Date: 2015-05-03
From: Jenkins Shelter

To: Helveys Mill Shelter
Miles today: 15.3
Weather: scattered clouds

I had a pretty decent nights sleep but was awoken early by the talkers in the shelter. I tented a bit too close to the shelter apparently. I pretty much decided to do a short day of 15 miles so I layed in my sleeping bag for a while. I didn't get out of camp until about 8. Weather was great again. Nice and sunny and it was warming up quick. The first 5 mikes went really fast. I took a quick break by the creek and collected some more water. It was the last water source or a while. It's been a hassle having to carry more water. It's heavy and I always worry about running out. I usually drink a lot of water buy I've been trying to conserve since I'm not sure of the water sources anymore. I was having a pretty crummy morning. I just had no interest in hiking. All I wanted to do was sit on a couch and watch tv. After the creek the trail went up. I met a southbounders named smiles. She was an older woman and she smiled and smiled. She said the trail gets nice and smooth. Rolling ups and downs. And she said Trents Groceries was a great place to get a burger but to not eat the eggs, that they were disgusting. She was right about the trail. It was pretty nice. Gradual ups and downs, mainly hiked along the Ridgeline. I was just too irritated to enjoy it. I finally stopped about 1145. I sat and drank almost 2 liters of water and I ate lunch. I also talked to my sister on the phone. After that break and eating a crap ton of food I felt so much better. I feel like I didn't eat/drink enough yesterday or this morning. I was still feeling pretty worn out when I got up which is why it took forever for me to get put of camp. As I was finishing up another hiker passed by. Her name was 007. I had heard a out her previously. She always gets to camp after its dark.The trail continued to be nice and easy for a while.Just before i got to the edge of Bland VA there was some trail magic. Some one left 2 cases of water and plastic bags of soda along with the weather report for the next couple of days. Pretty awesome. I grabbed some water and filled up my bottles. The trail followed a road for a while along the outskirts of town and over the highway. Once back in the woods there was a gigantic up. It was pretty rediculous. I made it to the turnoff to the shelter about 230. Squabbler and 007 were sitting taking a break so I joined in. We chatted for a bit. They were pressing on to the next shelter which was another 10 miles. I really didn't feel like I had another ten miles in me. Plus by the time we finished our break it was after 3. And of I went on I wouldn't have made camp till 8 if I was lucky. I went down to the shelter and set up my tent. A little while later another hiker named GranBob came in. I went down to the water which was .3 miles down into a ravine. Such a hassle. Soon more people showed up to the shelter. Hot Sauce and Jacoby...I though they would be way ahead but they ended up going into Bland. Then another group of 4 showed up. Wrecker, Mouse, Sweet Eyes and Squeeze. They were a hoot. Squeeze has a cute dog. And Sweet Eyes made a liter of cappuccino with dinner and I have no idea how he is going to sleep tonight.I'm contemplating my miles for tomorrow. there is a waterfall .3 miles from the trail at mile 20 that maybe i can camp near or I can push on to the shelter at mile 24. There is also camping at mile 16. The terrain looks pretty smooth in the book...which is probably a big fat lie. Guess it all depends on how early I get up