Date: 2015-04-15
From: Harrison Ground Spring

To: Near Punchbowl Shelter
Miles today: 22.0

"And It Did Pour."The tapping of raindrops on my cuben fiber tarp turned into slaps of water as the night went on. I was certainly glad that I had a good shelter. This was a nasty storm. I am not sure when they started, but the coyotes must have been at the spring I was camping next to.   Their communication wasn't quite yelps or barks. They sound so different than the ones I heard in Wyoming. Is that possible??As morning came, the rain drops retuned to a mere tapping as it seemed to be easing off. It took a good while, but eventually I only heard the occasional residual drops falling off the tree branches. Relief finally!I assessed my gear. Unbelievably wet. Saturated. I had standing water inside my backpack. I am very glad that I additional seal everything up in sil-nylon dry bags. Clothes were beyond soaked. Like "pull-it-right-out-of-the-wash-cycle" wet.I decided to hang everything to dry and wait. I'd rather have a yard sale now ("yard sale" being the term thru hikers use to describe the scene when one dries out their gear all over) than have to do it later (or worse, have it rain again).I hung out everything that I could. It was a delicate procedure with all of the mud from last night's rain. The irony in this was the first thing to get dry was... My pack cover! Ha! The rest of the stuff would take hours to dry.Don't get me wrong. The temperature was low, winds were breezy, and it looked like it could start raining again at any moment. I waited until my clothes were merely cold and damp, then began to pack up.The trail was really wet and slippery. As I walked on, I immediately began noticing the dramatic difference in vegetation and flowers. Suddenly, lots of Columbine, Trillium, Solomon Seal, a few iris's, Virginia Blue Bells, Violets, and much more. Sadly, the Blood Root, which had already bloomed, lost most all of their flowers. I called it "Blood-Root-Ageddon".The trail headed down towards the James River. After two hours, I stopped in at a shelter along a creek. I wanted to get water and a snack. Ironman, the HikingVikings, and Eddie came down to the shelter for water as well. We had an enjoyable break and quickly headed on.Due to this morning's delay, I wasn't sure just how many miles I could/would do today. The issue was a waterless stretch which fell during a critical time - about the end of the day. So, I needed to either commit to a distance or carry all of your camp water.I decided to carry my camp water. It was a 3,000 foot climb, but having the reassurance of 3.5-4 liters of water was quite comforting. The reason was because of the darkening skies that were off to the west. I wanted to set up camp before it rained again. I also wanted to make up miles from the late start.With one eye ball on the sky in the west, I hiked on. The trail got steep at times and took a lot of effort. The views were nice on the way up. I did manage a healthy pace and made the mountain top in no time (ok, well, maybe 2 hours). At the top was a plaque for a little boy. It said, "THIS IS THE EXACT SPOT.LITTLE OTTIE CLINE POWELL'SBODY WAS FOUND APRIL 5, 1891, AFTERSTRAYING FROM TOWER HILL SCHOOL HOUSENOV. 9, A DISTANCE OF 7 MILES.AGE 4 YEARS 11 MONTHS."Crazy.I headed down and made good time. I found a campsite that was fairly close to ---- shelter. I set up and got to eating. Another hiker named LochNess (or Nessie) cruised up. We exchanged info and stories. He is a Marine and is finishing his SOBO hike up by the end of May. He was a nice guy and enjoyable to speak with.Before too long, it got dark and the Spring Peepers started their calls. This sounds like Spring! Tomorrow, I'll try to get into Buena Vista on a Near-o day to resupply. That will then get me to Waynesboro, gateway to the Shenandoah!!