Date: 2003-07-22
From: Bailey Gap Shelter

To: Laurel Creek Shelter
Miles today: 14.6
Weather: scattered clouds

Happy Anniversary to Aprille and Todd! I¢m pretty sure it¢s today¢¦This morning it¢s windy and it looks like rain.Some other great truths that were running through my mind yesterday: ¢Rejoice in the Lord always. I say it again, rejoice!¢ Philippians 4:4 ¢In everything give thanks¢¦¢ 1 Thessalonians 5:18. ¢I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.¢ Philippians 4:11On the sign at Va. 635, just before Wind Rock: Wilderness ¢ ¢an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain¢¦ An area of undeveloped¢¦land retaining its primeval character and influence¢¦¢ ¢ Wilderness Act of 1964.Thought that was cool. I love that word ¢ ¢primeval.¢Wind Rock is cool. The first viewpoint I think, at least in awhile, that didn¢t look out over farmlands. It¢s all tree-covered hills.On one of the rocks someone had graffitied, ¢Ask". I thought of Matthew 6:33, ¢Ask and it will be given to you.¢ So I did.I would have stayed up there to write awhile, but it deserves its name, and unlike my journal, my fleece is buried in the recesses of my pack.Just finished lunch at War Spur shelter. My worst nightmare has come true. (Note to reader: that¢s an exaggeration.) I¢m being chased by a bee. (Note to reader: that¢s not.) It¢s come after me twice, and follows me around if I get up to get away from it. Ahh! Flashbacks!What a difference between yesterday and today. I guess this morning¢s hike was less challenging than yesterday afternoon, and I had a better night¢s sleep; but my mood has improved 1000 percent. Seems like I heard or read somewhere that whatever you¢re like in the ¢real world¢, you¢re even more so on the Trail. Don¢t know if that¢s true or not, but I do have those miserable ups and downs at home too. The moral of the story is, 1) Be careful not to make any rash decisions (like leaving the Trail) in a down mode; 2) wherever you go, there you are, with all your same character flaws.So are the bugs¢¦ I¢m getting out of here!Later¢¦I think I¢ll have to experiment with my eating habits; it happened again this afternoon, on another long steep climb. (Someone wrote in the Chestnut Knob shelter register, ¢They told us Virginia was flat, but from what we¢ve seen she¢s very well-endowed.¢ I¢m thinking that about sums it up.) Maybe I ate too much, and combined with the heat and the climb it just did me in. I finally stopped and rested on a rock for about five minutes ¢ just shy of my first official Trail Magic! When once I got going again it wasn¢t five minutes before I came to a cooler full of ice, sodas, and candy bars, compliments of SuperDave, ¢02 & ¢03, at Rocky Gap and Va. 601. That was a huge bright spot in the day! What I wanted most was the ice, so I filled up my water bottle and went on, munching on ice cubes. What a treat that was.Usually when a gap is listed in the data book you know you are going down to the gap, and then back up again out of it. Not this one. It was pure up to the gap, and then when I crossed the road I saw the Trail went up some more! ¢More up?!¢ I whined inside. Ah, but ¢I¢ve learned to be content¢¦¢ ¢I can do all things through Christ¢¦¢ Right?Just then the wind began to blow, strong gusts; a storm was brewing in the West. This was the first time I¢ve actually wanted the rain to come; it would feel so good to be cool and to have some of the sweat rinsed off. Even just the wind was doing a good job of drying me off and cooling me down.I continued toiling up the hill. The first raindrops were big fat ones. Then came the drops from a sputtering spigot. At each peal of thunder I expected a downpour; I was actually enjoying this. I even took a side trail out to see the view from Kelly Knob ¢ worth it, even though all I saw was mist-covered hills. It was kind of neat being out there with the wind blowing, the rain spitting.After about a half hour though the adventure was¢¦ well, I began to feel eager to get to the shelter. Eager for that climactic feeling of getting into camp, cleaning up, and putting on warm, dry clothes ¢ that still smell good! Again, it was taking longer than I thought it should. ¢It¢s just around the corner,¢ I told myself, in honor of a former hiking partner. It wasn¢t, though. Then it hit me ¢ ¢Wait a minute, I¢m on top of a mountain here, and the shelter I¢m headed for is named Laurel Creek? Something¢s wrong with this picture.¢ I began to distrust my beloved data book. It¢s been somewhat less reliable since I crossed into Virginia. 37.6 minus 35.6 is in fact two, right? I haven¢t lost my math skills out here, have I? At last I began to go downhill, into brush that looked more like laurels. ¢Hike smart¢ re-echoed in my ears and I reigned myself in a little. My leg and knees felt okay, though.I finally arrived at the shelter, only about 15 minutes later than I expected. No one around. I disciplined myself to go get water before I changed into dry clothes. Took me about five minutes to figure out the water was on up the Trail about 50 yards. They put blue blazes on the trail to the privy ¢ a trail no one would miss ¢ but they don¢t tell you where to go for water!Once my chores were done and I was clean, warm, and dry I snuggled into my sleeping bag to journal.I hear trekking poles! Dan, a section hiker, a dentist from upstate New York, came in to join me for the night. Nice man ¢ talkative, we joked at having been alone too long! I¢ll be glad for some company. It wasn¢t too much longer before we heard voices coming from the woods, and Roman and Max appeared. Roman¢s a fisherman by trade, Max a Rotweiler-Chow mix (he looks a little like Tioga, Er!). A former thru-hiker, Roman¢s just out for a section this summer, going South from the Shenandoahs into Pearisburg.I am tired tonight, but with all the company and excitement probably won¢t be asleep before ten¢¦