Date: 2011-06-09
From: Glen Brook Lean

To: Mt. Wilcox South Lean
Miles today: 19.6

Yesterday evening recap -- I pull a short day into Glen Brook allowing plenty of time to set up camp and relax. By noon my tent is pitched, skies are blue and I'm getting my relax on. The day continues to unwind in this leisurely manner until nightfall when thunder begins to clamor in the distance, quickly rising in volume and frequency. With the thunder comes the wind and finally at 9:00p in pitch darkness the storm rises. I hear the rain quickly approaching through the forest like a marauding army before the onslaught hits my small tent. I quickly pull all of my gear into my tiny harbor and doing so notice bits of ice bouncing around on the ground. The storm rages and the thunder is crackling all around me, one bolt so near that it lights my tent like a strobe followed instantly by the hiss, crackle, and deafening bolt of thunder. The sides of my tent sag from the deluge and I use one of my poles as a makeshift support to prop the side from descending further (this makeshift prop works surprisingly well and gives me some measure of satisfaction in the midst of all this). In a storm like this you can't make yourself feel small enough and I find myself wondering if a bear has ever been struck by lightning. Bugs are a part of the trail - gnats, flies, mosquitoes, no-see-ums, horseflies. For these insects a hiker is, at a minimum, a curiosity to be followed and investigated, and at the worst a potential meal. They deal in volume and have no qualms about taking one for the team. Slap one and 2 or 3 more take its place. I descend a mountain into a boggy lowland area and immediately notice a dramatic increase in mosquito activity that quickly reaches biblical proportions. They swarm my ears, arms and legs and I start doing the 'crazy dance' to protect my exposed skin. There is no breeze, I can't outrun them and the thought of stopping still long enough to get bugspray out of my pack is even less appealing. The worst section of this lasts for 4 miles and as I walk through I'm thinking that this stretch could somehow be incorporated into the TV show 'Fear Factor', coming to the conclusion that I might have to walk away from the million dollars if I had to lie down and endure this for an hour. My excitement isn't over for the day. At 3:00p I'm at a shelter but the next shelter is only 5 more miles, not too far in hiker miles. I set out with hikers Firefly and 30+ and about a mile after we set out we hear the faint rumblings of thunder. Over the next mile the sky takes a dramatic turn for the worse, continuing to darken and thunder getting both louder and more frequent. In the next half mile it gets as dark as I've ever seen at 4:00p, such that we briefly consider getting headlights out, and the wind is now shaking trees like toys. The heavens open up and we're still 2 1/2 miles from our destination with no option but to press on. I stop to put on my rain jacket which helps against the wind and driving chill rain. Arrival at the shelter is a welcome sight and we only find out a day later that thousands of people were without power due to this storm. At Wilcox Shelter that night - 30+, Firefly, Hermes, Sensei, The Corsican Walk on!