Date: 2005-05-03
From: Bailey Gap Shelter

To: Laurel Creek Shelter
Miles today: 14.6
Weather: clear sky

Riddle me this: What has two thumbs and is really glad he didn't send his cold weather gear home in Pearisburg?Answer: This guy.It was a cuh-hold one last night. Temperature dropped down around 30. Twenty-nine according to Heald. That combined with no leaves on the trees, made one think we had teleported back to winter. When the sun came out and things warmed up a little, I was still unmotivated to get out of the sleeping bag. I was definitely the last up and out of the shelter, me thinks it was around 9:30. Sean had a fire going, so I limped over and stood there for a bit. I felt terrible this morning, it was a continuation of yesterday. So, it was off to the sudafed and ibuprofen stash. After that and about 2 hours of hiking, I felt a bit better. A glimmering ray of hope for the day. At least the sun was out and there were no clouds in the sky. Lots of ridge walking again today. We'll hike along a ridge for a little while, then go down and hop over to the next ridge and hike up that. Rinse and repeat. There seemed to be lots of rocks on the trail today. Not sure if it was more than usual, but I took a couple of spills today, which is unusual. After each one, I slowly sat upright again and started taking inventory of all my parts....No pain here, on to the next...no pain here...and so on. Sat in the trail and pondered life for a minute or three, then got up. I'm sure the day's ibuprofen helped, too. I had one monster climb today, though it was much less abusive than I expected seeing as how it was toward the end of the day. In there somewhere, I was the recipient of some trail magic in the form of an orange soda from a cooler. It was a nice little surprise and a good treat to break up the climbing. Kelley's Knob was the top and offered a beautiful view of the valley below and surrounding ridge lines. Then it was a quick roll down hill to the shelter where all the usual suspects were assembling. I got in before 6, which was good considering my late start. I'm getting used to those 15 mile days where I can get into camp with enough light to pitch the tent, get water, cook dinner, and still have plenty of time to fool around. And I don't feel like crap either. The fire was started and we all gathered round. We listened to Jeopardy on the TV band on Heald's walkman and speaker. English Bob and I dueled wits, though I'm not sure who came out the real winner. Now, so there I was...As I was sitting by the fire, there came loud popping sounds from the pit. I felt something hot on my leg and looked down to see a chunk of rock sitting there, sizzling away. Exploding rocks in the fire. Great. I then moved faster than I have since that Chinese buffet in Pearisburg. I jumped up, did the shake-the-hot-rocks-off-my-inner-thigh dance, and hopped over the back of the picnic table, out of reach and under cover. Somewhere in the middle of my dance (it had words too, but I've edited them out), the others caught on and scurried away from the fire. It was cold though, so we all quickly returned to inspect the culprits. Well, actually it was just to get warm by the fire again. For those unsure what happened, the fire heated up a rock half in the fire. Gas in the rock expanded from the heat. When the pressure inside the rock built up enough, rock shattered. Hijinks ensue. At least the little claymoore barrage was worth a laugh. I'm pretty sure it was at my expense, though. Ah yes, the hazards of trail life...