Date: 2008-05-22
From: Clarks Valley , PA

To: Stealth site 2 miles past Rausch Gap Shelter, PA
Miles today: 15.0
Weather: light rain

Okie dokie, hiking again. We woke up around 7 a.m., and my tentative plan was to just go to Rausch Gap Shelter, about 13 miles, so I could leave as late as 10:00 a.m. and have plenty of time.We finished packing up, took a shower, and went downstairs for breakfast. Another waffle for me with milk and OJ. We checked out (they made the mistake of asking us how are stay had been so Karen told them the truth, but she's much more polite than I would have been).We headed out and the sky looked ominous with swirly dark grey clouds..AGAIN. The weatherman said this is the last day of this crap and that it's been 10 degrees below normal with higher than average rainfall.Just before getting to Clarks Valley, it started raining lightly. I mean seriously, can it freakin stop for 1 day? But then...miraculously it did. We arrived and both got out to walk over to the beautiful stream here. It's just eye candy here.It was horrible saying goodbye again. You'd think it would get easier, but it just gets worse. We snapped a picture and I told Karen to give the boys lots of petting and kisses from me.I finally had to go, it was 10:33 a.m. and I had almost 2 miles of up ahead of me. Karen decided to sit @ the stream and observe it until she saw a brook trout. The sun did come out, and that made me feel a little better.The climb up Sharp Mountai actually wasn't bad at all. It made me sweat, and my legs got a bit tired, but I didn't have to stop to catch my breath. I must be near a military base, because ALL morning, these jets were flying right over me and very low to the ground. It was freakin loud! I got paranoid thinking maybe somehow I'd wandered into some restricted area, but alas, the white blazes kept coming.There were clouds then sun then a few sprinkles then sun, and lots of wind all day today.I got to a beautiful stream about 3.5 miles up and the water looked like liquid gold. The color of the rocks\sand\water was amazing. I don't know what causes it, but it was cool. I filled up with water and headed on. After the climb up, the trail was so totally flat and mostly friendly with 1 or 2 rocky spurts thrown in. I've still not reached "the" PA rocks yet, and if I have, then everybody must be on crack, but I doubt that huh?There were several trails connecting to the AT today. One, Horseshoe Trail is a 121 mile trail. When I see these, I want to come back and do them somday.So my maps say the trail today followed an old stagecoach road from the 1800's. Man, can't imagine riding in one of those on this terrain. I think a person would get a bruised butt from all the bouncing around.Not much wildlife, only 1 deer. I think it's still too cold for some animals, but I did hear there were 3 bears snooping around Rausch Gap Shelter last week.I stopped for lunch around 12:30 (PBJ) and took a quick break. It was in the low 50's today so I'd cool off pretty quickly when I stopped.I saw a cool family today. Both mom and dad had little babies on the backpack-style baby carriers, then a little boy with his own little pack, and an even younger girl, a big dog with his own pack and dad was carrying a miniature poodle that was the size of a volleyball at best. What a crew! I talked to them a bit, but headed on.I was making great time despite my late morning start, and estimated I'd be @ Rausch Gap Shelter @ 3:40 p.m. It was 3:41 when I arrived @ the sign. I'd already decided it was too early to stop and I want to get back into my flow of cooking dinner then hiking a few more miles. So, I bypassed the shelter and saw there was an AT detour. It took me right by Rausch Creek, which is a gorgeous creek. Just as I decided to stop to make dinner and break, it started raining with the sun shining. I put on my raingear and strung out my tarp. I went ahead and ate dinner even though it was a bit early. It was really cooling off with the rain.Finally the rain stoppd and I packed up and headed out again around 5:15 p.m.The trail goes across the creek, and really, I'd categorize it as a river, so I had to ford it. I normally don't mind, but it was 53 degrees @ 5:30, and I sort of didn't want to get my feet cold, because it was already cool, but oh well, I did it anyways. The creek was flowing strongly and it went almost up to my knees. I got across just fine and got to look at a partial old stone railroad bridge that once crosed the creek.I got back up the bank, and sat down to put my socks and shoes back on and then the rain started again. It's hard to tell if it merits stopping to put o raingear, so I was about to, then it stopped again, then it started again and I stood there and yelled, "C'mon!!" and it stopped instantly for good! LOL I'd love to think I could order the rain to stop, but highly doubt that was anything more than coincidence.The detour ends up meeting back where the AT croses a bridge. There was a sign explaining that the first ever Limestone Diversion Well in the U.S. was north of the the old railroad bridge. It showed technical pictures, but I decided I'd google it at home and moved on.The woods were now the beautiful pine trees and it was so quiet. I decided to hike until 6:30, which took me up Second Mountain. It started getting windier as I climbed so I finally made a decision to take this side path that went down a bit and find a place to camp.The wind was weird though, it seemed to be coming out of 4 directions, so hanging in a direction to be blocked by my tarp was a challenge tonight.I got set up and put duff on all 4 sides of my tarp.I ended up hanging with my head a bit too low, so the incredible strap suspension of Bruce's allowed me to loosen\lower the foot end and tighten\raise the head end of my hammock in just seconds. Couldn't have done that with tree huggers.So It's 51, suppoed to be in the 40's tonight. I'm all bundled up. I did talk to Karen and she said she was mauled by the boys when she walked in. Our neighbor has been checking on them everyday, but you know how pets love their owners.Oh, and an acceptance letter was waiting for me in the mail too, for going back to school @ UVA to finish my second Master's degree, so that's exciting as well. Karen gave me the news tonight.Well, I'm exhausted, and am falling asleep, so I best close. The weather is suposed to be nicer for a few days..YIPPY!!~Certain