Date: 2003-05-15
From: Camp Site Before Moreland Gap

To: Dennis Cove- Kincora
Miles today: 13.0

We heard the sound of rain on the tent when we woke up this morning, but it soon settled to a light drizzle and we packed up the wet tent and started off in our rain gear. Soon the sun came out and we began to shed some of the extra outerwear. I told Gary, "We've had all kinds of weather, rain, snow, and cold, but so far no thunder and lightning or hail." The sun was out , the sky was blue, the air was sweet and we were on our way to Kincora. Food, showers, clean clothes, friendly chatter and banter with fellow hikers, and a ride to Trail Days in Damascus. The trail seemed very nice, a pleasant walk through the forest. Up, up, up, now where is that Moreland Shelter anyway? Finally we came to the shelter, chatted with a couple of other hikers and ate lunch. It was getting a bit cloudy, but rain didn't look like it would come before we got down the mountain. Wrong! We started going up and up and up and then the thunder started, far off, but it was getting closer and we were getting closer to the top of the mountain. Not a good place to be in a thunder storm. We hiked faster to get down and then it was right there! What should we do? We didn't have any time to think about it because a bolt of lightning hit the trail right by Gary. I saw the flash and heard the loudest bang I've ever heard. I walked on and saw Gary standing on the trail with his hiking poles on the ground and he was looking very shaken or should I say shocked. The bolt had come through the ground and up his poles. Only the rubber handles on the poles had saved him. His hands hurt and tingled and his right foot tingled and hurt for almost an hour afterward. He said it was like grabbing hold of an electric wire but with more current than he'd ever felt before. The thunder rolled past and we hiked on down the mountain, by now pea sized hail was falling on us as well as cold rain. Without rain pants on, the water was running into the tops of my boots. Slosh, slosh, slosh on and on through the forest and finally a meadow, then we finally came to Dennis Cove and the road to Kincora. Now it stopped raining and the sun came out as we walked the last mile to our refuge.    We were greeted at the hostel by two hikers sitting on the porch, Scavenger and Mountain Dancer. They gave us a tour of the hostel, offered us freshly baked cookies, coffee and bannana bread just out of the oven- yum, yum. They had planned a big communal dinner for the evening, corn on the cob, steak on the grill, pasta salad and more. They fixed Relentless some ice cream while I took a much needed shower. Karma, Butters, Erica, and the others came back with Bob Peoples loaded down with groceries for the feast. There were now about 12 of us at the hostel. Bob agreed to take us to the grocery to get steaks and food so that we could contribute to the feast. When we got back, the table was set and we put on our steaks and joined the fun. Then another hiker came, a Russian from S.C. named Gleb who joined us as well. We had a great time chatting with everyone. Bob has some great stories to tell. Relentless really enjoyed talking with Butters about great places to visit and hike. What a great way to end a tough and slightly scary day.   Then I called Jon and found out that our dog, Snickers was very ill and had almost died. I had a hard time sleeping thinking about him.