Date: 2004-05-28
From: Bearwallow Gap

To: Bryant Ridge Shelter
Miles today: 10.1
Weather: overcast clouds

Incredible! Unbelievable! Statistically improbable!This morning, when I returned to the Trail at Bearwallow Gap, having been picked up at the Roanoke Airport Motel 6 at 8 a.m. by Mark Sutrell, owner of Outdoor Trails, the local outfitter (Mark, incidentally, is a really nice guy and his store is one of the best of its type I¢ve seen!) I meet up with the Section Hikers from March 25th. It was two weeks ago I sent an e-mail to "Meanderthal" asking him where he was on the Trail, in hopes of meeting up with him and the others who started at Springer Mountain around March 25th. I did not receive an answer before I left.Less than 10 minutes after saying ¢goodbye¢ to Mark and heading north, elated to be back in the woods again (even if it was in a drenching rain!) when who do you think I ran into?Right! Meanderthal. The first person I saw¢less than 10 minutes after returning to the Trail¢over 500 miles from where I last saw him¢Meanderthal. Obviously I had no concrete knowledge of where he might be, nor did he have any idea of where I was going to re-enter. Unbelievable! Dee-di-di-di, Dee-di-di-di (that¢s the theme song from The Twilight Zone) ¢¢Is it odd or is it God?¢ Who knows but one thing is for sure¢it¢s one hell of a mind-blowing coincidence, that¢s for sure.Once I got past my surprise, I fell-in with Meanderthal and for the next couple of hours we talked about people¢where they are¢whats happened¢various adventures, etc. Meanderthal related that he had just lost 5 days of food when a UPS delivery person left one of his mail-drops too close to the end of a hostel owner¢s black Labrador¢s chain and, before the owner returned home the dog had eaten the entire package. (Talk about doggie "trail magic"...!)Anyway, we stopped for lunch at Cove Mountain Shelter where the rain finally subsided and were joined by several people whom I had not known previously. After lunch, it was a quiet solo hike to Jennings Creek where I enjoyed a the brief skinny-dip that I took following Meanderthal¢s lead. It was ¢very refreshing¢ (read; ¢damn cold¢) but it did feel real good.After putting myself together I joined up with "Pegasus" (a twenty-nine year old artist from Maryland whom I had met at lunch). She and I had delightful conversation as we alternated lead up, over and down Fork Mountain.Tonight twelve of us are staying in the Bryant Ridge Shelter, which is one of the nicest I have seen. I¢m upstairs in a very spacious loft with four others. The ends of the loft are open with railings, but the roof overhangs enough to keep out any rain, should it start back up. Downstairs is another sleeping platform and a third level with tables and counters for cooking and sitting¢all very convenient and quite modern even without the electricity and plumbing. There are even some windows upstairs and down to let in extra light (some of the older shelters are so closed in that it feels like you are in a dark cave even in the middle of the day). Twenty-five yards from door the lies a stream.Dinner was freeze-dried lasagna with cookies for dessert. Easy, fun, conversation with Meanderthal, Pegasus and others continued throughout the evening. It¢s nice to be back on the AT and amongst other hikers. Now it will be nice to get some sleep.