Date: 2008-04-21
From: Bobblets Gap Shelter (1920')

To: Thunder Hill Shelter (3960')
Miles today: 23.6
Weather: light rain

It rained all last night and into this morning. By the time I was packed up and ready to go around 8 it had stopped. The first half of the walk today was very nice. Gentle grades, cool weather, the sun was behind the clouds, and the trees are budding. The Dogwoods are in bloom now and some other trees at lower elevations are budding light green. Those two combined with the purple flowered trees and the sun glistening off the fresh rain made it very beautiful. It started raining on one of the uphills which was really nice and I didn't even bother putting on rain gear. This was the first time I've actually welcomed the rain. I got to Bryant Ridge Shelter just before noon and took lunch. It is a huge shelter and I wished I could've stayed there. It was a 4 1/2 mile walk up 2200' after the shelter and there was fog and off and on rain. Again I welcomed the rain which cooled me down. Its cool when the fog your walking in only allows about 10 ft of visibility and then they clear within 10 seconds and you can see all the way up the trail and then of course the come back. It was another 6 mi after the uphill to the shelter I'm at and I went over Apple Orchard Mtn. which I'm pretty sure is the highest elevation I'm at until NH (Apple orchard was 4225'). I got to the shelter just after 4PM an there were 2 dogs barking like crazy. Their owners are section hikers also staying at the shelter tonight. They've hiked from Springer to where I am now just like me and they're starting out on another stretch. Not long after I arrived a trail angel walked up to the shelter and announced he was coming back with food. He came back with cold cuts (there were different meats, cheese, mayo, wheat bread), orange juice, pickles!, tostito chips, vanilla wafers, and when three more hikers showed (with another dog) he broke out peanut butter and banana sandwiches and gave us all a bag of peanut m&ms. I got 2 sandwiches and pretty much had the chips to myself and combined with all the other food he brought I was able to save my candy and dinner that I was going to eat. His name was John Hasty and he had a son who hiked the trail last year. He wanted to return some of the generosity that others had shown his son on the trail. He was also a civil engineering major from Clemson in environmental engineering field currently and seemed to recommend it as a career path over structural engineering when I mentioned to him I was thinking about the two. Everyone I've met that has been involved in some form of environmental engineering seems to have good things to say about it. The other 3 hikers that showed up were Soaring, Owl, Rabbit, and Roo. They called themselves the 100acre woods I believe as in Winnie the Pooh. I fully expected the shelter to be empty when I arrived and to stay that way but instead there are 8 other hikers and 3 dogs. The two dogs that greeted me when I first showed up sleep in the bottom of sleeping bags which I imagine keeps you a lot warmer than a silk liner. The 100 acre woods group started in Harper's Ferry in late March and are heading south to Springer, driving to Katahdin, and then ending in Harper's Ferry. I wouldn't call that a flip-flop hike but its some variation of that. They should be getting nice weather the whole way. Also they're from Maryland and I haven't been running into many other Maryland people. The trail magic was perfect and John was able to give everyone plenty of food. This changes my resupply options since I was able to save a dinner and dessert. When I get to the Glasglow crossing and make some calls to figure out shuttles I'll decide how to proceed and whether I should still resupply there or go another day and try to get into Buena Vista. Another highlight was I finally got a good look at the bird I thought was an Oriole. He popped out along the trail and was definitely the bird I was seeing the last couple of times and had the same call. He also hid from me in the same low brush like the others and hopped around to avoid a picture. I'm 100% certain its the same bird from the past few encounters with the apparent Oriole and I'm now 98% sure that those birds and this one were Orioles. There was clearly a lot of orange on its side and it was big enough but I don't think its a Baltimore oriole or at least it doesn't look like the ones on the O's hats. My feet felt good today and the gaitors are working out great. They look a little silly but kept everything dry despite all the rain. Also my foot/leg tendon issue wasn't too bad today and hasn't been since before Daleville. I need to figure out my resupply tomorrow and how I'm going to meet up with Pat and Deborah to accommodate their and my schedules. I hope going in and out of Waynesboro isn't too big of a deal because I got mail there. I would like to meet them Saturday at the entrance for Shenandoah so that on Sunday we can start hiking from there. The more I hear about Shenandoah the more excited I am. Apparently its well graded, I'm sure the shelters are nice since its a national park and there are places on the trail where you can get snacks and food.