Date: 2008-04-14
From: Pine Swamp Branch Shelter

To: Laurel Creek Shelter
Miles today: 18.5
Weather: light rain

I woke up this morning around 7-ish am and told Toddy Bear about this strange/funny dream I had: I dreamt that we were both in a hotel and discovered that they offered special All You Can Eat Buffets for hikers. On the menu was Lipton Sides in a bag, Cinnamon Raisin Bread, Peanut Butter, Honey, Oatmeal, and other "trail food." I was so excited about all the food they had, that I went back to our room to gather my food bag so that I wouldn't have to pay for a re-supply. When I got pack to the buffet, I looked over at Toddy Bear and whispered, "T. Bear, we should take some of this stuff and 'Bounce Box' it to our next resupply points!" When I went back to the table, however, these two girls had already taken all the food for their bounce box. How funny is it that I now dream about AYCE buffets full of hiker food!?! After hearing this tale, Toddy Bear laughed and I recounted this tale for Yeti, who also thought it was humorous.So, as we packed up and ate breakfast, I looked over and noticed that Travis was up and doing the same. A typical breakfast for us is: Oatmeal Cookies/Peanut Butter/Poptarts(Toddy Bear), Two Packs of Pop-Tarts (Me), or 4-5 packets of Oatmeal (Yeti). Now, when I looked over at Travis, I noticed that he was eating a Nalgene bottle full of Carnation's Instant Breakfast with oatmeal and trailmix. Then, I began packing my "snack pack/man purse" and Travis was doing the same. It's funny to see some of the things people eat. His snacks for the day included a Snickers bar and Vegan Jerky!! By 8:35a, we all hit the trail and immediately reached the road, which provides a detour around Stoney Creek because the bridge was out. We were gonna ford the creek, but it was starting to snow and we realized that getting wet might be a bad idea...especially in this weather. Once we got back on to the trail, Travis got infront of us and said, "If I don't see you all tonight, I'll see you in a couple of weeks when you catch me," and then he took off. As we were beginning our climb up towards the Bailey Gap Shelter, I saw an unopened beer can behind a tree--*Trail Magic*--and showed it to the guys! It was 9:30a, so we each took pictures of us holding it! When we got to the shelter, Travis saw us and then quickly took off. So, we stopped in and began reading the Times and found out that Stovie did a 23 mile day out of Pearisburg on 04/12, but the blister on his heel was bothering him so badly, that he was gonna hitch into Pearisburg and stay there for a couple of days until he recovers. That sucks that he's hurt, but this means there's a chance he'll be rejoining us soon!!!As we left the shelter, the snow began to fall a little bit faster and harder. So, we continued on our journey and I told Yeti that he was now an official Team Deutschmark Pledge!!! Then, we all chatted until we reached Wind Rock! Even though it was snowing, the view was still pretty nice. As we were eating our lunch, it was fun to watch the snow fall on the mountains in the distance, and then eventually us! After eating my two Peanut Butter and Honey, on cinnamon raisin bread, sandwiches and a pack of crackers, we packed up and prepared to leave. Yeti, however, decided to take his traditional "urination" off the 4100 ft high rocks...he tends to do this on top of tall mountains/rocks!!! So, we walked on down to USFS 156 and prepared ourselves for the 1800ft climb in 3.3miles. It wasn't a hard climb, but it was very long, rocky, and steep at times--especially right after Rocky Gap!Once we crossed the road, the snow just began to POUR down! At this point, I realized how ridiculous Thru-Hikers must look to others. I thought this because I was wearing my short sleeve T-Shirt and Tights, Toddy Bear had on a Long sleeve shirt with shorts, and Yeti was wearing his lightweight baselayer and it was snowing!!! Once we got to the top, the walk wasn't too bad. We even reached the Kelly's Knob that Crutch had told Kanati and me about. Once we got to the shelter, we quickly gathered our water and then didn't leave the protection of the shelter...for any reason!!! I did have enough service to get a phone call out to Stovie and learned that his blisters were so bad, that he caught a ride to his sister's house in Richmond and will remain there until he heals and then meet back up with us!!! At least that's good news!!! I just realized that we might catch up to Roundhorse and Brandon tomorrow. I thought it would be funny if we did "OPERATION STEALTH'd" to them. Now, the requirements of OSD are: 1) We must stay one shelter behind them, 2) be hiking at 4:30-5a, and then 3) overtake them while their asleep and then pretend like we don't know how we passed them...this is only fun if you do it to hikers who know you!!! Oh! Yesterday, when Toddy Bear and I crossed Symm's Meadow we saw a herd of approximately 10 deer running across the field. Now that's a beautiful things to see! Well, it's 8:20p and I am very COLD!! There's only one way to stay warm...off to my sleeping bag!!!