying customers ONLY". Which to me means, okay, I'll pee on your building, thanks.

But then we left, walked 4 miles to the Subway Cave (a lava tube with interpretive signs inside - pretty neat), and were setting up camp there in the trailhead/picnic area (near the big signs that say no camping, hoping nobody was going to get mad), when Sue the postmistress drove up. She called "Lynn?" and we called Free Range (who we'd been hiking with a little bit), who came over. Sue had her shoes! Free Range had sent herself new shoes, but they hadn't come in, so she hiked on and asked them to be forwarded to Burney. Turns out she had accidentally sent them UPS to a General Delivery PO address (which means they get returned, usually), and thye UPS guy took them to Sue's house because that's what he does when that happens. And Sue came down to the picnic area once because she knew that was where we would be, but we weren't there yet, so she came again at 8:30, and we were there. We were all so amazed that a postal worker would do that. Awesome!