Date: 2015-06-26
From: Rocky Mountain campsite

To: Deep Gap shelter
Miles today: 11.7
Weather: light rain

Well that didn't go as planned. Wow. The plan was to do a long day - 13 miles - to get into town. I'm out of clean clothes, low on food, etc. 13 miles is a lot but I was taking breaks to rest my feet, etc. but somewhere near the top of Kelly Knob is started to pour. I put the cover on my pack and continued.And then the lightning and thunder picked up like nobody 's business. It was scary. It was about to get terrifying.The lightning was *close*. As soon as it lit up, I barely had time to put my fingers in my ears, the thunder was that quick. No counting " one-one-thousand- two-one-thousand" -- it was exactly where I was. And loud.And I was on the peak of a mountain covered in trees...pretty much exactly where you don't want to be. Lots of trees and then bare-ish areas - both bad choices. And I had no idea how far I was from a shelter.I went through my options...toss my poles and assume the lightning position? Try to get lower down the mountain? I started jogging, but I couldn't get out of it, the thunder was everywhere.And then the lightning hit behind me, so close, I felt something course through my left middle finger. My heart was going like mad. I had dropped down...I checked to make sure I was okay--was I breathing? Burned? And I was okay. And then I booked it. There was nothing else to do. Staying there under a tree wasn't safe . I can't believe how fast I ran down this steep, slippery incline, pack and all, splashing and praying the storm would move in another direction. "Where the f--- is that shelter?!"It was a while before I saw the blue blaze and thankfully, the Deep Gap shelter sign. I was never so relieved to see one. When I barreled into the entrance, I saw a man and his two daughters and a woman already there, all equally soaked . They'd been just ahead of me on the trail and had also been caught in the lightning .It smelled like mouse poop. And the second level was full of mouse droppings. But I was so happy to be there. That was by far the closest I've come to being struck by lightning.There is something oddly romantic about a bunch of strangers stranded in a shelter...mice and all. We laid out our mats, started changing out of wet clothes, and talking. One of the girls pulled out the log and read aloud to us. Many entries were about The Lord of the Rings - apparently there used to be a LOTR trivia game in the shelter! (The girls were excited, as they'd been singing the Ballad of Bilbo or whatever all day, and arguing about which forests in the books corresponded with the trees they were seeing here. I was doing a similar thing, but with a different text...,yesterday was Endor but this morning was totally Dagobah!!!!)The other prominent theme in the log: mice. So many entries about the mice in the shelter! One was a drawing of "Enrique," who was particularly fat-bellied after a night of feasting on hikers' packs. My favorite by far, "Of Mice and Men," is shown here!We hung our food bags outside and then our packs inside, with all the zippers and compartments open. It reminded me of when my dad had a cloth-top convertible.... He left the car doors unlocked so that thieves wouldn't cut through the top to break in. We were doing the same - leaving the packs open to the mice so they wouldn't chew their way in.The girls and I mummified ourselves in our sleeping bags, up most of the night freaked out about the mice. Their dad and the solo hiker next to me were snoring. :-) I heard the mice, but never saw or felt them. According to the log, a snake had taken up residence under the shelter, so perhaps that tipped the Man-Mouse Wars in our favor. I'm definitely on Team Snake.Random Thoughts: ¢¢ it's so cruel to have names like "Indian Grave Gap" and "Cheese Factory site" and then nothing out of the ordinary there! No ruins, not even a plaque! ¢¢ I had a decadent break at "Swag of the Blue Ridge."¢¢ songs that played in my head today included most of Weird Al Yankovic's "In 3D", most of the Grease soundtrack, "Walk Like an Egyptian," and "We Walk." (early REM is perfect for Georgia!)¢¢ when I'm in my glasses and braids and bandanna at the end of the day, I look like the cartoonist Lynda Barry