Date: 2014-05-28
From: lewis spring

To: pass mountain hut
Miles today: 19.7
Weather: broken clouds

Well, last night didnt go that well. On the way back to my tent i stopped into the laundry room to plug in my cellular telephone for a while. I found an outlet and set it on the floor to charge. Captain asked if i was going to leave it, of course i said. Nobody would steal my flip open phone. I planned to leave it for a bit then slip up and get it before i went to sleep. After about 45 min i walked back up and found my phone still plugged in on the floor, underwater. Someone had come and cleaned the floor and not cared that my phone was there and luckily where my tele was was a low spot and collected a puddle. Oh crap. I took out the battery and tried to dry it the best i could with paper towels. This can not be good. Sooo in the morning i waited for the store to open so i could buy some rice to pack my phone in. I roamed around the store but all i could find was a backpacker pantry meal so my tele is hopefully drying in a bag of louisiana red beans and rice dehydrated meal. Lets hope it works. We set back off down the trail and quickly came across a few deer that were not at all concerned with people. We passed by them only a couple feet away. It was rocky trail but we made good time over the first eight miles. At that point we made it to the Skyland resort and restaurant for lunch. We bought overpriced sandwiches and fruit. The shenandoahs are nice but the tourist prices are way too high. At the wayside we met hikermonkey, he recognized us from the day we did trail magic. Hes a nice kid but is having some tendon trouble, i hope it clears up for him. As we hiked thru the afternoon it got progressively cloudier and rain looked like it was on the way. I was sure we would make it to the shelter before it rained. Passing the overlooks we could see the weather coming in and the humidity down in the valley. We did take a quick break at the byrds nest hut for a drink and skittles. Only 4.4 miles to go we had it in the bag. If there was time i would have loved to climb up marys rock and see the view from the top but the thunder rumbling made me quicken my step. From there it was a long downhill where we hoped we could make good time, it was really rocky. Rock hopping down a hill can be tricky, sometimes i feel like im salsa dancing my feets are going so fast. Then the trail turned right toward the worst of the storm, oh boy. The thunder was right above us getting louder. We came up on hikermonkey again, he was hustling along too. I said RUN HIKERMONKEY!! Then we caught up to three section hikers we have been seeing. They are a nice family, a dad, son and daughter hiking the shenandoahs. Cool folks we have seen a few times. They let us pass and we were skipping along fast, then it rained. We were all cruising along when it started to pour. Captain and i were pulling away setting AT hiker speed records trying to get to the shelter before soakage set in. Then all the heavens opened up. You could not get any more wet but still wanted to get there before our packs got soaked thru. It was no use, we had to stop to throw on pack covers as it was a total drenching. As we hiked upstream we made it to the shelter just as the rain was letting up so we quick style put up our tents before it started again. I cooked at the shelter possibly the worst dinner so far on the trail. I put a package of ramen noodles and a pack of dried carrots together, it was horrible. I ate it anyway. Hikermonkey and the other family showed up soaked too. We hung out and talked over dinner. Its always fun finding out what peoples real life is. The dad is a dentist, the son is going into the army and the daughter is.......i dont know what her deal is. So before bed i hung a clothes line in hopes the rain would stop and things would dry by morning. I really like being on my tent in the rain, it makes me sleep very well, which makes me very happy.