2014/5/15 Mile 766.2
Weather reports yesterday had us all pretty worried about the incoming rain so we decided to wake up early and get some miles in before the hard rain began around noon.
Mission started messing around with his gear at 0400 and after a bit I decided to join him. On the trail by 0500 with headlamp on until the sun decided to come up.
Made it to Bryant Ridge Shelter where Cool Hand and company stayed the night by 0700. Surprised them during breakfast. We all started out on the big climb together but I lost them fairly quickly.
Light rain for the rest of the morning wasn't too bad but the wet grass soaked my shoes. 3000ft of climbing wore me out and by the time I reached Thunder Hill Shelter I was pretty tired. Considered pushing on since I only had done 17 miles but the next shelter would have put me at 29. Expecting 3 inches of rain I really didn't feel like camping in between.
Made the right choice. About 30 minutes after rolling into camp the storm started really dumping rain hard. Right before it started a hiker popped in and to my surprise it was Gazelle!
He had gotten sick and stayed a hotel on the nearby Blue Ridge Parkway to recuperate. This was his first day back out on the trail. Crazy how these things work out.
Gazelle decided to keep going once the rain calmed down and I made dinner for lunch to avoid having to whip out the stove if the shelter was crowded later. Then it was nap time.
To my surprise only 2 of 10 folks that said they were heading for the shelter actually showed up. More room for us! Unfortunately I forget their names but the guy was a EE that designed power distribution for buildings (and hated it so now he's hiking). His significant other / hiking partner was a researcher studying how nutrition affects neurophysiology. Pretty cool folks. Both of them lived in Boston.
After talking for a while and eating we retired early. The temperature was dropping and the rain was not letting up. The sound of it on the metal roof of the shelter will probably make me dream of frying things all night.
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