Date: 2004-04-12
From: Knot Maul Branch Shelter, VA

To: Day 36: Jenkins Shelter, VA
Miles today: 18.6
Weather: moderate rain

Despite the fact that my new radio alarm clock didn¢t work ¢ my fault, I still managed to get on the trail on AT Day 36 by 7:00 a.m. and this time I was all decked out in my rain gear. The first half of the day¢s hike was highlighted by lots of relatively tough hill climbs, especially the 4.5-mile stretch up Chestnut ridge. The latter was a wide-open grassy climb in a dense misty rain, with winds that were easily 30-40 mph, since they kept blowing me off the trail. To make matters worse, combined with the very poor visibility and rain, the temperature was in the low 30¢s - fun day!When I finally got to the Chestnut Knob Shelter around 11:30 a.m., I found Briar Rabbit and Tell It Like It Is who told me that because of the abysmal weather, they were going to take a zero day in this totally enclosed shelter. They also told me that three SOBO section hikers who I passed earlier in the day, had taken nearly three hours to get up enough courage to go out and face the elements ¢ and they were going down the hill I just climbed. In any event, as tempting as staying the relatively warm, and definitely dry shelter seemed, I told my friends that I needed to stay on schedule in order meet up with my wife in Pearisburg on Thursday morning, so I needed to push on despite the weather.In all honesty, it took me 15 minutes or so to ¢pump myself up¢ (getting up my courage, quickly consuming an energy bar for lunch and doing push-ups to warm up) to go out the door on the run. Much to my surprise, the temperature on the way down the hill was a little warmer, and winds were clearly much abated, so I was encouraged that I might actually make it through this ordeal alive. Now the trail wasn¢t completely down hill, and on one of the particularly rocky climbs I found a camera just lying there on the trail. Thinking that it had to belong to a hiker who passed this way shortly before and rather than leave it to get even wetter, I picked it up and put it in my jacket.A little while later, I ran into a SOBO section hiker and noting his rather unconventional clothing (he had on cotton calf length pants, no hat and no pack cover), I asked him where he was going. He told me that he was going to the Knot Maul Shelter. Hearing this I strongly advised him that he had better change his plans and stay at the Chestnut Knob Shelter, otherwise he might freeze going across the Chestnut Ridge. I don¢t know if took to my advice, but I suspect Briar Rabbit and Tell It Like It Is told him much the same thing.When I got to the Jenkins Shelter, a total day¢s hike of 18.6 miles, I met a new to me through hiker, Mello, an early 20¢s young man with a strong Alabama accent.   I asked Mello if he had lost anything and he didn¢t think he had, but when I mentioned the camera he immediately told me the brand and type, so I gave it to him. He told that this was the second time he had dropped it, so I politely told him that unless he wanted to give it away, he needed a better carrying plan. Mello told me that he had been at the Chestnut Knob Shelter the evening before with Briar Rabbit and Tell It Like It Is, and rather than join them in a zero day he decided to push on to the Jenkins Shelter since he needed to make it to Bland, VA, the next day for a mail food drop pick-up. In reviewing my own situation it was clear things were getting worse since by now most of my hiking clothes were wet and my sleeping bag was still damp from the night before. All things considered at least I wasn¢t in the pouring rain and the temperature was probably 10 degrees warmer than up on Chestnut Ridge. To add one more bit of drama, during the night, Mello and I were awakened often by thunder and lightening ¢ ah the pleasures of sleeping in the wild.