Date: 2018-05-07
From: Sam Moore shelter

To: View Entry
Miles today: 14.0

Mon Day 84 5/7 so I was all alone in the shelter all night. It rained incredibly hard during the night. Woke up and got out onto the trail by 6 a.m. Just like Papa Bear had said there was receptions for AT&T on a western facing Summit. As I was going across one of the summits I saw somebody on the phone. I asked him. He said his carrier was AT&T. I spent an hour planning, organizing, and calling to connect with Curtis's coming back on the trail and planning the next 8 days. It's amazing how much time it takes in planning and all you're doing is walking.It started to rain very hard as I was walking on the second half of the roller coaster. It started raining right away as soon as I start it. That adds to the slipperiness of the roots and the rocks. That was people's comments later it was how unstable the Rocks were. It made the roller coaster so difficult. Then it cleared away It stopped raining and everything was good. Finish out the the roller coaster. I was looking for the last water there was a water before the West Virginia Virginia border as well as one after. I walked past the one before, didn't even see the West Virginia, Virginia border. I knew when I got to that next water I was getting water no matter what. Reboot was there getting water as well. I took a break. I ate some snacks and drank 2 liters of water. The next seven miles to the shelter was waterless.The last little bit before the shelter, maybe a half a mile, I hooked onto the back end of three young 22 year olds. Chimney was from Fishtown. These were a nice group of young guys who is going to school with Reckless Morty although they didn't know him that well. They had hiked two days with him. Reckless is now heading into New York. There was water at the shelter. It was a very nice shelter with a solid quarter mile down a steep hill to get water. I kept my normal routine, another pack explosion, which means dumping everything out of my pack, keeping my boots on, and hiking down to the water with my trekking poles. I walked down with spice from Minnesota. She's a 45 year old yoga instructor. That is what she described herself as. She runs 15 miles a day. She is ridiculously fit. She hikes 12 hours a day typically, and does 20 to 25 MI. She got some bad news just before the shelter on the phone. She lost focused, tripped and gashed up her knee. While we are down getting water she washed off the blood on her leg. Didn't look too bad actually. She was a tough independent woman and didn't want any help. This was a fun bunch. We had a nice evening at the shelter. They were heavy hiker cranking out big miles everyday. They hung their food bags and were in their sleeping bags before I was. Quite an accomplishment. This looks like a good group to be in the shelter with. There was one older guy as well from Washington State. We pretty much filled the shelter from wall to wall. I was lucky enough to get the older guy from Washington State. He snored and thrashed incredibly. I just took my stuff out onto the deck and slept Under the Stars even though it might rain. Around 10 the two guys who they said might be joining us pulled in. They just finished the dirty 30. They were quiet respectful. One took my spot in the shelter in the other went to sleep on the deck. around two in the morning it started to rain. So I just took my stuff down to the eating area and slept on a picnic table that was under a shelter. Had a great night sleep on that picnic table didn't hear a thing.