Date: 2010-05-08
From: Bearwallow Gap

To: Cornelius Creek Shelter
Miles today: 15.3
Weather: few clouds

Who has seen the wind?Neither I nor you.But when the leaves hang tremblingThe wind is passing thro¢Who has seen the wind?Neither you nor I.But when the trees bow down their headsThe wind is passing by.                           - Christina RossettiI got up early and treated my ankle to one more icing in anticipation of a long day. Since I felt rested and ready to go, I was hoping that the past few days of shorter miles would allow me to do more miles today.A quick breakfast and I was ready. Cathy and Ursula came down to the office where Homer picked me up. After last minute well-wishes in both directions, Homer drove me pack up to the Trail at Bearwallow Gap. This time, instead of heading south, I turned north to resume my journey to Maine.Possible thunderstorms were predicted so I tried to keep an eye out whenever there was a view. The weather was unsettled, and the wind was gusting; in some open areas I had to walk carefully in order to keep my balance or the wind would push me off the trail. When I could see through the trees I could see that it looked like it was raining off in the distance. The rain looked patchy, so there was hope that it would not rain where I was.I made good time (for me) to Cove Mountain Shelter and took a break to eat a snack and catch up on the news in the shelter register. I didn¢t stay very long, though, as I was hoping to make some bigger miles today. I thought if the weather cleared some, I would walk on until almost dark, and then camp somewhere off the trail.So soon I was on my way down to Jennings Creek and on up the other side. The skies had mostly cleared, but the wind was still strong as I went along the Trail. The walking was easy here, and I felt good. Before too long I was at the Bryant Ridge Shelter, a lovely multi-level affair with porches for sitting and nice ¢counters¢ for cooking. Since the day was so nice, and because I was planning to walk on late, I decided to go ahead and have a hot lunch now, and just snack later. That way I wouldn¢t have to worry so much about water to make a dinner. The temperature was great and the sunshine was welcome, so I had a very leisurely break. I took pictures of butterflies that were all around the shelter, and I chatted with a couple of other hikers who came through while I was eating - a very pleasant lunchtime.I was all packed up and ready to go when the wind really picked up. It went suddenly from a strong breeze to very strong gusts. Branches overhead were cracking, and some sizeable ones were crashing down around the shelter. So much dust was swirling around that I had to close my eyes. There were more gusts and more branches coming down. Even though the sun was shining brightly, I decided I¢d better take a longer break until the weather made up its mind what was going on. Walking in the woods while dodging falling branches doesn¢t sound like my idea of a good time. I thought I might need to modify my plan of tenting out somewhere along the trail. After an hour or so the wind stopped gusting and settled down to a steady, moderately strong wind. Even though it was tempting to just stay at the Bryant Ridge Shelter since it was so comfortable, I wanted to get much of the long climb ahead out of the way today. It was getting hot, so I made sure I had plenty of water and then started the trudge up Floyd Mountain. While I was hiking I came to some blowdowns across the trail that looked very recent. Just as I was thinking how glad I was to have been at the shelter during the gusting, I heard a loud crack above me. I did the duck-and-cover that I learned on my first day of this trip when the ice was falling from the trees in Georgia ¢ I bent over so the pack covered my pack and put my arms over my head. A medium-sized branch impaled the trail about 2 feet in front of me. Yikes!I decided I definitely would be staying at the next shelter rather than continuing on beyond it. I   puffed my way on up, stopping for short breaks as it was getting rather hot. Finally I reached Cornelius Creek Shelter and settled in. By dark we had a full house, well, shelter.The wind continued to blow through the night and was still blowing the next morning.