Date: 2005-05-07
From: 0.2 mile North of Jennings Creek

To: Thunder Hill, Harrison Ground Campsite
Miles today: 19.0

Miles hiked today : 19.016.5 AT miles + 2.5 miles of side trailI woke up this morning at 7:45 a.m. and was on the trail at 8:45 a.m. I quickly covered the 3.6 miles to Bryant Ridge Shelter, arriving at 10:05 a.m. Bryant Ridge Shelter is a phenomenal work of construction, even more so than the Partnership Shelter. With two levels and windows, I would have been more than happy to stay there had I arrived at night. As it was morning, I stayed for 40 minutes, just long enough to filter water and eat a snack.Heading out, I had a 2,240 foot climb over 4.4 miles up to Floyd Mountain. While the climb wasn't very steep, it was long. I was definitely ready for lunch at 1:00 p.m. when I reached Cornelius Creek Shelter, 0.6 mile past the summit of Floyd Mountain.After a 35 minute lunch by myself, I moved on, only to run into 4 hikers on the side trail connecting the shelter to the AT. One of them was Frenchie and we quickly made plans to take pictures of one another at "The Guillotine," which is a boulder suspended above the AT by two very large neighboring rocks. It's the second of 3 rock tunnels on the AT. The first is "Fatman Squeeze" near the Grayson Highlands and the third is Mahoosuc Notch in Maine. Frenchie was planning to take a 1 hour lunch, so I proposed that neither of us wait at "The Guillotine" later than 5:30 p.m. Back on the AT, I stopped after 0.1 mile to filter water and moved on at 2:00 p.m.About this time, the blue sky turned cloudy and it began to lightly sprinkle. This threatened to interfere with my plans to take the Apple Orchard Falls side trail, though by the time I arrived at the intersection at 3:10 p.m., the sky had cleared up again.Down, down, down the Apple Orchard Falls side trail steeply went. A total descent of 950 feet over 1.1 miles led me to a rather nice 100' tall waterfall. To my surprise, the USFS had built a very nice boardwalk down at the base of the falls. I walked past the end of the boardwalk to briefly explore the contiuing trail, but soon turned back, as I wanted to make my 5:30 p.m. appointment.The climb back up to the AT was strenuously difficult and I arrived at 4:30 p.m., having spent 1 hour, 20 minutes on my side trip. My climbing wasn't done yet, as I had an immediate 865 foot climb to the summit of Apple Orchard Mountain. I arrived at the summit at 5:15 p.m. and was greeted by the prescence of an FAA tower shaped somewhat like a 30 foot diameter soccer ball. Curiously, it had several lightning rods distributed across it.Moving along, I arrived at "The Guillotine" at 5:25 p.m. The boulder itself is about 3 feet in diameter and would certainly hurt if it fell on you. I waited for 10 minutes, though there was no sign of Frenchie, so I continued on, arriving at Thunder Hill Shelter. Frenchie was at the shelter and had moved on less than 10 minutes before my arrival because of the rain that began while I was at the FAA tower. Oh well, I wouldn't have wanted to wait in the rain either. Besides, I still got pictures of "The Guillotine." 0.3 mile before I reached the shelter, as I was climbing up some wet rocks to cross the Blue Ridge Parkway, I slipped and smashed my right hand on the rocks, painfully bending the fingers backward. Ouch! Cha-ching, fall #14. My fingers seem to be working, so I'm hoping the soreness will eventually dissipate with a little assistance of Vitamin I.Frenchie and I had also made plans earlier to camp 2.6 miles past the shelter so that we could make it into town earlir tomorrow. Once I reached the shelter, I filtered water and decided to make dinner before moving on. Frenchie decided to move on with the intention of having dinner at the campsite.Not 5 minutes after Frenchie left, it began to rain again and I heard claps of thunder. I'm wary of thunder now, as it seems to mean that lightning is on its way. Thankfully, the thunder claps didn't last long. I finished my dinner and at 7:15 p.m., headed out in a light drizzle. My hands were very cold to boot.I wanted to get to camp as quickly as possible, so I was tearing down the trail. At 7:35 p.m., I came around a corner and was very startled to find a deer less than 5 feet away. The deer was startled as well and quickly bounded away, stopping about 100 feet away to watch me. I saw another deer standing next to the first and was able to get my camera out and zoom in for a picture of the one watching me.I finished the hike to the campsite, arriving at 8:15 p.m. Along the way, there was a short section of trail in which I was treated to several hundred small pink flowers, similar in size and shape to Trilliums, on either side of the trail. The flowers were enhanced by a orange-pink sunset and the melodic warblings of a songbird that I've only begun to hear in the past couple days.I pitched my tent and chatted with Frenchie for a few minutes before crawling into my sleeping bag. Upon checking my voicemail, I found that I had 2 messages of bad news.The first was that my maternal Grandmother had a small heart attack yesterday. I called my Mom and found out that my Grandmother had angioplasty today to widen 2 blocked arteries and is now recovering. I'm hoping that her recovery is very speedy.The second message was from Lumbermack. He had hurt his knee during the descent from Dragon's Tooth, just before Catawba, and despite taking a couple days off to rest in Troutville, he made the extremely tough decision to get off the trail. This greatly saddens me, as Lumbermack is my favorite hiker out of the older generation (50+ years old) of hikers out here with me. Many others have expressed a simiar sentiment as well. I've hiked nearly 600 miles with Lumbermack since meeting him at the first shelter out of the N.O.C. The worst part about the situation is that I know how much he wanted to finish this hike. Although Lumbermack said "It just isn't the same, Senator." when I suggested that he finish the trail in sections, I do hope that he'll reconsider.Bedtime at 10:45 p.m.