Date: 2013-06-13
From: Former South River Shelter campsite

To: Big Meadow Cabin
Miles today: 14.4

The storms never materialized overnight but it wasn't a good night for sleeping since it was so muggy. We started packing up at 5:30 to try to get the climb up Baldface Mtn (3,615 ft) done while it was cooler. At the top of Baldface I got cell reception and had a message from Anita saying there were flash flood watches for the area. About that time it became very windy and the skies were suddenly menacing. We increased our hiking speed in an effort to reach Lewis Mountain Campground before an angry storm hit us. Lewis Mountain was still 3 miles away. One of the things that makes me nervous about hiking in weather like this is falling branches and trees. The winds continued and it rained intermittently, but not hard. We arrived at Lewis Mountain Campground Store a little before 10:00 and took refuge there as it began to rain harder. We used the time to get something to eat and do a one day resupply. The nice thing about the Shenandoah's is that the campgrounds and camp stores are close enough together that you don't need to carry more than 2 days of food with you. The bad thing is that there is often limited selection and its expensive. I wasn't getting cell reception there but the person working in the store let me use the store phone to call Anita. I reassured her we were fine and she gave me an updated weather report of a line of severe thunderstorms that should hit our area about 3:30 or 4:00. We briefly flirted with the idea of getting a cabin and holing up until the storm passed but I'm glad we didn't. I think Matthew and Trouble would have done it if I had agreed but I'm ready to be done with Virginia and I wanted to press on . . . hoping that I wouldn't regret it later. We ran into Cabo and Floater who had a ride to the next campground. They offered to take our packs to the next campground if we wanted to slack pack the remaining distance. We decided against it because we didn't want to get caught in a bad storm without tents, etc. However, we did take them up on their offer to share their cabin at the next campground if we made it that far. We decided to hike to the next shelter, which was less than a mile away, and make a decision. At the trail to the shelter it was unanimous that we should keep going. We continued to keep our pace up to try to beat the storm. It's too bad we raced through this section because it really was pretty. The sky cleared some and the sun even came out for awhile. By the time we reached Hazeltop Mountain (3,812 ft) the sky was dark again, the wind was still blowing strong gusts, and it was sprinkling. We raced on making sure that we kept in close proximity in case the weather worsened. When we arrive at the cabin area we saw Floater flagging us down. We made it before the weather turned severe - yeah! It took a while to get 5 people through the shower and I fell asleep while I was waiting for Matthew to finish his. The store here is really poor for resupply so we ended up eating dinner in the restaurant. The food was good but the desert was great! After dinner we did laundry and updated our journals. I miss my tent but I have to admit this is one evening I'm glad to be in a cabin!