May 11 - 22.7 / 818.6

I know I'm not suppose to talk about the smell of others. Dang, Sonic smelled last night. He set up his tent beside me, and I swear he smelled like the privy. Maybe it was actually the privy. If so, it was perfect timing of him being right beside me.

The day started off with a little more history. We actually stayed in an area once inhabited by the Brown Mountain Creek Valley Community. The community was one of freed slaves that lived there from the time of the Civil War to about 1918. From the trail, I could see remnants of old stone walls and what looked like an old house or oven.

My plan was to get going this morning to beat out the rain, well lightning. I can hike in the rain all day, but lightning means no hiking and take shelter. I knew I had two balds (i.e. a mountain with no trees on top) within the first 3 hours and a good climb before that. PM was gone before I even got out of my tent. He leaves in about 15 minutes after waking up. I left with Samurai around 7:30. A few minutes later he stopped to remove layers. I kept hiking and caught up with Donner. It wasn't a few minutes later that it started to sprinkle. I stopped and put on my rain jacket and pack cover. I caught back up with Donner and that is when the rain got stronger. I stopped again to put on my gators and rain pants. Then came the balds. There was still not sight of lightning, and I hadn't heard thunder so I pushed on. I was crossing the first bald and about got knocked over by the wind. I had to walk sideways and lean into the wind. I was probably tilting a good 30 degrees. The wind was just the beginning. The rain was stinging my face and then turned to sleet for about 30 seconds. It was not a pleasant feeling.

Even though I was cold and wet, I felt good hiking today. I made it 15.9 miles to the shelter by 1ish. PM was there along with We'll See and three section hikers. I took off my pack and had lunch. Donner, Samurai, TW, and SR arrived shortly after. It was kind of funny to watch people trying to put on warm clothes, open wrappers, and use lighters to start their stoves with hands that were numb and fingers that didn't move.

Before I headed out, Donner left. He said his goodbyes to all of us as he was staying at a B&B tonight. He will get ahead of us over the weekend as we head off to trail days. I'm not sure if we will be able to catch back up with him.

I had a quick lunch and got moving again. I was getting too cold just sitting there. The rest of the day was cold and wet, but a fairly easy hike. It was 6.9 miles between the last two shelters. PM was there when I arrived. The other three came in between 5 and 20 minutes after me. The 5 of us had the shelter to ourselves. I was planning on tenting as my tent is a lot warmer than the shelter. However, since it was the 5 of us, we decided to all stay in the shelter. We put up SR's rain fly from his tarp across the shelter's opening. It is helping to block wind and any rain from being blown in. It was rather nice to have space to put on warm clothes and make dinner.

Sonic showed up and joined us too. All of us are warm and full. I think it will be an early night for most of us. Early as in before 9.

That's all I have for today. Thanks for keeping up with the blog, and I hope it's fun to read. I try to make it interesting without getting too repetitive.

Peace, BT