The Water Situation is Desperate: MST LASH Segment 16 Blackjack Lodge to Beach Picnic Area WB MM 105

Day 2 on trail: 17.8 trail miles, 19.6 actual miles.
We rose before the sun. I barely slept. I think the music we heard late into the night was actually a karaoke bar near the trail. It was SO LOUD. We packed up in the dark, and we swiftly found out that the first and only water source of the day was a murky, brackish-looking puddle.
When we re-entered the jungle of a trail, and I quickly became massively and traumatically entangled in a high spiderweb complete with spider…which then crawled on my shirt until I knocked it off. No lie, I was shrieking and dancing. After that, Cristus Cowboy went first, graciously clearing away the giant webs across the trail. The trail was overgrown and the woods dense. We saw Cyprus and palm as well as scruffy pine. It felt like we just kept walking from one ecosystem to another.
We stopped at Dogwood Lodge Shelter for breakfast after having done 9 miles by 9am, and we realized water was going to be an issue as every water source listed in Far Out we’d found dry. When we emerged at a road, we decided to knock on doors of houses along the road to see if someone would allow us to fill up at their garden hose. A resident named Lee graciously allowed us to do just that. I filled up to 4.5 L (~10 lb) of water with the hose.
The hiking gradually got hotter, but it never got harder. We reached Copperhead Landing Shelter by 1:30 and decided to go farther after a rest. It was 88*F. We stayed in the shelter’s shade for an hour and a half.
We decided to push to almost the end of the Neusiok Trail, and we ended up seizing the opportunity to camp at a cliffside picnic area just above the beach at the Neuse River. It was so beautiful, and I took the opportunity to go for a dip in the warm water. I dried out in my underwear on the beach before going back to our seaside cliff camp for dinner, a muscle roll out, and bed. It was a unique and enjoyable day!
Music:
Speedy the Spider / Lazy Days in My Backyard / courtesy of www.epidemicso...
Speedy the Spider / My New Bicycle / courtesy of www.epidemicso...
Erik Fernholm / Happy Trails / courtesy of www.epidemicso...
Erik Fernholm / Good to be Home / courtesy of www.epidemicso...
Rocket Jr / Bloppy / courtesy of www.epidemicso...
Erik Fernholm / Campfire Blues / courtesy of www.epidemicso...
Paper Twins / Pearl City Beach / courtesy of www.epidemicso...
Roy Edwin Williams / In the Barn / courtesy of www.epidemicso...

[@1024Pete]

Cheers to a nice hiking trail. Seems like easy going less the water a tick situation. I always wear pants when hiking in the woods. I had Lyme disease. Big health effect for a long time. Recommend avoiding that. As a military vet, it would be “zero” not “oh.” Funny! As “Cobweb”Rose, I thought you would like spider webs. Where I once lived, there were barn spiders. Nearly as big as my thumb. They engineered beautiful spider webs. Nice camp spot. Wishing you safe passage and Happy Trail!

[@cobwebroseonthetrail2447]

Thank you! Yeah, I don’t like spiders or their webs when I am catching them to the face. When I’m not catching them to the face, the webs are lovely to look at!