Date: 2016-02-20
From: Bryant Ridge Shelter

To: Thunder Hill Shelter
Miles today: 10.2
Weather: clear sky

I enjoyed the Bryant Ridge Shelter yesterday. I thought that a "Taj Mahal" like that would have no rodents. Wrong! I woke up during the night to the sound of them trying to eat my tortillas. (They¢re too large in diameter to fit into my food bag.) So I set my traps¢got three! I probably could have gotten more, but I didn¢t want to get up out of my sleeping bag after I heard the trap go off the third time.It was much warmer last night. I had to take off my Patagonia silk weight long johns and Smartwool socks to prevent overheating! But I¢m not complaining¢just happy that my Western Mountaineering 20 degree sleeping bag works so well.I started my day with a nice four mile 2,258 foot climb up Floyd Mountain. (Actually, I started my day with coffee and oatmeal-¢but I suspect that by now you knew that!) Then I had lunch at the Cornelius Creek Shelter. That made me glad that I had enough sense to stay at Bryant Ridge last night.Today is the first day in a long while that I didn¢t start the day wearing a jacket and gloves. I even wore my Tilley hat instead of the North Face fleece cap with windstopper and earflaps. Even then I got too warm at times when climbing and took off my hat to cool down¢thirty percent of the body¢s heat escapes through the top of your head.And since it was Saturday and I was so close to the Blue Ridge Parkway I actually saw people today! They looked clean and fresh and smelled like soap and shampoo and perfume and after shave or cologne. Most of them were wearing nice clean new shoes (in the mud¢which made me smile inside). Two of the people that I met were Rob Moretz and Samantha Taylor. They are students at the nearby Liberty University. Rob and Samantha were on a day hike to see the 200 foot Cornelius Creek waterfall. I was taking my two o¢clock break at a trail junction when they came by. Rob is in Army ROTC and would like to become a chaplain, so he was very interested in the Methodist Trail Chaplain program. They prayed for me.Then I climbed another 1,000 feet to the top of Apple Orchard Mountain and walked by the FAA tower, which looks like something from outer space. Then I walked down, and through, The Guillotine (A boulder lodged between two huge slabs of stone). The Trail crossed the Blue Ridge Parkway (still closed!) one more time and down to Thunder Hill Shelter.I collected firewood and built a fire that I used to cook my dinner¢instant mashed potatoes with freeze dried chicken and peas. Served with hot tea to help stay properly hydrated, followed by hot Chai tea latte for dessert (for the same reason!).The sky is clear tonight and I can see the full moon on the horizon from where I¢m lying in the shelter.Only three and one-half more days! If I have my trip planned properly I will pretty much run out of everything¢food, fuel, toothpaste, TP¢on Tuesday, February 23rd, and therefore be forced to stay at the Three Springs Hostel on Tuesday night. The hostel provides dinner and breakfast, bunk, shower w/towel and toiletries, laundry, and pick-up & return to the trailhead at US 60 or Hog Camp Gap. After a scrumptious breakfast on Wednesday morning they will shuttle me back to the Trail and I will slack pack the final 6.3 miles to complete my thru-hike. All of my heavy stuff will be back at the hostel and I¢ll only carry water, a snack and a jacket.Tomorrow is 12.4 miles, but it¢s mostly downhill to the Matts Creek Shelter. Only 42.7 miles to go!