Date: 2006-04-19
From: Old Orchard shelter

To: Partnership Shelter
Miles today: 24.7
Weather: light rain

When I woke up this morning a caterpillar fell out of my hair. I'm pretty sure there's an adage that says, "you know you've been in the woods too long when..." Sadly, that wan't the most disturbing part of my morning. That would be the thunderstorm that was raging outside my tent. So I rolled over on the caterpillar and went back to sleep. At around 11:00 I started thinking that I really needed to get moving, especially since Rosie and Dr. Jones had run past me hours ago. I ate and packed up my bag and headed over to the shelter. It was nice to see that I was not the only rain delay, 4 section hikers were also hanging around their tents and one of them accompanied me out in the wetness.When the rain finally died down to a drizzle I ran out to take down the tent, and at that point Matt came up to say hi. Ack! I had procrastinated so long that my long miles yesterday were pointless. The rain had finally died down, but it was lunch time so I figured I would eat before I left. While I was pulling out my food I tried to sell my Lipton's noodles again. One hiker took the trade and I ended up with tomato soup and a slim jim. Matt also took pity on me and gave me some candy and tuna fish.After naming one of the section hikers Garbanzo, I finally took a walk. My new tennis shoes were like wings on my feet and I ended up at the trimpi shelter an hour before I expected. There I found four section hikers and Gus' friend who was waiting for him. I pumped some water for dinner and then tried bartering off the last Lipton's. This group must have felt really soory for me because they started throwing food at me. I ended up with 3 Mountain House dinners and some dried fruit. I couldn't believe it - I had become a yogi (a person who begs for food without actually begging) without meaning to.My plan for the day included a 4-mile night hike, so after being the recipient of a prayer, I donned my headlamp and hiked out. I saw a skunk as I crossed a pasture so I quickened my pace. I was flying until I saw the bobcat laying in the middle of the path, at which point I froze. I started babbling to myself about not making any sudden movements as I slowly backed away. It didn't move, it just stayed there looking at me. What do I do? I didn't want to go back, but I couldn't just step over it. My solution was to get a rock and throw it into the woods hoping the bobcat would act like my cats at home. When it didn't even turn an ear in the direction of the rock I got brave and crept forward. What I found was that I had just had a fifteen minute interaction with a tree stump. See how much more frightening the woods are in the dark?At about the time I expected to get into the campsite I became suspiscious that I had overshot my goal. Indeed, according to Wingfoot I had gone about 2 miles past the fire ring. I wasn't about to turn around, so the only solution was to keep walking until I found someplace to put up my tent. I walked and walked singing songs like "How many hills must I climb" and " Animals, get out of my way" and periodically shouting for any nearby animals to run and hide.I never did find a place to put up my tent. On a day where I didn't start hiking until 1:00 pm I had gone about 25 miles to the Partnership shelter. I got there at 11:45 pm, 45 minutes after the pizza place that will deliver pizzas to this unusual shelter had closed. The shelter was within .1 miles from the Mt. Rogers NRA and was equippied with a shower and was phone and soda machine accessible. The eerie thing was that when I arrived oh so late, not a single other person was there.