9/15/2003 ~ 15.3 AT miles hiked
I spent a peaceful night under the tarp. It rained, and I stayed completely dry, which is nice. I did have to pick a snail off my groundcloth though. Ew. It was so dark and foggy when I woke up today that I thought it must have been 5am, but it was 7! It was not raining though, that took another hour or so. I got completely soaked within two hours of when I'd packed up. Shoe squishing soaked.
I had lunch at Doc's Knob Shelter. Doc's Knob Shetler is in a rhododendron thicket, always a nice setting, but the spring is hard to find. Once you find the water, there's plenty as long as you have a way to dip it out. The log claims that a mountain lion was seen nearby. I kinda doubt it.
I saw a deer, notable only because it didn't bother to run away. I saw many others that did, of course. I saw a rabbit, a couple of frogs and a turkey (at Angel's Rest, which was completely fogged in). Except for the blisters from the soaked shoes, it wasn't a bad hike even though it rained all the way into Pearisburg...then it stopped...right when I got here.
The blazing into town is confusing and unhelpful. I went way out of my way, and actually hiked a mile *past* where I wanted to be. I'll get a ride past that in the morning, maybe.
Posted by nicole at September 15, 2003 04:58 PM