Date: 2010-05-24
From: Bobblets Gap Shelter

To: Cornelius Creek Shelter
Miles today: 18.3
Weather: light rain

Bad vibe in the shelter last night. Jim from Maine packed up and left after already laying down. The guys who like getting up at 4am are being jerks towards people who stayed up past 7pm. It was barely dark out and they were giving people an attitude about making noise. They really should consider staying away from shelters if they're that antisocial. I actually thought about leaving like Jim but I didn't want people to think that I was angry. I just didn't like the negative attitudes. Greywolf was loud and a little annoying, but I really liked him and Slow Train. They're different and I like that. Weirdos are alright in my book.String Cheese, Cowboy and the other old guy packed up really loud this morning. I heard them say they were going to do that. They also made it a point to shine their lights in peoples faces. String Cheese gave Tree a hard time about using a white light in the shelter. He wanted to know if Tree's head lamp had a red light. As the 4am boys were leaving, when they were a safe enough distance away from the repercussions, String Cheese yelled, "YEEHAW!" Funny really. Passive aggressive chicken.I've been trying to meditate on his good qualities and empathize with him. He's probably unsure of his abilities to camp in the wilderness. Maybe he's so focused on getting to his goal that everything is an obstacle to his dream. Sleep being an important feature. Enough so to wake before the rooster crows. I'd be glad to loose sleep and hike tired if it meant people were having fun at the expense of my rest. Happy hikers give me just as much energy as a good nights sleep. Wish I would have camped out with the Dog Pound.Rained HARD last night for a while. Glad to be in a shelter at that moment. Hiked at 7am to their campsite. Everyone was still in their shelters. I yelled, "YEAH!" and got the response, "SKIPPY!" They told me about their Timber Rattler encounter. Figures. I'm not there and they see a rattler. The snake had been in the road when they found it and a car ran over it while they watched helplessly. Even seriously injured, it struck at them when they tried to get it off the highway. They said it made their heart race and they felt an adrenaline rush when it tried to bite them. They described it's appearance as, "The Devil" incarnate. Haha, drama queens. I'm jealous though.Hiking pretty nonchalant today. Foggy and a little rainy again. Notice a pattern yet? Bryant Ridge Shelter is super cool! Craftsmen built this thing without the use of metal nails or bolts. It's all dowels and joints. All wood. 3 stories. The guidebook says 20 can stay here, but we could fit about 100. No views here though. Odd place for a work of art like this. If the shelter would have had the slightest appeal to its location, we would have called it the best shelter on the AT. Sat out the evening rain storms here and watched "Major Dad" and Seeker try to start a fire with wet wood. Caught up on my journal and chatted with the folks here. Everyone taking cat naps and blaming their laziness on this great shelter. Like a vortex. A black hole keeping us here.The Dog Pound was talking about a night hike. Uphill 5 miles to the next shelter. BooBoo can't see well. He has poor vision in one eye. Constantly giving you a squinted one eyed glance when he talks to you. He's tall and he looks a little like me in appearance. He has curly hair that fluffs up like an afro. He's concerned that he won't be able to see the rocks and stumps in the dark.We decided to stop at Cornelius shelter before it became hard to see. SuperMax, Stitch, Cheese, Brooklyn, Landfill, Alkaline, Nannerpuss, Tree, Conan and Backwards here. SuperMax told a story about the last shelter they stayed at. Cove shelter. They had a bat problem there. The bats were flying into the shelter and catching bugs. The bats would run into the walls and fall on the ground.