Date: 2009-07-04
From: Thunder Hill Shelter

To: Matt's Creek Shelter
Miles today: 12.4
Weather: overcast clouds

A crazy thing happened last night out in the woods below Thunder Hill Shelter. It was about 2:00 am when I was abruptly awaken by the sound of a scream/wild screech. I thought it might be Maya or Frem, who had set up their tent a bit down the hill, but thank goodness it wasn't. Because a few seconds later I heard the screams (a little less deafening), slowly moving further away, until the sounds eventually stopped. The screams were not human, more like a hurt or very scared, very large bird. It was not a good sound, and I fear that something may have lost it's life to something else last night.Maya and I discussed this event at breakfast this morning. Frem slept through it all, which is surprising since the sounds came from somewhere fairly close to their tent.Soon I was on the trail, crossing over the Blue Ridge Parkway a few times. I soon came upon an interpretive sign at a beautiful huge stone overlook on the trail. I knew that this impressive lookout was not here just for AT hikers, so there had to be a parking lot nearby. And there was, and most importently there was a bear-proof trash can in this parking lot. I was able to unload almost 1 pound of trash. It is unbelievable how quickly trash piles up, and how heavy it is!The climb up High Cock Knob (yeah, great name right?) was a bit steep and unfortunately there were no views from the top since it was covered in trees. The rest of the afternoon was spent going up and down, and in and out of sunny ridges. The sunny ridges might have been hot, but they were also full of blueberry bushes loaded with ripe fruit!! Wonderful, sweet blueberries, right on the trail. I must have stopped for about one-half hour, and just enjoyed the fresh wild blueberries, always keeping an eye out for bear.Matt's Creek Shelter was at the end of a 3-1/2 mile, fairly steep descent. My feet were really complining when I got there, but were quickly relieved with a long soak in the cool waters of the creek.Turns out that I would be spending the night along at this shelter, as Frem and Maya wanted to stay at the campground about 1 mile further north. They wanted to go swimming at that sight, and hopefully see some 4th of July fireworks from the foot bridge over the James River. Two weekend hikers who were planning on staying here also decided to leave when they realized that they were only 2 miles from the trailhead, and their car. So here I was, alone again. But this is a really nice shelter, with a wonderful babbling creek right in front of it. Not bad accomodations I must say!Later in the evening I heard a commotion on the hill behing the shelter while I was sitting at the picnic table writing in my journal. Time to investigate, since Maya and Frem had seen a bear near here earlier today. Thank goodness it wasn't a bruin, just two, very big deer coming down the hill towards the shelter. They did not seem very concerned when I tried to shoo them away, but eventually they turned around and meandered back up the hill. Note to self: I may be visited by deer again sometime during the night.At 7:00 Texas Turtle, a thru-hiker, stopped by for a quick break before continuing to the campground. He also has visions of going for a swim tonight.