Date: 2009-05-25
From: US 60

To: Seeley-Woodworth Shelter
Miles today: 14.0
Weather: moderate rain

The sleep felt good. So did the shower. Check-out at hotels always come way too soon. We made our way down to the motel restaurant for breakfast. I had an egg, cheese, and bacon biscuit, and an order of pancakes. The pancakes were huge and I could not finish them! We packed up and decided to check out Natural Bridge, since we were so close. I had no idea that you had to pay an obscene amount of money to see a natural landmark, so we ended up not seeing it! We decided to stop in Lexington again for lunch. It is a really nice college town with brick buildings and great places to eat. I wasn't too hungry, but Erik needed food before his long drive home. We had a great chicken pannini sandwich and lemonade and then headed over to the coffee shop. By the time we got back to the trail head, it was 2:30 pm, and I was anxious to go. I had a 2000 foot climb right off the bat. Part of me didn't feel like hiking, but once I got going, I was fine. In fact, I started feeling quite good! Eating town food is a tremendous help in climbing. The work seems so much easier! I think the out-of-shape feeling I have been talking about is simply a depletion of some substance in the body. Although I try to eat healthy food on the trail, the body simply does not function well on processed, packaged foods. I could eat a power bar every hour and still feel hungry. A good meal makes a world of difference! I ran into an athlete-type of guy who was headed south. He asked me if I was doing the whole trail and where I was from. When I said, "Boston," he responded. "So you're headed home.""Actually, I feel like the trail is more my home," I replied."You seem very at ease out here," he commented.Wow! For someone to say that I am at ease at all is quite stunning. I felt so happy and proud!      I next ran into a nice, confident young man at the trail intersection to Cow Camp Gap Shelter. He was waiting for the rest of his group to arrive. (I'll bet $10 that this young man is a future thru- hiker!) Soon after, I hiked up into some balds, which were beautiful! (I loved the balds in NC!) It feels so freeing to be out in the open with beautiful views everywhere. I was happy to be out here again, and on my own. I knew thunderstorms were on the way, so I moved on. The next shelter was almost out of reach, but it was my imaginary goal. At 6:48 pm, I had 4 miles to go! I moved as quickly as I could. At about 7:52, rain began to fall. I sped my pace even more. I saw 2 deer running across the grass and trail as the rain came down harder. I could see the shelter, but I still had to go further north to get to the side path. It started to pour and I full- out ran to the shelter! There was a tent set-up outside and no one in the shelter. By 8:03, I was sitting safely out of the rain and was extremely content. I love it when the timing works out so perfectly! I watched the rain come down as I cooked dinner, changed, read the registry, and prepared for bed. I had given Erik my sleeping pad to take home to lighten my load, thinking I would mostly be sleeping in my hammock. Not tonight! I would have to try sleeping in the shelter with only my down underquilt as a pad. I saw that it was Single Speed in the tent, trying to escape the bugs, which made me happy. I almost called out to him, but why would he come out into the pouring rain? Because of his warning about the bugs, I decided to sleep in my hammock- on the shelter floor to have a bug net around me. I won't be doing that again... All night, I worried about someone night hiking into the shelter and I hardly slept. When I did, I had horrible, grotesque nightmares. Single Speed got up at 2:30 and walked in front of the shelter to take down his bear bag, but no one ended up coming in that night.