Date: 2009-06-17
From: Johns Spring Shelter

To: Lamberts Meadow Shelter
Miles today: 9.4
Weather: moderate rain

Last night, it completely poured again. And¢¦in the morning, it completely poured too. This entire trek so far has been in monsoon conditions. All the locals have been saying that it has been the heaviest rainfall on record and they are all getting completely sick of it. Well, we are too! As it was raining so much in the am, I decided to stay put, instead of venturing on out into the crazy furor of nature. Several people came into the shelter to seek protection from the rain, but then passed on shortly, thereafter. The Boy Scouts group that I had met a day earlier ¢ all 16 of them ¢ also came into the shelter and managed to get everything wet. I didn¢t mind, however, as I would have wanted to do the same damn thing. During this time, I caught up on some much-needed sleep and made a few phone calls/texts in order to catch up with friends and family. I also had to coordinate with Jill and Zach to pick up a mail drop at the church hostel in Waynesboro. I will soon be getting a smaller pack and a lighter grade sleeping bag due to the summer¢s heat. Both Jill and Zack made my life so much easier by helping to do this and assisting with transportation logistics. I was still thirsty as hell, but I still didn¢t want to venture out into the rain ¢ not knowing where the closest fresh source of water was. I noticed that there was a large puddle that was developing right in front of the shelter and, as Jedi had a great filter, I decided to fill up his filter bags with the dirty rain water and filter it through. The filter worked great and it actually came out clear! Damn was I thirsty. It was only until after I finished drinking it all when I realized that that water I had just drank might have been contaminated with rat feces from the shelter. There is quite a bit of runoff and, as the puddle was only within a few feet downhill from the shelter, well, this was a possible scenario. Jedi kept saying that I probably have the deadly hantavirus, but I was a bit more hopeful. Ahh, if it was going to kill me, it was going to kill me. I couldn¢t do anything about it. When we finally left the shelter, it was about 3 pm. The last several days, I had been leaving the shelter late and I wasn¢t all too happy about it ¢ but there really wasn¢t too much that I could do. Jedi and I stopped at the Catawba Mountain Shelter to fill up with some more water and eat a proper meal. Today, we would be hitting McAfee Knob, which is supposed to have the most beautiful view on the trail. It was doubtful that we would be seeing anything. When I arrived to McAfee Knob, there wasn¢t a soul around. I couldn¢t see a damn thing except for the 20 feet or so in front of me. I was in the middle of a cloud. Jedi arrived soon after and we took some pictures out on the Knob and then continued hiking. Tinker Cliffs is supposed to be equally as impressive as you are hiking on the left-hand side of a mountain ridge, overlooking a 3,000 foot descent down below. Maybe at some point in my life, I will have the chance to come back and re-do this section. Yes, I think that¢s what I¢ll have to do. As some friends told me later on, pictures and stories just do not do it justice. It is truly magnificent. Past Tinker Cliffs, I saw another large bear ¢ this time, a male ¢ that skirted off the trail and ran into the distance. It was late and I had to hike in rocky terrain in the dark for the last three miles. I hiked down to Lambert Meadow Shelter, where I met Belinda (mother) and Audra (daughter), who had lost their dog on Dragons Tooth a month earlier. My trail buddy Frankenfoot had seen a red and white-coloured Poodle two days earlier at this shelter and, upon reaching Daleville, had called them up to let them know of the sighting. Losing an family pet is just like losing a son or daughter, and as I have lost (through death) my share of childhood pets, I can relate somewhat to their anguish. Before going to bed, I tried to eat as much food as possible so that in the morning, I would have a very lightweight pack heading into Daleville. A huge moth just flew into the shelter and it was so large that I thought that it was a bat. I¢ll be waking up very early in the morning heading into Daleville.