Date: 2018-05-23
From: Lynn Camp Mountain

To: Laurel Creek 
Miles today: 22.0

I woke up to sounds of rain falling off leaves. It was pretty early but I was determined to get an earlier start than yesterday. As I was packing up, I saw hikers from the last shelter pass by. Bombadil and After party stopped for a little bit for a break as well as a few other people. They talked about the crazy things that went down at trail days. After about 5 min they headed out again. I was determined to catch up to Scissors and Kamikaze today. They were only 8 miles ahead and I figured I could close the gap. My ankle this morning was killing me already. I wasn't sure if it was the chacos or the amount of miles I had been doing. I may need to switch back to shoes.I headed out for the Chestnut Knob shelter about 8 miles away. Before the shelter was a 2000 foot climb over 5 miles. At least it wasn't over any less miles. The climb up had me sweating profusely. The heat was only rising since there was no more rain. I ran into a geocache box on the trail. It was filled with an old shirt and a fake beeper. The woods opened up to a large clearing that let you see the surrounding mountains. I met Sleeping Beauty who got his name because he passed out drunk and people stacked things on him. He didn't wake until a girl rubbed his head. Someone told him "Good Morning Sleeping Beauty" and the name stuck. I arrived at the shelter and there was a whole crew hanging out. It was on a large grassy bald where you could lounge. The shelter was built out of large cemented stones. It had an open view of the valley below. I put out my tent to dry in the sun and mad a wrap of summer sausage and cheese. The cheese had started sweating after not being refrigerated for a long time. It was still safe to eat though.  After the shelter it was an area known as God's thumbprint. It was one of the largest sinkholes in the world. The trail followed the edge of it. The guides showed it as being pretty flat but they were wrong. There were still large climbs and descents over rocky terrain for 10 miles. The hiker named Asshole started swearing about how he shouldn't trust people when they say a section is going to be flat. About halfway I ran into Scooter whom I hadn't seen since Franklin. He had a stick n poke which he had been giving tattoos with. Apparently his first work wasn't that great but had been getting better over the course of the trail. We headed off for the shelter and in about 4 miles I arrived to an area full of hikers. It's funny how a lot hikers set the shelter as the goal to hike to. I didn't see Scissors or Kamikaze there. I was already at 18 miles and pushed onto Laurel creek falls campsite about 4.5 miles away. I had been feeling the Virginia blues by missing my tramily. I was hoping they would be there.  I rolled into camp around 8:30. Everyone was in their tents and I couldn't tell who was in camp. I came to a clearing with a road and a couple people sitting around a car with trail magic. I noticed Scissors' hat and jacket! She was walking back to the campsite and noticed me. She instantly gave me a hug and I also noticed Kamikaze and Booger Bear was there. The woman giving out trail magic had soda and cosmic brownies! We all hung out by her car catching up on the last few days since trail days. It felt great to be with my tramily again. It soon rolled into hiker midnight. I fallowed Kamikaze back to her site and she showed me a great place to camp. I had to do all my chores well past 11 pm.  Tonight I'm listening to Laurel creek falls crash in the distance.