Date: 2023-05-29
From: Peters Mountain Trailhead

To: VA-42/Angel's Rest Hostel
Miles today: 20.8
Weather: light rain

This morning was about 99%, not really misery, but just trying not to let the situation become emotionally overwhelming. Even though I knew it was probably going to rain all day, I decided to join Pacer, The Professor, and St.Paul on a potential 21 mile slackpacking hike. No rain, no Maine I guess.The first hour or so wasn't terrible. It was raining, but it was fairly light and the tree cover kept me from getting completely soaked. But as the morning wore on, it began raining much harder and it didn't take long after that to become completely soaked through. Fortunately it wasn't too cold, so like I said, I wasn't completely miserable, but it was still not an enjoyable time. However, there was one moment that almost made me forget the rain. We were walking along a fairly narrow, flat, wooded section of the trail with me in the front and Pacer close behind. All of a sudden this tiny fawn, it couldn't have been more than a week or two old, steps out of the brush right in front of me. I stop, a little startled, and just look at it for a few moments. Like us, it's wet and shivering and just looked miserable. The momma deer was no where to be seen. I didn't really know what to do, so I just stepped around it and started walking again. After a few steps, I turn around and the fawn is following me. I stop and the fawn stops. I start walking again and the fawn starts following me again. It stayed right behind me for probably close to 5 or 10 minutes. We finally came to a tree stump that I had to step over and though it tried to climb over, it wasn't big enough and steady enough to make it. So it kind of moved around a bit, I think trying to find another way around. I admit, part of me wanted to pick it up and help it over, but in the end it was a wild animal and I didn't think it was a good idea. Besides, what am I supposed to do with a deer anyway. A few moments after this, The Professor walked up and it got a little startled and went back into the brush. But it was definitely one of the weirdest and coolest things I've experienced. And the good news is that Pacer got both pictures and some video. Once I'm able to get them from her, I'll post them.The rest of the hike was uneventful. The rain did eventually stop and the sun even came out for a little while. We also decided to cut our hike by about a mile since we didn't feel we were going as fast as we'd like. So, it was about 5:15pm when we arrived at the shuttle that would take us back to the hostel. At this point the plan was to get a rotisserie chicken and some things to go along with it from the nearby Food Lion for dinner. However, Pacer was convinced that because it was Memorial Day and Steve and some other people were taking a zero, that they would be making something for dinner. So, The Professor and I got dropped off at Food Lion (it's about a 5 minute walk from there to the hostel) and Pacer went back and would call us to let us know. And sure enough she was right. Steve and the others went all out and prepared an amazing dinner. There was oven baked chicken, roasted cabbage, corn, red cabbage, green beans, rice, and some kind of curry. While we were at Food Lion we got an apple pie, a chocolate satin pie, and two key lime pies (I thought I had gotten banana cream, but I accidentally got a second key lime) for dessert. The whole thing was fantastic and it was a great way to end the day.Breakfast: Two blueberry fig bars and an apple breakfast bar Snack: A Food Lion chocolate peanut protein barLunch: Two packets of Starkist white chicken and some Food Lion Omega 3 trail mixDinner: An awesome Memorial Day meal.