Date: 2009-05-05
From: Atkins

To: Knot Maul Branch Shelter
Miles today: 14.0
Weather: light rain

Aqua had asked me if a spinach, bacon, and cheese omelet would be okay for breakfast. Absolutely! He also cooked up a bunch of sausage patties that he was disappointed that I did not eat more of. As I packed up my things, Ram Bunny spread some peanut butter on a couple of yesterday's pancakes for me to take on the trail. I learned my lesson from not doing that in Hot Springs! I signed the border of their huge print of an AT tree, and Aqua lifted my pack to bring it to the car. "Is she Wonder Woman?", Ram Bunny asked him. "Yup. She's Wonder Woman," he said. (Ram Bunny couldn't believe how heavy my maildrop was. She was telling the other hikers that I was sent a canned ham from home and that they didn't understand that I had to carry it all!) Ram Bunny gave me the latest forecast of rain all week. "What can you do..." I said. (You hike! Right?) The Happy Hiker Hollow is in its first year of business and one thing is for sure: it is a much welcomed and needed addition to Atkins!   Aqua dropped me back off at the gas station and I saw three hiker guys who are always together across the street. Funny. I believe they were on their way to a restaurant. I had a lot of highway traversing to do before I found the trail again. Every so often, it's funny to be out on the highway, but I feel like I've been on roads too much lately. I did see a bright yellow finch on my roadwalk.   As I returned to the trail, the fragrant scent of a bush with white blossoms returned. The trail crossed grasslands and meadows, and I had to cross the most treacherous concrete grating I have ever come across! It had rounded edges and was very slippery, and one misstep would cause my foot to slip and get stuck in one of the cracks, causing me to tip over from the force of my pack. I don't know how many minutes it took for me to cross that couple of yards, but I sure am glad that no one was around to watch me do so!   At the Davis Path Campsite, I came to a former shelter that is no more. All that remains is a platform, one working broom, and a privy. I stopped to put my packcover on as it started to rain.Later on, as the rain came down harder, I stopped to put on my raingear. I noticed the three guys coming up the trail behind me and tried to move my pack to the side so they could pas by. That's when my open umbrella started tumbling down the hill, followed by my pack and other items in it. (Don't mind me, fellows...)      It was definitely the day of styles- it felt like I had to step up and down about 82 of them! They are kind of fun and interesting when they are rare, but after about the fourth one, they become quite tedious. They take time to get over (some are steeper than others), and even more time when the wood is slippery from the rain, as it was today. I kept thinking, "If I come to one more of these...!", and then, of course, I would have to climb another one, and then yet another one.      The rain started coming down quite hard in the afternoon (before I reached VA 610), and after it lightened up, I would have to stop and take off my rain clothes because I was overheating as I climbed the hills. I hiked through cow pastures with large paddies, and felt lucky to be there just after the rain had lightened up to see some low clouds hanging below the mountains.   I heard two male hikers behind me, who were talking loudly and moving very quickly. They were not very friendly to me. As I neared Knot Maul Branch Shelter, another hiker came up behind me, and I let him pass. He was nicer. He asked if I was going to the shelter, and I said I was for a break, but would probably move on . He looked at his watch and agreed that it was too early to stop. The rain started up again as I got closer to the shelter, so I pulled out my umbrella. I saw several guys in the shelter ahead and thought about whether or not I should tuck my umbrella away before I got there... I decided it was fine to keep it out. Just then, one of the not-so-nice guys who was on his way out, called out to me, "You have an umbrella on the trail?! I don't think that's kosher!" His buddy agreed. I didn't let their comments bother me. What I carry is up to me and nobody's business but my own. I am the one who will carry it all the way from Georgia to Maine. One of the two asked if anyone had a lighter he could use to repair his pack strap. No one volunteered so I gave him mine, although I wished I had asked him to take back his comment. He did not seem thankful. As he was leaving, he noticed that I, like himself, had a ULA pack. "Nice pack," he said. "Is it the Circuit?""No, the Catalyst," I said. He shrugged and gave an expression that read, "Never mind. I take that back." I don't know where attitudes like this come from. I find it completely ridiculous. He set off for another 9 miles at 5pm.   Mischa (the nicer one introduced himself) and chatted with Single Speed, who had arrived at the shelter a couple of hours earlier. Meanwhile, the three hikers that I had seen in the morning where hovering several yards away from the shelter, but not coming down to it. We finally figured out that they were setting up their tents up there. The rain began to fall harder as Mischa began packing up to head back out. I started to lose my motivation to move on and camp. Single Speed kept telling me that I should claim my space if I was going to stay, as he knew of at least 2 couples that were planning on spending the night there. As the rain fell in droves, muddying the dirt in front of the shelter, I unrolled my sleeping pad against the open wall of the shelter just in case. Fourteen miles did not seem like enough for the day, but I finally succumbed. I thought it the best course of (in)action, given the weather we had. I waited for it to abate before walking the nearly one half mile north to collect water. The other couples came in, soaked to the skin, and everyone found a place to sleep. It was actually one of the loneliest nights on the trail for me. (I wished I had set up next to Single Speed).