Date: 2003-06-14
From: Peters Mountain Shelter 

To: 1mi north of Rausch Gap Shelter
Miles today: 18.5
Weather: broken clouds

It was kinda funny in the shelter last night. Only, Paparazzi, Kid and I were on the second floor of the shelter, and apparently, all but one person on the lower level snored last night. As everone was waking up this morning, the conversation revolved around the snoring: "I didn't sleep at all last night." "Yes you did. You were snoring all night long." "Well, you slept too, because I heard you snoring too." "Did you hear someone at the other end of the shelter snoring too?" "Yeah, it was like a Three Stooges snore." Those of us on the second level weren't affected by it much, thankfully.We were all planning on going to the same shelter tonight, but straggled out of the shelter in ones or twos. Kid was done with his hike, and needed to backtrack a little bit to meet his ride. The rest of us headed north.There wasn't much to see today, and the really cool thing wasn't very far north of the shelter. I was in front of Hotdog, and came to some big rocks in the sun. Thinking of yesterday's snakes, I slowed down, looking around. Hotdog said "This would be a good place for rattlesnakes." Just then, about 5 feet away, I saw one. I pointed it out to him, and he went to climb the rocks next to it, when he yelled out and stepped back down quickly. He had come face to face with two more, curled up together, sunning. We watched them for quite a while, and when a group of Boy Scouts came along southbound, we warned them, but a few were still surprised, and scared when they saw the snakes. I knew B-Roc wanted to see them, so we waited until he arrived and pointed them out to him too. He leaned in, and took some pictures. As he was just finishing, one of them started to curl up and rattled at us. That was cool! The snakes must not be very active right now, or are just in the pr! ocess of "warming up" because none of the seven I've seen in the last two days have been too concerned with us being just several feet away.Paparazzi has the 'Close Encounter of the Day' though. He, B-Roc, Hotdog, and I had lunch together, and he wasn't quite ready to leave when we were, so we went on. About an hour and a half later, when the three of us were taking a break, he caught up, saying "I am so glad to see you guys! I almost died back there." Not far from our lunch spot, he was walking along the trail, and all of a sudden, heard the telltale sound of a rattlesnake. He looked down, and saw he was about to step on one, leaped back and kept backing up. He doesn't like snakes at all and had never heard one rattle before. I told Kid yesterday, that even if you'd never heard one, you would know what it was the first time you did hear it. Paparazzi agreed. He said he had to go off the trail to get around it, and to make it worse, before he caught up to us, he saw a black snake slithering across the trail in front of him. He said he was tempted to run to catch up, but didn't.The rattlesnake sightings have been wonderful. Lately, I've only been seeing chipmunks, squirrels, and occasionally deer. I've been hearing, and seeing, too many biting gnats, mosquitos, no-see-ums, and horseflies. I have bites all over my legs and arms, especially around the ankles and wrists. They haven't been too terribly bad, but are an annoyance anyway.I'm in my tent tonight, and Hotdog and B-Roc are my neighbors. When we got to the shelter, it was nearly full and not nearly as nice as I'd expected. We all decided we didn't want to squeeze in, and went a little farther north to camp. It's a bit warm to be in my tent, but I think I'll be okay tonight, once I lay still. I've been sleeping in my silk liner at night. Well... I start out that way anyway, and about half the time end up with at least my feet in my sleeping bag. I'm still carrying my 20 degree bag, and it is way to warm to sleep in, especially zipped up. I might change to a cooler bag when my mom comes up, but will decide then.The weather seemed to go from chilly and rainy to hot and mostly sunny rather quickly. I don't recall too many 'comfortable' nights between the chilly ones and now the hot ones. It rained lightly last night, and we've had a few light sprinkles here so far. The rain would cool things off some, but I hate packing and carrying a wet tent. I'd prefer no chance of rain and a breeze, so I can tent without my rain fly. Oh well. I can't have everything I want.While I don't dislike the group from the shelter last night, I don't want to be around their kind of 'comraderie' either. It's just not my style. I want to be around positive, fun people, because it makes me feel good. I know that I crack jokes on just about every topic, but I try not to direct them at someone specific. Anyway, because of that, I am kinda glad to be tenting. I had considered tenting well before I knew the shelter would be full, or nearly so, and that just made up my mind for me.I skimped on food a little bit, for the 4 1/2 days to Port Clinton. I'd rather have lots of food to eat, but stubborn me didn't want to spend a lot at the price-inflated Uni-Mart in Duncannon. I also didn't want to carry the extra weight it would've meant. I'm finding that I dislike food shopping more and more. I find it tedious and boring, and I usually end up with not the right amount of food. I've not been REALLY far off on what I buy, but I get in the store and just want to get shopping over with. I should make all of my food decisions before I go to the store, and buy what's on the list, but I don't. I stand in the aisles counting the number of meals I need and hurriedly buy the food. I keep skimping on the fun part of eating... the snacks! Maybe I should quit counting meals, and just buy snacks and more snacks. I'll keep that in mind for next time... more snacks. Can't go wrong with that!