Date: 2005-06-12
From: Bryant Ridge Shelter 

To: Thunder Hill Shelter 
Miles today: 10.3
Weather: light rain

I bundled up well in my too warm sleeping bag. I tied my large homemade bandana loosely around my head and drew it down over my ears and eyes. I dabbed on a bit of insect repellent for my nose and neck and hid from the awful no-see-ums. These tiny insects are especially hard to see when they fly, and I rarely see them on me, but they leave a huge welt that develops a little blister and eventually becomes a purple scar that I trust will disappear someday. I didn't get bit while sleeping, but the little devils seem to have gotten to the rest of the sleeping hikers.I rose and sat...and sat...I had a hard time getting going. I finally did get some breakfast, and was the second to last to leave. I started the 5-mile ascent of Floyd Mountain. It was a wonderfully maintained trail with well-routed switchbacks and the thick plant growth was cut back so that walking was easy. I believe the Natural Bridge AT Club is responsible. I am grateful.Coming up the long climb was difficult of course, but the wildflower display was fascinating. I was pleased to see a lot of Mountain Laurel toward the beginning. Then they gave way to various wildflowers like Penstemon, and another that I saw the first time today. Later, near the top everything changed. The Tulveria that I've just learned became plentiful, with blooms every few steps. The blossoms I've seen so far are various shades of pink, blue and purple. Then I saw a clump that had so many blooms it was like a huge blue basket turned upside down. Only a few inches from that was one of my all time favorites, a red and yellow columbine. While I stood there a moment, I noticed a blooming cow parsnip that was easily 7 feet tall with a flat cluster of little white flowers as big as a picnic plate. As I continued, there were thousands of these giants on both sides of the trail and hundreds more basket-sized clumps of Tulveria. BTW I'm guessing at the spelling of Tulveria. With these flowers towering over me and the bright "baskets" every few feet, I wondered... "How far to the yellow brick road?" Later, as I got close to this spot, I entered a thicket of Rhododendrons in full bloom. Just awesome.Now, I sit near the trailhead that leads to the Cornelius Creek Shelter. It's 400 feet to the shelter and I decided not to take the side trail, but to write these thoughts down before proceeding - more later.5:00 PM: I arrived at the Thunder Hill Shelter a little while ago. There is a church group here and Spirit and Swinging Jane. The church adults said they would accommodate me by giving up a shelter spot. Nice, but I decided to set up my hammock instead. (In a blooming rhododendron thicket with waist high ferns where they have enough room and light to grow.) So that¢s done and I'm waiting a while before I cook my stovetop stuffing for dinner.As I was finishing up my earlier entry near Cornelius Shelter, a man walked up and started a conversation. When he was ready to move on, he told me the weather forecast. "No rain.¢ he said. Moments later, the sky suddenly got darker, moments after that, I could hear the rain drops noisily hitting the canopy of leaves overhead, but nothing was dropping on me. I rose to hike on, and because of the weather change, my joints and feet were stiff and sore. I wondered, "What's a desert boy doing out here? As I walked on, the stiffness went away. I walked into another thicket of Rhododendrons. So beautiful, then the thicket was behind me. A little later, another Rhododendron thicket with liberal amounts of Mountain Laurel mixed in. I thought, "What's a boy like me doing living in the desert?" Soon the rain became a downpour. I walked along and when I walked near the trunk of a huge maple, I was out of the rain again. I stayed under that tree for twenty minutes until the downpour let up. It was a nice day all in all. It isn't raining now, and I hope it doesn't start. I am still hoping to get enough sun to get everything dry someday. My clothes and sleeping bag are smelling moldy.Time for supper.Nite nite.