Date: 2009-05-27
From: Maupin Field Shelter, VA

To: Paul C. Wolfe Shelter, VA 
Miles today: 15.8
Weather: overcast clouds

Cell noneOG notesI slept well last night even after an afternoon nap, I guess I was tired. The nap also helped me fight the cold I feel coming on, my nose is running and my throat is slightly sore. I will continue hiking and hope the cold does not develop.Wow, did it rain last night! We could hear the rain hitting the roof of the shelter most of the night. I was glad we stopped when we did and assured ourselves a spot in the shelter. The tent does keep us dry but it is so confining when it's raining. Hopefully the weather will improve soon and we'll get a chance to use the tent again. We're in a large shelter tonight and there are 7 of us here. We set up our tent inner section (the screen) to protect us from bugs. We are not supposed to do this but we're gambling that the place won't fill up. We're 5 miles from Waynesboro, VA, and most hikers have bypassed the shelter for town.We hiked on a lot of slick rocks today, so we had to watch where we stepped all day. C6 fell one time and I thought it was a bad fall. She recovered well and said she was okay. I'm glad she didn't get hurt by it. We believe we are going to have nice weather this weekend. That's great, but it's Wednesday so we have two more days till then. I guess we just persevere and move ahead.We hiked in our ponchos today for the first time this hike. I swapped out my rainsuit for the poncho. C6 still has her rain suit as an extra outer layer, she's using the poncho as her rain gear now. She'll send the suit home when she feels comfortable without it.We also have lighter sneaker-like hiking boots. I'm being cautiously optimistic with them. I like the lightness on my feet, but I'm feeling the rocks more on the balls of my feet. So far this isn't a problem and hopefully I'll get used to it. One good thing I can say about them is the waterproofing seems to be working. We hiked in a lot of water today and my feet stayed dry from outside water. My feet do sweat and my socks get damp, but the water I stepped in didn't get in. These boots are hightops for the ankle support. I've already felt my ankle get stopped from twisting, I wouldn't hike in low cut shoes but many hikers do.Speaking of what I prefer as opposed to other hikers. You can ask 10 hikers the same question on how to do something hiking related and you'll get 10 different solutions. Every one of them will tell you that their way is the best way. I personally believe that something that works for one person might not necessarily work for another. We all have different comfort levels and different experience levels. The folks that are around us now have lasted this far and each has their own methods.C6 notesNice shelter tonight. It's large (says it can sleep 10, but thru-hikers can always fit more) and it has a nice covered porch. The covered porch is especially appreciated in bad weather. Everything is soaking wet, and it rained some today, so we love having the porch tonight. We are hiking the section our son hiked with OG in 2006. Today we went up the rock climb I remember seeing in Chris' pictures. (Blue blaze to the left, white blaze straight up the rocks.) It was a fun climb! OG also said this was the section where they saw a rattlesnake sunning itself on the trail. No rattlesnakes today..too wet and cool. We had no views today, so I didn't get to see what they saw from the rock cliffs. (OG said there were ski slopes, but we couldn't see them.)It didn't rain much today, but it rained so much yesterday and last night that the creek just before this shelter is now a raging river. I took some pictures of it so Chris (our son) can see the difference from when he was here. OG said it was an easy rock step across the creek when they were here in 2006. We crossed by walking across a huge tree that spans the river (looks like it fell a long time ago). Others crossed by taking off their boots, putting on their crocks, and forging the river. Even though the water is fast moving and very wide across, there is a place where the force seems to be mild enough to be safe enough to walk across carefully.The hardest part of today was how wet everything is. There were a LOT of rocks, and all the rocks are wet, so they are slippery. I slipped and fell on one. I didn't get hurt at all, but it makes one leery to step on any rock with how slippery they all are.The new boots feel much different from my old boots. These are summer weight, and I feel the surface much more. I'll get used to how they feel, but so far my feet feel sensitive to the rocks. At one point my left foot hurt a lot, then the terrain became just dirt and the hurting stopped. No sore spots...that's a welcome relief! I was worried about breaking in new boots. OG wrote about his boots not getting wet inside except for sweat. I'm not so confident that my boots kept the water out.I don't know what just reminded me, but for those of you who heard things about "Spike," the ridge runner and a thru-hiker both wrote in the shelter log two shelters ago that Spike has been arrested. We don't know any facts...just two different stories that have been going around. Apparently Spike has quite a temper and had an interaction with another hiker. The other hiker ended up having to have surgery and had to leave the trail. Old Goat & Check Six