Date: 2007-06-05
From: Jenkins Shelter VA

To: Stealth site 3 miles past Helveys Mill Shelter VA
Miles today: 16.8
Weather: broken clouds

Well, my MacCat Deluxe tarp did the job beautifully last nite. Not one drop of rain hit me. And, my Jacks-r-Better gear hammock kept everything off the ground and dry as well. It's a beautiful thing. The rain stopped by the time I woke up @ 6:00 a.m. The sun came up (always a good sign) and the rays were beaming down through the thick trees around me. It was so pretty. I took a pic and captured it pretty well.In the tarp and hammocking worlds, there is always talk about misting, which is basically where rain drops hit the tarp @ such a pressure, that water sometimes sprays through the tarp. This happens with silnylon. Well I've not had this problem, and I have a theory as to why.If rain drops hit a very taught flat tarp surface, the impact of the rain drop is like a bug on a windshield...splat! I don't pull my tarp extremely taught. It doesn't flap around by any means, but I leave a small amount of play. I think this allows a good portion of the force of raindrop impact to be absorbed by the tarp, which now has a slight amount of give in it, which lowers the amount of psi's (pounds per square inch) actually impacting the tarp, resulting in zero misting. (god will this one start a conversation on my hammock forum! LOL) Just a theory.I was off by 7:44 a.m. Wasn't sure where exactly I'd end up, but am trying to always do 15 miles a day now at least. (can you believe I just said that?)Today's hike was pretty great. My friendly rolling ups and downs were back unlike yesterday. When the terrain is nice like this, I go almost into a hypnotic state. I get so lost in my thoughts that before I know it, I've gone 5 miles.First really beautiful area was Laurel Creek. A large creek that runs alongside VA 615, a gravel road. Exactly where the trail went was a bit confusing, so I followed what I thought was a path down to the creek, but that wasn't it. No worries, where I ended up was gorgeous, and I needed water anyways. I sat there for a bit, took some pics, and then climbed back up to the road. The trail followed the road for quite awhile, it was just a bit deceiving because white blazes weren't always obvious.Next thing I know, a vehicle is coming my way, and a lady stops and randomly asks if I want a ride into town. She had another hiker with her that I'd met @ Thomas Knob Shelter, and was dropping her off @ the trail. I forgot to mention, my shoes did dry out last nite, so I decided to skip the town stop @ Bland and continue 1 more day to a little place .5 off the trail and do my Pearisburg resupply there, as originally planned. So, I politley declined her offer, but thanked her anyway. She said she wants to do the AT someday, and I told her to just do it. (which was advice I got in the beginning days of deciding if I should). The trail finally went back into the woods ad there was a cooler of drinks and trash can. Trail magic provided by Green Valley Methodist Church. THANK YOU TO YOU ALL!! I enjoyed a Gatorade, and I left them a note in a ziplock thanking them. It was up the first of only 2 steep climbs today. Not the end of the world. Most of today was just hiking in thick green everything. Every once in awhile, I'd get a small glimpse of the vast valley, but barely.Because I stealth camp a lot now, and I was the first one gone from the shelter, I get the honor of "breaking" trail in the morning. Basically, that means I'm the first one to walk thru that section in the morning, so I get constantly covered in spiderwebs that were strung across the trail in the nite in hopes of catching a bug. Guess they didn't plan on catching something quite my size huh? LOLI stopped for a break and finally got a hold of Rachael. She started a new job a few weks ago, and is working 6 days a week. Anyway, I had to tell her that my camera is messing up now. It acts like I've got it set on night exposure or low light, so my pics are either blury or overexposed to light. Probably has something to do with moisture getting in finally, through that HUGE crack on the LCD screen.I gave her my credit card info, and she's ordering me another camera. I can't be out here and not be able to take good pictures. So, I'm hiking along, ad I hear something...ANOTHER BEAR!! It was way down the hill, and was a young bear. Don't get me wrong, it probably still could have eaten me in 5 or 6 bites, but it seemed oblivious to my being there. Again, disappeared before I got a pic.There was more road walking today than ever before. I've come to discover that walking on gravel is really painful, and asphalt is almost as bad. U.S. 52 (a perfect busy road you can hitch into Bland from) IS the trail for a bit, then it turns off onto VA 615, which takes you onto an overpass for I-77. I took my pic on the overpass, and the semi-truck in the pic blew his horn! LOLI also saw another orange salamandar. Man, those things are so cool. I decided to pick this one up and it PEE'D ON ME! LOL If I grow orange warts on my left hand, I'll know why.I actually made it 13.7 miles by 3:30 p.m. I was at Helveys Mill Shelter, and decided to go ahead and eat an early dinner and then hike on a few more miles. The water source was like .5 miles down! I made my cheddar ramen and hung my tarp to let it dry out completely. Another hiker showed up (man..can not remember his name now), and we talked for a bit. Cool guy fro Maryland. Then a shower came through, so I hurried and pulled my tarp down and moved al my crap inside the shelter. No big deal, the rain only lasted 20 min.So, I was on my way again at 4:53 p.m. I didn't know where I'd stop, but I was shooting for 6:30'ish. I ended up climbing up to another ridge. A VERY exposed ridge.This would not have been an issue except aroud 6:00 p.m., I was hearing thunder again, so I found a plac to hang and proceded to quickly set up camp.I totally guesed which direction to place my set up, but the thunder was getting louder and sky darker. I shit you not, exactly 2 minutes AFTER I got everything up, the rain started.So OH MA GAW the most wicked thunderstorm blew through (WAY worse than last nites). Here I am on the exact spot you shouldn't be. Right on this exposed ridge. I crawled into my hammock, and the wind that came through ha to be 30 mph sustained winds! The side of my tarp that was getting hit by this was literally blowing inward and made the amount of room inside my hammock half!My hammock was swaying back and forth, KABOOM!, thunder, bright lightning, and rain so so hard.For a moment, I was a bit concerned, but I knew there was nothing I could do but sit it out. My tarp was taxed for sure, and the Jacks-r-better self tensioning lines I use to tie it down with performed wonderfully. Still stayed dry. Oh man....another freakin round is starting! This is crazy!! It's cold because the wind is going right under my hammock, and I can feel each gust. I pitched the side of the tarp that is taking the beating pretty close to the hammock. Jesus, the wind is insane again! This is literally happening as I type this @ 8:45 p.m. Note to self...NEVER hang on an exposed ridge again! LOL It's going to be a very very long nite apparently. ~Certain