Date: 2009-05-18
From: Thunder Hill Shelter, VA

To: Campsite where Matts Creek enters James River, VA
Miles today: 12.5

Cell noneOG notesWe awoke to a very cold morning, I was glad we still have our winter sleeping bags and down jackets. We will be trading the gear for summer gear this weekend. The weather this morning is causing me some concern. We may hold on to an item or two for a few more weeks now, we'll see.The hike today went well, we only had one steep climb and even that wasn't too bad. We also had a very gradual uphill grade that lasted for 2 miles. Because it was gradual it went very well. We had a long section of trail where we didn't see any white blazes. These are white 2 inch by 4 inch markers that are painted on the trees or rocsk to indicate which way the trail goes. We followed our instincts and cautiouslly continued down the trail. We contemplated turning around and then finally saw a blaze. A little while longer and we would have turned around.We arrived at the Matts Creek Shelter knowing we wanted to sleep in our tent. The tent is bug free and even stays warmer than the shelter. The tent spots were still holding water from all the rain we've had. We decided to move on to this tent site, which is mentioned in our handbook. The site is small but we got our two tents (ours and Red Leg's) to fit in the space okay. C6 notesWhen we woke up this morning, it was 33 degrees out and we were very cold. We plan to trade our winter stuff for our summer stuff this weekend, and these cold temperatures have me worried about that. I'm so glad we still have them...we sure needed them last night, and we hear that tonight is supposed to be just as cold. We decided to tent tonight for 3 reasons...it's not supposed to rain, the bugs are out, and our body heat will keep the inside of the tent a little warmer than we would be if we slept in a shelter.We enjoyed getting to know a couple of thru-hikers we had met weeks ago better over the past two days. "Prarie Dog" and "Angry Beaver" are fast hikers, so we had only seen them briefly a few times a few weeks ago. Angry Beaver had some trouble with one of her legs, so they took some days off and caught up to us two nights ago. Because of the weather, they decided to stay at each of the two shelters we were at for the last two nights. The are a delightful couple, and we loved having the opportunity to be with them again. They are ahead of us again tonight and will stay ahead of us now most likely. But one never knows on the trail...we didn't expect to ever see them again, and were happily surprised when they arrived at the same shelter two nights ago.We love meeting other thru-hikers. There are some unique personalities among us, but most are wonderful folks whose company we thoroughly enjoy when get to know them. It's interesting how different a thru-hiker's mindset is from that of a section hiker. Section hikers know how long they'll be out here, and can count down the days (or hours). They haven't had some of the intense experiences we have had (e.g., the blizzard in early April), and just get off the trail if something is too intense for their comfort. We can get off, also, but choose not to. Thru-hikers take pride in surviving intense experiences...they give great conversation material when talking with other thru-hikers. (Where were you when...?) We met a section hiker who had an attitude (by what he was saying) as if he was having exactly the same experience we were having, and I found myself thinking how wrong he was. He wasn't on the trail when the blizzard struck, and he talked about how many days he has left on the trail. I'm so proud to have so many miles behind us and to have had so many exciting and challenging experiences.As we were hiking today we passed some day hikers. Two of them were quite overweight and struggling with the terrain. We passed them quickly and I found myself enjoying how easy it was for us now that our bodies are conditioned. When the young thru-hikers pass by us we feel as if we're really doing poorly, so it's satisfying to be reminded just how well we really are doing when we see the difference between us and day hikers or section hikers.Old Goat & Check Six