Date: 2015-05-06
From: Black Bear Hostel

To: Vandeventer Shelter
Miles today: 17.7
Weather: scattered clouds

It was a beautiful day when I woke up and ate breakfast. There had been an emergency during the night. I found out that a hiker had been taken to the emergency room due to the effects of having contracted Giardia. He was given 4 bags of saline to restore his fluids along with medicine and would recover quickly. Many people think that because there is a pipe or that the water looks clear that they don't have to filter. It is sad because many hikers this year have had to leave the trail due to not filtering their water and thus becoming sick. I always treat my water knowing it only takes one time to ruin and end your trip. I have to be especially careful since I only have one kidney after donating one in 2010. I use a Sawyer inline with my platypus and have a Sawyer Mini which I use as backup. Due to my only having one kidney I cannot use chemical filtration but the Sawyers work very well. I started hiking late, at 9:00 and I met the Texans who were resting at the trailhead going north. Right before the lake I noticed a sign on a telephone pole saying that the next section of the trail had been forcibly taken from a world war II veteran of the Battle of the Bulge by imminent domain. It said that we should hike respectfully over this section of the trail as a result. Once I reached the lake I met a group of 3 hikers who had just finished swimming in the lake and so I joined them as they hiked. What happened in truth was that I tried, and just managed to keep up for awhile before being left in their dust. One of the hikers was named Jester who was a Triple Crowner, and who was filming a documentary on the Appalachian Trail. He had also produced one on the Pacific Crest Trail as well. I loved his triple crown tattoo on his calf, that he spent months designing with an ink artist before it was adopted. They hiked at well over 3 miles per hour and just flew along the trail with huge packs on, and I could only just keep up with them until a little after we crossed the earthen dam and started up into the woods from the Dam Road. Then they kicked it into high gear and away they went. I had to admit that it was good to have company through the area where the bear activity was taking place. I missed my crossing where I was supposed to call for my pack and had to backtrack 1 mile to the road from the steep trail where I had to call to have my pack brought to me.I was very frustrated and called myself several kinds of fool for zombie hiking and not paying attention. While I waited I rested for about 20 minutes while 2 of the other hikers showed up and waited with me for our packs. I had asked and they brought me 2 Poweraids from the store as I had drank up the water I had brought with me. When the packs arrived I started up the hill and we were rewarded with views of the lake as we traveled up switchbacks that replaced the original trail that went straight up the ridge line and was causing considerable erosion.I filled up my water along the way after hearing about the water situation at the shelter. I was exhausted when I arrived at the shelter which looked full, but the hikers made room for me and it truly was full then. The view from the back of the shelter was the best that I've seen so far. The rock formation behind the shelter formed a giant throne where you can regally sit and look hundreds of feet below to the lake and surrounding scenery. I heard that you are looking all the way, into Virginia and our first major milestone. A female hiker came in with a bag of trail magic that she had received from some passing motorists in the form of grapes, apples, wafer cookies and strawberries which everyone was grateful for. I found that the water source was over a 1/2 mile round trip so I decided to eat a cold meal and save my water for the 4+ mile hike the next day to the next spring down the trail. There was a fire going and safety meetings as well which I needed after that climb with the extra miles included. Someone told the story of a female hiker who had been murdered for her pack at the shelter and that the shelter was haunted. Her killer had supposedly thrown her body off of the cliff behind the shelter. There was some debate whether this was a myth or a fact but it made a good campfire story as the rumor was the shelter was supposed to be haunted as a result. From what I heard, the only thing haunting the shelter was a 6' black snake that had vacated the rafters of the shelter when the first hiker arrived and it "haunted" the shelter mice, which as a result, were scarce at this shelter. I didn't hear any mice at all that night. I was exhausted so I soon went to sleep. It was the latest I had arrived at a shelter being after 6:00 so I laid down after 7:00 and only briefly listened to the Bible on audiobook before slipping off to sleep.