Date: 2007-06-15
From: John Springs Shelter VA

To: Stealth site 3 miles past Lamberts Meadow Shelter 
Miles today: 12.4
Weather: overcast clouds

It rained all nite, but it was that soft calming rain, so I really enjoyed it. I woke up so comfy and dry and warm, it felt like one of those Saturdays where you just stay in bed all day drinking hot tea and watching the rain come down outside. It was 61 degrees when I woke.I caught up on my emails, and finally around 8:30 a.m. I called my mom and asked her to look up the weather for this area. 30-40% chance of rain everyday for a week..CRAP!! I was so hoping it was going to say "clearing late morning", but no such luck. If the weather wasn't going to improve significantly, then I might as well just pack up and hike. I just wanted a nice clear day for McAfee's Knob. BOO HOO!!So I got going finally @ 9:45 a.m. Let's all sing a song shall we? "Rain rain go away..come again...let's say next May?" A foggy, cold (57 degrees in mid-June? Is that right?), dreary day. Some cool things still happened however.On my way up to McAfee's knob, I met 2 day hikers, Dale and Brandon. Super nice guys, Dale is a police officer and Brandon (a fellow band geek..tuba) is going to be a freshman in high school this year. We all kept talking all the way up to McAfee's Knob (a good sign when I can still talk AND hike uphill). And how was the view? Um...what view? It was totally socked in, and I looked out into a vast soupy sky of foggy nothingness. (here comes my excellent rationalizing) Dale took my pic, and it is actually really cool, all you see is my silouhette jetting out on the infamous outcropping of McAfee's Knob, and gray fog everywhere. Most people's pics will be during a perfect sunny day. Well, mine is unique...yeah that's right unique! Actually, there's a parking area 3.5 miles down, and I WILL be coming back and doing this day hike someday. I'm told it is the best view in all of Virginia and you can see some 20 miles away when it is clear.You can walk around several rocky flat areas. Just really cool. I walked way down and met two other day hikers, Julie and Susannah. Really nice women, and Julie is doing a solo hike in the Grand Canyon this summer, so she said it was encouraging to see another solo female hiker. I just told her to trust her intuition above all things. It never lies.I walk back over to my pack and Dale and Brandon are eating lunch. I'm starving (as usual) and I dig out my food. Then, Dale offers me a pbj sandwich, small bag of cheetos, peanut butter crackers, AND oreos!! Um....as long as they were offering food, I was willing to sit there like an obedient puppy and willfully accept! I ate it all...then proceded to eat my "normal" lunch as well, beef jerky, dried cherries. THANKS DALE AND BRANDON! Finally, the foggy mist started getting really cold, so we all packed up and they headed back to their car, and I was headed to none other than the 700 MILE MARK!!On my way there, I see a hiker and his little dog coming towards me. I say hi, then he stops in his tracks and goes, "Hey! You're Certain aren't you?" (I'll admit. I freakin love it when I get recognized...it's proof of just how the AT community really does pay attention to each other, and it's probably the closest thing to celebrity I'll ever experience...LOL).It was a trail maintainer named Bear Seeker, and his little terrier Lance. My conversation was hilarious, I forget that if someone's been reading my journal, that I'm not going to have anything new to say to them. Bear Seeker chooses 20 journals every year of people he thinks will make it (which is encouraging that I made his list) and he keeps track of who he meets. I told him I was going to stay with my friends again when I get up to Rockfish Gap, and he goes, "Oh yeah, Karen and Cindy right?" He asked how my foot was and he knew Rachal was sending me a new camera. I just started laughing, and I told him that as long as he didn't know my bra size, I was ok with him being able to spit out my life like that! LOL (then again...losing 36 lbs, I don't think I know my bra size now)He told me there are a lot of black bears around here, and how Lance (who stood a mere 18" off the ground) actually got swatted by a momma bear one day! Finally, Lance made it clear that it was time to move forward, so Bear Seeker and I took a pic and we headed our own ways. Super nice to meet you Bear Seeker, and again thanks for your work on the trail!So he had told me there was a 700 in rocks (Persistent again I bet) up ahead. I never saw it though, so I hit the 700 mile mark and made my own out of acorn shells. WOW 700 FREAKIN MILES!! My toast was:I'd like to toast to the past 200 miles, my first 20 mile day, "easier" hikes, Bonnie and Clyde helping the emaciated dog, having a good ole boy say "woooooo weeeeee" to me, the burger @ Trent's Grocery, Linda @ The Plaza Motel, the Evan's family (and all of Debbie's husbands)who helped me find the trail TWICE!, losing 36 lbs, a perfect lunch @ Trout Creek, looking death in the eye and surviving a near miss lightening strike on Cove Mtn., Ken and his incredible generosity of shower laundry insulation tent stake ride for chores and great company, The Home Place and its unbeatable fried chicken, rain fog and storms nearly everyday since Pearisburg, Dale and Brandon and the food, accepting wat mother nature gives you on McAfee's Knob, being able to talk to Bear Seeker and pet Lance, seeing 2 black bears before getting to Pearisburg, having Chris remind me that I finally have had a breakthrough and I've hiked 2 weeks without a momentum stopper, falling more than in any other 200 mile stretch, and my hammock, where I find safety security and comfort beyond belief.So after my toast, it was off to Tinker Cliffs, which I was looking at from across the valley from another mountain top, just yesterday. I can't believe I hiked that far. It was a tougher climb than to McAfee's. After getting there, (with no views again) I really enjoyed walking to the edge and looking straight down, and scaring myself LOL You know, the reason we're afraid of heights is because we think we'll somehow lose control and hurl ourselves over the cliff. It was still so cool to see the large crevaces, huge rocks, and sheer drop offs.After I played on the rocks, I headed down the mountain. There was this really cool point where a GIGANTIC rock was laying across two others and you could stand under them in a tunnel. This is not the guillatine, but was still pretty neat.The rain started coming down harder, and I'd decided to stop @ the next shelter, make dinner and then hike a few more miles. I had my friendly Virginia trail back today, few technical areas, mostly wet dirt\mud or leaf covered trail. It's amazing how much energy you save on days like today compared to hiking over Cove Mtn.On my way, I saw 2 deer, who were not the least bit phased by me. One was much younger than the other.I got to Lamberts Meadow Shelter and nobody was there. I made my spanish rice and read some of the register. People leave books in some shelters, and someone did the most hilarious thing. It was one of those Harlequin Romance Novels, and they tore the cover picture\title out and taped it in the register, along with a "choice" paragraph (you can imagine) and then wrote the Virginia state motto which is "Virginia is for Lovers" next to it. I absolutely died laughing, and took a pic too! LOLAs I ate dinner 3 hikers showed up. It was a dad and his two college-age kids. We all talked for a long time, they are from Lynchburg, dad (Dan) teaches political science, daughter (Kristin) just graduated from college in May and wants to hike the AT, son (Eric) is an English major @ Harvard. They were really fun to talk to, and were out for the weekend, headed to Catawba.I finally stop blabbing (I was little Ms. Social Butterfly today), and headed out @ 6:15 p.m. Troutville is only 9.6 miles, where I'll resupply again, so I wanted to knock a few miles off. I did see new wildlife this evening. A turtle was on the trail! I love turtles, but they normally pee on me, but this one didn't.I stopped hiking @ 7:45 p.m., found this great place to hang all alone. It was still raining. I found a perfect bearbag tree, but got my rope caught, so had to cut it, and try again. Good thing I got a new 50 ft rope.I was in bed by 8:36 p.m., and it's 61 degrees on a very damp nite. I'm still wearing my mid-weight thermals and knit cap along with my 20 degree bag as a quilt every nite by the way. I also threw on my long sleeved shirt too. Can you say cold-sleeper? LOL Today was an awesome "people" day. I so enjoy meeting locals and day hikers. I think partly because they always have questions and I get an opportunity to educate.Drip drop..listening to the rain still and am going to pass out. Still hungry though.~Certain