Date: 2018-04-23
From: VA 52

To: Wapiti Shelter
Miles today: 27.0
Weather: clear sky

Waking up to the sound of 18 wheeler air brakes the day after Earth day was odd. What a weird coincidence that on Earth day we slept in our tents overlooking a highway after having been in the woods for almost a month and a half...I woke up and made reservations at Woods Hole Hostel for two days out. I packed my tent and by 730 I was hopeful to walk over to the store and get in early for breakfast. As I crested the hill I saw baba, soothe and buckeye packing their tent 50 ft below us also overlooking the highway. They had gotten in at 9pm after a 30 mile day and camped right near honeybun and I. Not only that but two clicks, slider and our friends gram and Grant now called Gramps and Sani had all left a campsite 7 miles back at 4:30am to get to this store at 8am as well. Crazy! Our little Tramily/hoard had all reunited for the hopes of food!We got into this small store before 8 and the owner began serving us with the biggest smile on his face. He had just made a quick couple hundred dollars before the store even opened. We had the classic biscuit and gravy with eggs and bacon. A hot breakfast helps a lot! I even ordered a burger for dinner that I took to go on my 27 mile soggy hike.I took off from the store at 9:30am. I was worried it might have been too late of a start to successfully get to the shelter with daylight left. My motivation all day though was the dinner burger and running from the rain. The wind continued to howl and the skies looked dismal but it didn't start raining until 1230 or so. Even then, the heavy rain didn't come until 230. I was able to put in some big miles prior to the rain.By the time the rain started hard, I was walking through a tunnel of rhododendrons that helped block a lot of it. The problem was though, when the rain did die down, the rhododendrons kept the rain dripping so it never really ended for me. I was wet and tired but I pushed hard and got to the shelter by 530. 27 miles in 8 hours! I was pumped!At the small shelter, we were able to fit 6 people even though it was meant for 5 the problem was that our entire hoard was headed here so almost everyone had to set up tents. I got a spot in the shelter with Flash, Slider and Duracell and then two section hikers. We were sleeping in the same name of the shelter that two people were murdered in back in the 1980's I believe. They have since torn that shelter down and built this one in a different location but they kept the same name! It was a bit creepy but there were a lot of us. Cool to say though... I've slept in the highest elevation shelter and the one where two people were murdered. I'll add it to the books!The others rolled in as I downed my burger in a minute flat along with any other food I could out of my food bag. I stuffed my face and even though I was cold and wet, I decided not to cook tonight just because I wanted to sit with my feet in the sleeping bag out of the rain. I slept very well all night.P.S: The last few 100 miles have been fairly strange and I didn't really realize it until we all got together and chatted. There has been a man named low gear consistently spotted on trail. He claims to be a trail angel but also has weirded out a lot of hikers in our group. Honey bun was the first one to encounter him. The man poured him an individual glass of Pepsi and gave him three Doritos as trail magic-- strange but not that weird I suppose. Two Clicks and our friends who I believe are Australian, named Polaroid and soul sister also reported being followed by him. Two Clicks passed him going north while low gear went South until they passed each other. As soon as he passed him, low gear turned around 180 degrees and followed him. Two Clicks picked up the pace as the man continued to stay right behind him until two clicks said "what's up man" and low gear replied "I know these woods really well." Polaroid and soul sister reported being followed as well and by the time they lost sight of him behind them, he was standing up the trail in front of them. What makes it creepier is he has a 6 inch knife hanging perpendicular to his chest strap clearly visible AND the man who gave us pancake trail magic reported finding an unattended day hiking pack full of a wallet and phone off trail in the same general area we've seen this man. He reported the bag to state police and they said the hiker it belonged to was supposedly hiking south to Georgia last his family knew. All these different interactions put together really raises flags. Today, we learned that another few hikers had a similar experience and called the sheriffs on him. They reportedly have a file on him but he hasn't necessarily done anything illegal. I, myself, only had a quick interaction with him where he asked if I knew who he was and was surprised I didn't. It was quick then I began hiking north as he continued south but definitely puts you on edge. Plus sleeping in a shelter where people had been murdered way back didn't make it any less uneasy! But don't worry, I'm safe and moving north away from this sketchy section!