Date: 2010-05-11
From:  campsite 1/2 mile South of Angels Rest ovetlook

To: Damascus, Va
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

Day 66The eagles nest on a cliff campsite was great all the way to the point when the freaking hurricane showed up. Don't tell me there wasn't one because I know better. The wind came up the mountain side and was funneled straight into every stitch and seam in my sleeping bag. I zipped down the fly, but silly me forgot to plan for staking it out. I was so close to the edge that there was no place to stick the stake. I tried shoving the fly under my sleeping pad which worked fine for the center of the fly but at either end there wasn't any fly material to tuck under. The wind just blew straight in. The only thing that worked was to slide half my tyvek ground cloth up on that side and pull down on the grommet that's used for tying up the fly. I ran the pull string that tightens up the neck portion of my sleeping through the grommet and then held the string down with my hand. Pretty stupid, I know. But that's me. I paid for it with cold feet.The real problem came in the morning when it started to rain. I had my food bag and some other stuff inside the backpack hanging on a tree outside. It was wrapped in its rain cover but if I wanted breakfast I needed the pack. Best to get it before it started monsooning. What a mini disaster. The second I got off the sleeping pad the fly started flapping around and slinging water everywhere. Once back in the tent I tossed the food bag on the fly and it worked perfect to stake down the fly. No wind or rain was coming in from cliff side anymore. Why didn't I think of that earlier. Probably because it would have involved getting out of the sleeping bag and that's crazy talk.Anyhoo, I wiped everything down and stuffed my sleeping bag into its bag and put it away in the backpack to keep it from getting any wetter. Also, I failed to mention earlier that I was not actually using my tent. I only had the fly and pole to save weight. This allowed me plenty of room to be comfortable as I enjoyed my breakfast. I had left the screen tent part of my tent in creek's car as a test run. I think I like it without the tent, but last night was not a fair test for bugs. I may need to get a bug net for my head. The other thing I need is a wider tyvek ground cloth.So now I was comfortable and had food in my stomach and began planning for the day. Those were the positives. The negative was that I hadn't even started walking yet and my ankle/shin was protesting every bad angle j put if in. Plus, obviously I didn't sleep very well. I could go the 5 miles to the next shelter, climb in and go back to sleep. Or I could go back the 2 1/2 miles (plus 1 mile of road walking) to pearisburg and hitch a ride back to Damascus where I could rest my ankle/shin for 5 days like a smart person would do. So here I am back in Damascus. Creek and Brian offered to drive me here and I accepted. I am such a burden on society. So Ben came from Bkacksburg and drove us to the car in bland. In return I set up there tent in z nice spot inside the TrailTalk area and put up there tarp over the picnic table. JB has been here as a volunteer cleaning up the camping areas and making trails so HD was allowed to tape off an area and put up a few tents. I am sleeping in on of them. I spent some time collecting as much fire wood as I could and rebuilt the fire ring. Then I updated my journal and uploaded some pics. I am currently in the shower/bathroom at the campground and have been for several hours because there is power here to run my phone. I wish I could leave it here to charge but someone would steal it for sure. Bring back in the real world does have its negatives. Goodnight and sweetdreams to all of you out there not living the 1000 mg of Ibuprofen So I Can Stand To Hike Down The Mountain Dream.