Date: 2014-04-28
From: stealth campsite

To: Double Springs Shelter
Miles today: 16.0
Weather: light rain

It turns out what Just Paul thought was another night hiker passing by our campsite at midnight last night was a bear. QT and Stitch were camping down the hill from us. QT saw a bear from his tent, started making noise to scare it off, and the bear came up the hill by us. Unfortunately or fortunately, I'm not sure which, we didn't find out until this morning from QT that it had been a bear, not a hiker! I am excited to see a bear out here, but at the same time will flinch when I do.It was another day of needing to push miles to stay on schedule for our rendezvous with Houdini tomorrow. My legs were not cooperating. By 11:00, they felt like they usually do at 4:00. I was tired and not sure why. I decided it was a combination of yesterday's heat, doing consecutive big mile days, and the fact that this is day eight since my last zero. My pace was slow, and I wasn't sure how I was going to be able to do all the miles today. I was stressing over the miles which is NOT how I want to hike. I came up with an alternative plan. Rather than hike and camp just before the designated pick up spot for Houdini, we'd stop earlier at the shelter for the night, meet up with Houdini a little later in the am, nero and drive into Damascus tomorrow rather than slack pack in. I ran my new plan past Just Paul and Tortoise. She is tired too, so we all agreed to plan B. I relaxed at that point, stopped and had lunch and my legs started to feel better. Thunderstorms were predicted, but stayed at bay until late in the day. We were about 3 miles from the shelter when the sky began to look threatening. We came upon trail magic left by a local church in a large metal crate. We were trying to stay ahead of the thunderstorms, so I guzzled a soda and wolfed down some confection as fast as I could and off we went. Shortly thereafter the trail took us out of the woods and into an open field for 3/4 of a mile. So I spend probably 98% of the time in the woods, and when thunderstorms are chasing us, that's when I suddenly find myself in a field! Let me tell you, the trail magic sugar and adrenaline kicked in and I booked it the 3/4 mile. I felt no fatigue or heavy pack on my shoulders, only urgency and determination. David Bidler, once again I heard you tell me that there would be a day when I was above tree line with a thunderstorm approaching and I would have to push my limits to safety. I wasn't above tree line, but it was the same scenario. Just as I reached the woods, the skies opened up and it started to pour. I stopped long enough to put on my rain pants, but made a strategic error and didn't move my waterproof camera from my shorts pocket to my jacket, so I couldn't reach it to take photos of the next 2 miles. Thunder and lightening was overhead and it absolutely poured. My rain gear was worthless, my feet were squishing in my boots, I was totally soaked, and the trail turned into a river. It was an AT moment, one I now know I can handle.At the shelter, I changed into my dry camp clothes, I literally rung out my socks, and the sky cleared. I slept in the shelter because more rain was forecasted. Before I went to sleep, I aimed my headlamp to the shelter rafters and watched the mice scurry around.Got to love this trail. Goodnight.