Date: 2011-04-22
From: Overmountain Shelter

To: Overmountain Shelter
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

Morning update:So right after journaling last night the wind picked up and it started sprinkling. The tarp was really getting whipped around and it was a good thing the wind had switched directions before I went to bed. Then around 11:45 during a heavy rain a group of about 15 people rolled into camp with headlamps on and talking loud, the last of them are preparing to leave now talking about showers and pizza, oh the urge to put them to sleep and go to town for them. Apparently they are some college students and parked half a mile away to get here. Got some sleep until the wind picked up again around 5, but stayed dry until I decided to move myself inside the shelter. The front side with the view was soaked when I moved in, so I am up in the upper deck. Its currently foggy with drizel and not the way I wanted my zero here to be, but dry is better than wet and walking. Sounds like some of the group is only about 7 miles away from a guy who just came in, so they pushed to Roan shelter last night. Till later.Afternoon update: So the weather hasn't cleared but the rain has retty much ceased. The group got here about 11. Shepherd arrived a little later as he stayed about a mile and a half back from them. They missed all of the great views and where pretty cold and wet when they got here. They were considering moving on but the weather got the best of them. So much for doing laundry and showering today. Nothing would dry and its only getting damp from the fog. We have a lot of people here but far from full. Tomorrow we pass a road with a restaurant .7 miles from the trail. We are going to stop by there for lunch. Everyone here is pretty much sitting around in their bags staying warm. A few section hikers are being productive starting a fire. So Hover and I are considering attempting the watagua lake challenge which is about 40 miles in 24 hours, but the problem is we are not sure exactly what the challenge is for certain. We will find out when we get to Kincora in a couple days. If we do it, we will start walking at midnight. At two miles an hour it will take 20 hours leaving time for breaks and maybe a nap. We shall see but it would be fun to do. Afterwards we would have time to take a couple zeros waiting for everyone to catch up. One short climb first thing and then almost all flat till Damascus. More later.Evening update: Not much else has gone on since last update. We ate sat around playing some mystery question game after dinner and a lot of people have shown up. Probably around 30-40 people here. Top shelf isn't quite full and there are many out in tents and a few on the front. Amazing how many people are here when it seemed the last few shelters didn't have that many. Guess it is the draw of the shelter and rain that brought everyone in.So I am getting at bobby thirty tomorrow according to the new saying. I am going to leave early to get to the rode, hitch into town, grab some pizzas anr get back too the trail for lunch. 6 pizzas are on the menu if the price is right. Then we get to finish the rest of the 18 mile day. Daisy is currently sleeping on my mat with me under the sleeping bag. It is a tight fit for a 70 pound dog and me on a 20 inch wide pad. Off to sleep to begin walking again tomorrow.