Date: 2014-05-15
From: That's right... I'm a Waynesboro Bum. 

To: Black Rock Shelter
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Reunions!My second night at Stanimal's was more festive than the first. In addition to Key Lime two other thru hikers arrived... And Napoleon showed up too!!!The last I'd seen of Napoleon was in Erwin when I'd banged up my knee and in recent weeks I'd noticed his name had dropped out of the registers. Trail gossip had told me he'd wrenched his knee during a 35 mile day somewhere south of Roanoke and he'd had to drop off trail to recover. On her 150 mile yellow blaze to catch me Key Lime had called him and they had joined forces from Lexington onward. When they arrived we all shared a big hug (and Key Lime and I did some squealing and giggling, as gals are apt to do) and then we walked to Kroger for a resupply and dinner. The three if us had a dandy reunion and Key Lime and I stayed up late trading trail gossip and eating Ben and Jerry's ice cream. It was darned good to see her! We got up early on Wednesday (14th) and Stanimal drove us up to the Gap and dropped us off. At the trail head we found Thin Mint and Gandalf (the older one, not the younger one) hiking together as well. Thin Mint and I did a happy dance because we hadn't seen each other since Woods Hole Hostel... Well, the dancing bit might just have been me... And we all started up the trail together. I dropped behind after a few miles because my feet started to hurt in the new shoes. It was a beautiful day and a good day's hiking aside from that. I took my time and took lots of stops for lunch, water and phone calls on tops of mountains. Midway through the day I came upon Reset gathering water! I'd lost him when I pulled my 30 mile day into Marion for Easter. More happy dancing (though this time I was NOT the lone dancer) and more hugs and excitement and then we set off together for Black Rock Shelter 10 miles up. We chatted and gossiped and chuckled- Reset is amongst the most personable of men- and ended the day at the shelter with Napoleon, Key Lime, Gandalf, Thin Mint, Angry Phil (And yes, he lives up to his name) and two young guys I had never met before: Prom Queen (There's a second one!) and Trail Wife. I liked those two. They're finishing their gap year between high school and college and are both laid back and cheerful. They've been best friends since elementary school and are seemingly joined at the hip. Bromances are fun to witness and they have a good one. We were a joyful, boisterous bunch as we ate dinner and passed around my almost empty bottle of whiskey. As true dark started to enclose us, and we began to think about throwing our bear bags, I saw a shape moving fast down the path towards the shelter and then Ranger Danger was jogging towards me, grinning from ear to ear. I haven't seen Ranger since the NOC, when my mom came to hike with me during my second week on the trail! He had also been sidelined with injury and had taken 12 days off to go to the Caribbean with his family to heal. He's usually fairly standoffish, but as soon as he saw me he yelled "Sisyfus!" and swept me up into a very tall Ranger hug. He had been rocking 30's for the past few weeks and flying to try and catch up to all of his friends. He looked none the worst for wear. The man is a multi-marathoner and looks like it. He's all legs and wiry muscle and "tuff." It was great to see him. And he got hugs all around. We settled in for an expectedly good night and everyone fell asleep quickly. At midnight though I came slowly back to consciousness by a wet sound seeping into my dreams. A sloshing, retching noise shuttered through the shelter and I was uncomfortably aware that someone was dreadfully sick. Napoleon had eaten something that didn't agree with his system and had found the presence of mind to reach for his cooking pot just in time for the first wave of sick to hit him. There is nothing like the sound of vomit hitting the bare bottom of a cooking pot. It's terrifying.It makes you start reviewing everything you've eaten that day, wondering if you'd shared anything with the poor unfortunate soul who's now very publicly spewing his guts out. "Did I drink from his water bottle? Did he taste any of my food? Did we use the same spices, powdered milk or tuna packet? Oh good God, am I next?" I sat there for the intervening 4 hours, in which he alternated between throwing up and rushing to the privy, clutching my sleeping bag waiting for my own stomach to begin to roil. Often, because we are in such close proximity to one another, when one person gets sick the virus travels up and down the trail in both directions. We've had a lot of illness already this year. Every week I hear more trail gossip about the latest batch of untouchables who're laid up in hotels and hostels trying to recover from some unpleasant ailment or another. Gross. I did not get sick and around 4 it seemed that Napoleon had survived the ordeal enough to return to huddle beneath his sleeping bag. The shelter quieted again and everyone fell asleep when at 4:45, as though on cue from Satan himself, a whippoorwill perched itself on a rock 8 feet in front of the shelter and began to make its signature call. It was incessant. Everyone groaned and a few things were thrown to try and scare it away. The little twerp was unfazed! I voted we kill it and make an example of it for all the other little demonic birds to learn from, but no one wanted to leave their sleeping bag to do the honors. Whimps!We gave up all attempts to sleep around 6:45. We all got up (everyone except Napoleon, who was still looking a little peaked, and Key Lime who was keeping him company) and packed out to begin another day on the lovely AT.