Date: 2010-08-25
From: South Arm Brookside campsite

To: Bemis Lean-to
Miles today: 8.7
Weather: moderate rain

25 August Wednesday ¢ 8.7 to Bemis Lean-toI fully expected a creature to shimmy up that dead tree right beside my tent last night. SnowFox insisted that we hang our food bags. I didn¢t hang mine. The food bags that are in the tree are located directly above my head. The tree is too thin to be concerned about bears. The food bags are hanging close to tree trunk that a creature could easily access the contents. Raccoons are tree creatures. I spent the night expecting a raccoon to fall into my tent at any moment.Six Course thinks I¢ve gained weight also. I think it¢s just the size of my head. I have a large head. My head appears to be getting larger with the growth of my beard. My clothes fit the same I think. I¢m definitely prepared to go to war with my appetite after the trail is over. It¢s fun putting the weight on but it doesn¢t come off easily. Six Course wants to meet up for cheeseburgers at Andy¢s after the trail is over. Six Course lives close by in Greensboro. Six Course is packing up and hoping his preparation will help him miss the rainstorm approaching. He¢s trying to start before the rain begins. Six Course is trying to finish in time to attend a Redskins game. I tell him goodbye and watch him walk away with SnowFox.Today I¢m going to wait for Conan, Backwards and Cheeseburger. While I wait I almost melt my water bottle with boiling hot tea. Lish probably wouldn¢t have drunk the tea after seeing all the changes that occured in the plastic. The plastic shrank after it looked like it had blisters.When David arrives I leave some trash with him and we¢re off to hike up Old Blue! Cheeseburger, Conan, Backward and I are going to Bemis lean-to tonight. It looks like it¢s going to rain the whole time but we leave anyways. No alpine zones on top of Old Blue. The sky looks like it¢s going to rain all day. It¢s not cold but it would be colder at higher altitudes. The SOBO at camp last night really played up the difficulty of this climb for no reason at all. It wasn¢t worth mentioning even in this pouring rain. The multiple tops of Bemis Mountain aren¢t even exposed. There aren¢t any deadly downhill slabs. No landslides. No rockslides. No worries!It was cold as hell. A few times my rain jacket was on the verge of not keeping me warm enough. The sky allowed a few short distance views after Bemis¢ first summit. Around lunch time the whole world became engulfed in falling clouds. The MATC is utilizing this mountains lumpy summit to its full potential. I feel as if I¢m walking in circles at times. Down ten feet, walk ten feet, up ten feet, repeat is how I would describe today. The last 1.7 miles was amazingly long in the cold air. Funny how no matter how long or short your day is, the last 2 miles are the longest.I¢m still rocking out in my mind to ¢Don¢t worry, be happy!¢ It¢s a catchy song! I whistle the song while I wait for Cheeseburger to put on his raingear. Cheeseburger is decked out with pants, rain jacket and pack cover. I don¢t want to pass him because he¢ll just be passing me later. He hikes faster than me. Cheeseburger¢s rain suit makes him look like he¢s going to storm the beaches of¢¦wait¢¦he¢s German!I¢m not even wearing a jacket yet. Not until I start going down hill. Then I put on my jacket. Haven¢t seen Conan, hope they¢re okay in this storm.I make it to the shelter right behind Cheeseburger. We¢re shivering with purple lips and it¢s good to be inside. I immediately grab my water bottle to fill up before getting comfortable. When I return with water, I put on dry clothes and take off everything that¢s wet. I lie in my sleeping bag and felt hypothermic. My body temperature takes a while to improve because my skin was still wet. The frozen feelings in my fingers took the longest to embrace the warmth.The sunlight leaks on this shelter. Fig warned me about this. I¢m almost asleep when Bowden college freshmen orientation class arrives at the shelter. I count 12 purple kids and feel bad for Conan and Backward. Conan gets left out in the cold so often because they¢re last to shelters. Honestly, if I weren¢t dry already then I¢d gladly leave the shelter if they¢re staying in it.Yep, they¢re staying. They look like scared little deer in the headlights. They¢re so cold in their summer clothing. Cheeseburger and I ask to use the better prepared Bowden kids for their 10X8 tarp and a roll of reflective orange duct tape. The project for the evening entertainment is stopping a leak in the skylight inside the shelter. The kids settle down after eating and unpacking for hours. Some of them are sleeping in tents. The rest are staying under the shelter. We needed every spot inside the shelter so we¢re crossing our fingers that the tarp we rigged up will hold through the night. Cheeseburgers sleeping bag depends on it.It¢s quiet and I¢m almost asleep when someone squeals loudly. She saw a spider!Cheeseburger interrupts my rest to show me a video he took with his camera. The video is a close up of a red squirrel barking at him. The sound is loud, sharp and high pitched. Didn¢t realize squirrels could yap like that!Conan arrives looking cold but in good spirits. Backward doesn¢t seem to mind having to put up their tent. It was my opinion that there was room in the shelter. I told them so but they chose to sleep outside. It was be a wise choice on their part. We¢re not happy about the group coming in and taking the whole shelter. If we¢re not mistaken these groups aren¢t suppose to stay in shelters. It¢s 3:45pm. Cheeseburger and I were here at 2pm.Currently the kids are focused on boiling water for noodles. They¢re all in a circle surrounding the communal cooking pot. They¢re in a circle sitting Indian style on the shelter floor. The reason for their circular formation is so everyone feels apart of the group. That¢s nice.Then they turned the boiling hot water over¢¦Several kids were very close to severe injuries but everyone stays calm. Sort of calm. When I heard the commotion the kids were already hidden in a cloud of steam. The vapors filled the shelter with what looked like smoke. This is when Cheeseburger opened his eyes, saw smoke and screamed at the kids¢¦¢Are you idiots burning down my shelter!!¢ shouts Cheeseburger with German authorityAfter checking for burns the kids finally settle down again. Hopefully they¢re settling all the way down this time. Unfortunately, they spend the evening whispering with an overly enthusiastic thru-hiker named Tabasco. Tabasco is a really friendly guy who seems lonely. He¢s answering the same old questions like it was the first time he¢d heard them. Good for him. He¢s nice.Tabasco started May 24th. He has hiked for 3 months without single day off. Good for him¢¦you¢d think he¢d go to sleep!