Date: 2018-05-18
From: Peters Mountain Shelter, PA

To: Rausch Gap Shelter, PA
Miles today: 18.0
Weather: moderate rain

I woke up sometime between 6:00 and 6:15. I laid there for a bit, stretching my feet and calves and listening to other people begin to stir. I finally started packing up my things to change my clothes at 6:30. As I came out of my tent I looked over next to me and was delighted to see Field Trip! I excitedly exclaimed his name and we greeted each other with a big hug. We talked about the Lady's Slippers that he was able to see on the trail. It was the one thing that he really wanted to see while hiking, and he¢d seen several. We chatted for a bit, then I went to get my food bag. He finished packing and took off, knowing that we would see each other get down the trail. Thumper and Puddles were in the shelter packing their belongings while I ate my breakfast. Steady, who I hadn¢t met yet, was also there and RX was organizing his gear on the deck of the shelter. Puddles and Thumper slept in the shelter instead of pitching a tent, and were treated to the smell of cigarette and marijuana smoke from someone who thought smoking near the opening of the shelter was ¢outside¢. Now I know why I smelled the smoke and didn¢t see anyone ¢outside¢.As I packed up, Ibex and I chatted. She had also come in late the night before, arriving shortly before me, and slept in a hammock near me. She was doing a flip-flop hike out of Roanoke and started in April. She finished packing and left. As I hit the trail today, it was cool and overcast. It was nice not to have rain. It was perfect weather for hiking. Perfect days for hiking don¢t occur every day. According to some sources, it only happens about 20% of the time on the AT. The rest of the time it¢s raining, hot, cold, etc. The trail was also better to hike on, with more dirt trail, with some sections of rocks. The rocks grabbed my feet like they normally do, torquing them, and occasionally grabbing my trekking poles, but today was a good day. I tried the loose hip wiggle on the rocks like Dude suggested, but suspect I wasn't loose enough to go with the flow of the rocks shifting my hips to absorb the shock of the rocks.I noticed a very small snake less than a foot long, with a diameter smaller than my pinky finger. I took a quick picture of it and headed up the hill to a rocky exposed ridge. After seeing the snake, I was thinking about how it was overcast, and the air was somewhat cool, so there probably wouldn¢t be any snakes up on the ridge I was climbing up to. As I made my way along the ridge, with rocks to the right and left of me, a large black and silver snake caught my eye to the left. It was about the height of my head and approximately 3-4 feet left of the trail. He really didn¢t seem too concerned with my presence, although he definitely was aware of my presence. I didn¢t hear a rattle, but assumed it was rattlesnake. The trail passed where the snake was, and even though he didn't seem concerned, I didn't want to trigger him, and decided to take a detour on some rocks below the trail. I took some photos and a quick video, then made my way down the rocks and bypassed his location. He looked to be approximately 4-5 feet long and at least 1 1/2 inches in diameter. So far I¢ve observed three snakes and I¢ve heard one rattle at me. I have to look up the spiritual meaning of snakes. I have looked at animals as a spirit guide over the last few years. I never really thought about it until several years ago deer started appearing everywhere in my life. I saw them in fields, in the highway median near Metro Airport grazing,and in my backyard. They ran in front of my car causing me to slam on my brakes or swerve to miss them. One day I almost hit some deer and when I got home there were deer in my backyard. One of my coworkers told me that the deer had a message for me. Apparently I wasn¢t listening. He had a book about animals as spirit guides and looked up the deer. There was a lot of information about the meaning, but what stuck with me the most was that I needed to be gentle with myself, and not so hard and critical. With whatever I had going on in my life at the time, it made total sense. Ever since then, when animals show up, especially animals that I don¢t normally see, such as fox and eagles, I look it up to see what the meaning is. It always coincides with what I have going on in my life.  Today brought good hiking with nice trails. There were some ups and downs and climbs. A typical hiking day. I also enjoyed cold spring water today, stopping a couple of times to soak my feet and change my socks. I was headed toward Yellow Springs Campsite, and on my way, I came across Steady, the woman I met earlier in the morning when I was eating breakfast. We Chatted for a little bit as we both walked up the trail and I asked her where she was from and she told me Oklahoma. I asked where she was camping for the night she said she wanted to stop at the next campsite, but was almost out of water. There were no sources of water listed before the next campsite, so she figured she would have to go to the second campsite. We chatted a little longer, then I took off. Shortly after hiking on, I found trickle of water running across the trail. Most people don¢t have the means to gather such a small trickle, but I did. I stopped and pulled out my water collection bag and laid it down under the trickle to collect water. A short time later Steady came up. I told her I was trying to get some water for her if she wanted to try to fill up. I gathered water, about 16 ounces at a time and poured it into her water bag and she filtered it into her water containers. Once she had sufficient water, I headed out. She was very happy as her ankles were sore and she was ready to stop. My last stop before I camped was Yellow Springs Campsite where several of my "trail family" were camping for the night. RX, T-Bird, Puddles, Thumper, and Field Trip were there. A couple miles later, I came upon a stream where Ed, a hard of hearing gentleman, who camped next to me the night before, was getting water. I waved at him and he flag me down. He asked how far the next campsite was and I told him 1.2 miles, but several people from the night before would be at 1.7 miles at Yellow Springs. He said 1.7 was too far, but was hoping to camp with Field Trip, who he appeared to have bonded with at camp the day before. He also asked about a water source. I checked my app and I told him there was no water source at the campsite he was looking to stay at. My last stop before I camped was Yellow Springs Campsite, several of my "trail family" were camping for the night. RX, T-Bird, Puddles, Thumper and Field Trip we¢re there. I chatted with them and showed them video and photos of the snake while getting a snack and changing out my socks. I signed the registration book and was packing up to head out and down the trail and Ed was coming into camp! I told Field Trip that Ed was hoping to catch up with him. I'm glad he was able to. I left with 5 miles left to get to Rausch Gap Shelter. Since it was such a great day of hiking, I had decided to keep going. I had a resupply box waiting at the post office, and with the next day being Saturday, I had limited time to get it. It would give me 4 miles to hike in the morning instead of 9, and a much better chance to get my box, instead of waiting until Monday. I got into Rausch Gap just before dusk. It was my biggest mileage day so far, with perfect hiking conditions, and the motivation of a resupply box waiting for me. Ibex, Lorax, and Cody Coyote were at the shelter. Ibex had set up her hammock at the tent sites before the shelter. I had dinner and found out there was no bear box at camp. I went back to the tent site, put on my headlamp, set up my tent, then found a limb to hang my food on. The tree was at the edge of a steep hill, but plenty of flat ground to stand on to hang my bag. I stood back, did a few practice swings with my rock sack, filled with rocks, then let it go. I heard a sound on the ground, going toward the right, and did not see the rock sack go toward the limb. I pulled the nearly weightless rope toward me, and when I got to the end I found a carabiner...with no rock sack. I walked around the edge of the hill, with my headlamp on bright, looking for the blue rock sack that escaped the rope. It was only my second time using it. The first time I used it, it worked fine. Apparently the carabiner wasn't attached well to the rock sack. I searched and search and couldn't find it. I walked to Ibex's hammock and asked her what she did with her food bag. She had hung it on the shelter ropes as Lorax had apparently suggested. I walked back up to the shelter and hung my bag. I climbed into my tent, checked the weather, and saw it would be 100% chance of rain when I had planned on getting up in the morning. I was trying to reserve a hotel in town, for the next day, but had a poor cell signal. I knew there were few hotels available as Thumper and Puddles had been looking to get one and not having much luck. I texted Tressa and asked her to check on a hotel for me. She found one, but had questions and asked me to call. I tried to call, but it wouldn't go through. She tried to call me and couldn't get through, so we texted our way through the details of the hotel reservation, with her getting the last room available at a Comfort Inn. Thank you Tressa!!!