Date: 2008-04-18
From: Cove Mountain Shelter VA

To: Thunder Hill Shelter VA
Miles today: 17.2
Weather: few clouds

Day 61 ¢ Friday April 18 ¢ Thunder Hill Shelter VA ¢ Miles Today: 17.2 Total Miles: 758.8We woke up around 6:00 with temps hovering around 52-54 degrees. As we hiked off the mountain we thought it felt a bit colder, so we looked at the thermometer and discovered the temps had dropped to 42! Out came the hat and gloves because we were in just shorts and #1 tops and it was chilly. But eventually it got hot and we had another clear, hot day. Included in today's big sights was another FAA beacon, which looked like a golf ball. We watched it throughout the afternoon on a range on the other side of us, hiked up to it and are now camped on the other side of it. Sticking above the ridge, it really does look like a golf ball just like some section hikers were telling us the other day. The other big milestone today was passing the infamous Guillotine. The Guillotine is a large round boulder that has fallen into a crevice of two rock formations. The trail goes right underneath the Guillotine. In pictures we¢ve seen, it looks like the boulder is falling on the hiker as they walk beneath it. Of course we took our obligatory pictures as well. Pretty neat.   At one point in time this afternoon, we looked at the thermometer and it read 102 or 103 degrees in the sun as we were hiking! We neglected to get a picture of it and about a half hour or so later when we looked at it again, it had dropped all the way to 91. It was definitely a hot day. We took nearly a 2-hour lunch break hiding in the shade near a creek cooking up our warm meal of the day and then of course cooling it before eating by sticking the pot in the creek. We didn't hit the trail again until 2:30 so escaped some of the heat. We came across an interesting sign beside a creek today labeled Heritage Trout Day. It stated no fishing for trout on the first Friday before the first Saturday in April. Fishing can be resumed at 9:00 A.M. on the first Saturday in April. I'm not quite sure if this is related to the diversity awareness in Corporate America regarding race, ethnic origin as well as sexual preference. It sounds like the Heritage Trout fish are in on the diversity stuff now too!   They even get their own little holiday! Quite odd. Not sure what it is all about.As we approached the shelter for the evening, the trail became oddly faint. Not a normal thing for the AT. We figured that we must no longer be on the AT. We separated and went in different directions in search of the trail. Grasshopper¢s direction was definitely not the trail. By the time she backtracked and found Brakeman, he had found not only the trail but also a Trail Angel! We were .3 miles from the shelter, but the Trail Angel said, ¢Turn around, back track and follow me. I have some Trail Magic for you. It will be well worth your walk back.¢   So although we hate to backtrack, backtrack we did. We walked about .3 mile back to his truck where he served us made-to-order deli sandwiches, a banana, M&Ms, cashews and OJ out of the back of his red GMC pickup truck. He had the whole thing set up wonderfully, including a fresh bar of soap and water to wash our hands. He even prepared the sandwiches with gloves to keep the germ sharing to a minimum. Very nice man. His name was John Hastings and his son, Ryan, was a thru-hiker last year. John said that he did Trail Magic last year and will continue his efforts this year to help repay all the magic that his son received on his hike. As we finished our meal, we kept an eye out for Chris to flag him down, as we were a hundred yards down the road in a car pullover area. Hikers always make sure that they watch out for each other! Sure enough, here came Chris. We flagged him down with our hiking sticks and left him to enjoy his Trail Magic as we headed to the shelter.It¢s just Chris and us at Thunder Hill Shelter tonight. No sign of Snickers and Turtle. We¢re guessing that they decided to camp between the shelters. It was a very hot day and Turtle does not enjoy the heat, so they might have done a short day. Since we are doing a hitch into Glasgow tomorrow and they're not, we may meet up with them again soon. It's nearly 8:00. We've reviewed the food that we still have in our bag as a result of overbuying in Daleville and have made a much more reasonable grocery shop list for Glasgow. It's about 70 degrees with a cool breeze. As we lay in our tent, we are thankful for many things: for the sun being down, the cooler temperatures, the breeze, the Trail Magic, our nice full bellies and our bath-basin washed clean bodies. Goodnight from our comfy tent.   Life is good!