Date: 2007-05-28
From: Paul C. Wolfe Shelter

To: Calf Mtn. Shelter
Miles today: 12.0
Weather: overcast clouds

¢Fire ¢ Hail and Brimstone¢(The second day I almost died!)I always find it amazing, all the events that can occur in one day. We left the shelter just around our usual time 6:30 to 6:45 a.m. Only 5 miles to get to I-64 and then a hitch into town. The hike was a nice early morning hike with lots of springs to cool off by splashing your face and getting fresh water. Well we made it to the info center and I¢m looking over my notes when this guy comes running by and asks if I need a ride? ¢Yes, I would appreciate it if you could bring me to the grocery store.¢ So we take off and get to talking when I find out he¢s a retired preacher! So Jeff (that¢s his name) ends up preaching to me all the way to the store, which I didn¢t mind too much. Turns out that an ironic twist at the end of my day might in some way tie Jeff and our conversation to the later occurrences. Once at the store, I did my usual over indulgence in food purchasing and sat and waited for my camcorder battery to be charged. Charging my battery this time was slightly different from others where there was an available outlet. I had to unplug one machine which almost got me caught 4 times! Imagine going to jail for stealing electricity! First time two kids on bikes came and, of course, they had to pick the one machine out of 5 to put their money in! I thought they would go tell the lady watering the flowers about it, but they didn¢t. Next, an actual guy from Pepsi who was restocking the little coolers inside the store happened to notice something wrong with another machine (not the one I unplugged) and made a service call. Then a lady came and actually looked behind at the outlets! I thought she would see my battery and see the machine unplugged and go get the attendant, but she didn¢t. My closest call came when the actual Pepsi truck came from the service call the guy made earlier! I¢m bagged I thought! I have to act fast as soon as the guy goes to step out of his truck I¢ll reach in and grab the battery. I faked as if I was talking on the near by phone. He stepped out and I grabbed my battery. Got it! No time to plug the other machine in. When they left they didn¢t notice that the one machine was unplugged. While waiting for my battery to finish charging, I had a very long 2 hour conversation with this guy named Rudy. He was an unemployed ¢Dumpster Diver¢ who was upset with Tony, a fat guy who double crossed him when he went behind his back and took the beer stash he discovered. Long story short, he went on about that and then the topic turned to gambling and how to play Pick 1 and Pick 3, and how he had a foot proof way to play (that made me question a few things). Finally how to find wild carrots and not eat the identical poisonous ones ¢ how to catch rabbits and cook turtle. ¢Make sure you pour scolding hot water on the neck once you cut the head off or the body will walk away without a head,¢ he stated then finally it was time to head out in the 90 degree sun and think about getting back to the trail. I asked a few people for rides and stuck my thumb out once or twice when I saw a truck. Then suddenly without even putting my thumb out, here comes Shirley Huffman cutting across two lanes of traffic to give me a ride! She couldn¢t find the latch for the trunk so I put my pack on my lap and we were off back to the trail. She was a widower who had 5 dogs and 12 cats and just loved animals. She said she had a dog that looked just like Bono, only 150 lbs.! I kind of laughed inside. She talked about how she was raised helping people out, lending a helping hand and what not. Finally, she got me back to the trail where I had left off. But I forgot to add she nearly got the three of us killed as she pulled a u-turn ¢ hopped the curb and was headed straight into on coming traffic! People actually had to pull over to avoid a head on! Once back safely (thank God for that conversation earlier with the retired preacher) I met ¢Poppie¢ an 04¢ thru-hiker who had some magic for the ¢passer bys.¢ After ¢milking¢ it for as long as I could (not too motivated today) it was time to hike the 7.2 miles to Calf Mt Shelter. Glad it was a short day because it was hot! An added challenge was now the leash laws in effect for the next 100 miles of the Shenandoah¢s backcountry. Passed ¢Rymn¢worm¢ at the sign-in booth where you have to fill out a travel ticket (as part of the parks regulations) and headed for the shelter. Gave Bono a rest break at McCormack Gap at which point (15 min. later) ¢Rymn¢worm¢ showed up. We chatted for 10 min or so about his 97¢ thru-hike when we heard a rumbling in the distance. As he commented Uh-oh! on the thunder, I didn¢t get too alarmed about it. I heard the same yesterday and sounded off in the distance and it stayed there, so I headed up Bear Den Mtn. about 12 off the way up the rain started to fall and the thunder got closer. I stopped to put my camera away and pack cover on. Another 14 way up was full on down pour and then came the lightening! This was not good since we (Bono and I) were on an exposed bald and to make matters worse there were what looked like cell phone towers and power lines everywhere! At this point we were walking (no running) up this Mtn. in ankle deep water/mudslide, which is the trail acting just like a chute of sorts. Each 50 ft. above our heads. It was deafening! I was getting worried as was Bono. I was at least glad that I remembered to bring him out in a lightening storm when he was a pup. I¢m sure it helped him deal with the incredible bangs we were hearing. We were in the ¢eye¢ of the storm! Finally I let out a yell! and told Bono to make a run for it. Yeah right, a run to what? No cover and the shelters 3.2 miles away! God, (as I remembered my conversation with Jeff earlier in the day). If it¢s my time, it¢s my time and all I could think of is they would find me dead from getting zapped still leashed to my dog! Oh shoot! What now! Hail the size of acorns. Not the small acorns, the big brown ones of the big oaks. I¢ve never gotten pelted by hail, wind and rain like that before, as I ran with arms shielding my face and head. I got nailed hard by a piece of ice that drew blood. I felt bad for Bono who obviously could not cover himself. At one point, he stopped in confusion as to what was happening around him and all I could do was to yell to him to keep going! Up! Up! Up! I had a quick (a very brief) flash back of Rymn¢worm sitting on his tarp at the roadside and I thought, ¢I bet he¢s huddling under that tarp waiting out the storm.¢ And that¢s exactly what I should have done! Rookie mistake #2 (flashback to April 15th). As we ran across field after field trying to outrun the lightening (right, outrun lightening) I started to get this sick feeling that I wasn¢t on the trail anymore! As I was running for our lives, I had not been checking for blazes. I hoped I was on track. As we crossed Beagle Gap some folks were in their cars watching the light show as I passed they either must have thought ¢there goes a brave guy¢ or ¢there goes a fool,¢ I think the latter. As I slowly realized I was going to get my second (or is it third?) chance at life I gave my dawg a pet on the head and a kiss as the thunder drifted off into the distance. We beat it, I thought, and we did! It rained a bit hard again, but no thunder or lightening. The rain continued and the sun came out producing beautiful rainbows through the trees. As we stopped on this glorious mud trail in this lush tropical forest ¢ Amazing! Two deer welcomed us to their home and all I could do was smile and give thanks! The day of cold and wet clothes coming out of Hot Springs on April 15th doesn¢t even come close to the brink as did this day! I thought to myself ¢I¢ve been through a lot so far, what could be next?¢ Well, it¢s around the corner and I can¢t walk with fear or I¢ll never get home. At some point you have to let go, trust and build your confidence. It¢s not an easy thing to leave comfort and security behind and I¢m finding that out on a daily basis.When I finally made it to the path directing me to the shelter, I stopped to get my water at the spring, rounded the corner to hear the usual ¢Bono¢ then the greetings to me came. I must have looked like dog doo doo because they all said if they had a beer they would have given me 1 or 10! My paperwork which was in my pocket, which was in a zip-lock, which had a hole in it got soaked so I had to lay them out to dry overnight on the bunk space in the shelter. Changed out of my soaked clothes and into some warmth. Move people coming in out of the rain so I guess I¢ll be pitching tonight on a slanted tent site ¢ oh well, as least I¢ve got my dawg and some tortellini. I won¢t be in a hurry tomorrow. I¢ll try to dry out my boots which literally flowed water out of them. Oh well, at least I have Little Debbie Oatmeal Creams! My stuff actually got wet even under my pack cover, not soaked, but wet. Oh well, at least I got some BEEF JERKEY! All for now and hopefully (God willing) more to come.