[pct-l] Billy Goat and Captain America on the FT.

[danandgailsc at aol.com]

>>>We thought of Billy Goat and Captain America a lot while we where there.  Wondering how they did through the storm we had on  Christmas day.<<<   
 
Gutsy and I hiked the Florida Trail around Lake Okeechobee Dec. 23-28.  On Christmas Day, we had just started hiking at 7:30 a.m. and met Billy Goat and Captain America coming toward us.  About 100 yards before we met, Billy Goat started shouting, "Gutsy, Gutsy!," and waving his trekking poles.  They hiked together a couple of weeks on the PCT last summer, and he knew that we might be in the area, was watching for us, and recognized her stride or posture.  As we sat on the asphalt path and visited for 30 minutes, a walker came by and warned us of a coming storm in 4-5 hours, with high winds and rain.  We were just leaving Moore Haven, and BG and CA were approaching the town.  We continued in opposite directions, and have not had any contact with them since.
 
Gutsy and I hiked the 12 miles (lowest daily miles of the hike) to Clewiston in the increasing winds, where we checked into a motel before the heavy rains arrived.  It was nice to look out at the rains from a dry room!  We heard later about tornadoes 50 miles away.

BG and CA told of the difficult hiking conditions in the flooded portion of the Florida Trail, where they couldn't stop to sit and take a break.  When we met, they had hiked about 300 miles from Key West.  We started in heavy rain at Taylor Creek on Dec. 23 in a counterclockwise direction around the lake, and finished at the same place on Dec. 28, at 2:30 p.m.
 
Gutsy's Dan
 
________________________________________________________________________
Check out the new AOL.  Most comprehensive set of free safety and security tools, free access to millions of high-quality videos from across the web, free AOL Mail and more.