5/15/01
After a night's sleep interrupted by the relentless activity of mice in the shelter (they took part of my pack towel again) Hip and I finally started hiking around 8:30 a.m. We hadn't hiked very far when the rain began. At first it was light enough that I didn't put on the rain jacket, but finally the leaves on the trees were wet enough that the drops broke through so we stopped and donned the raingear. We stopped for a lunch break at Laurel Creek shelter at 11:30 and took advantage of the dry spot since it was still raining. The rain stopped while lunch was in progress, then the sun actually broke through the clouds and warmed us as we resumed the afternoon hike. As we dropped into Sinking Creek Valley we began crossing open pastures and farmland. Hip was leading and had just climbed over a stile (wooden ladder that crosses over fence, usually barbed wire) and I was beginning to climb it when I noticed a note tacked to the stile. It listed sodas and ice cream and candy with prices and directions to the farmhouse with the red roof just 100 yards away. Hip had missed seeing the sign so I told him of the opportunity and we both dropped our packs and walked up the steps of the front porch of the farmhouse. The candy was on a bench on the porch along with a cooler. Inside were cold sodas on ice. A cup with money in it was also on the bench, so it was obvious we were on the honor system.
As we reached for a soda, a woman opened the front door and greeted us warmly. Anne asked if we were interested in the ice cream. Silly question, right? No, but I'm glad she was home to retrieve the ice cream from her freezer within the house. Soon we were happily sitting in chairs on Anne's front porch drinking a soda and eating ice cream while talking with Anne and her son Joshua and daughter Alana. The kids were very friendly and well mannered and I inquisitively asked Anne if school was out. She replied that the children are home schooled. It showed. I forgot to mention that also on the front porch was a map of the U.S. as well as smaller hand drawn maps of the continents where thru-hikers pin their hometown on the map. We had a very enjoyable quarter hour there and I managed to juggle some fruit and stand on my head to demonstrate my talents to the children. This was one of the highlights of the day and I really appreciated the hospitality and interest in us as thru-hikers. Even though the sodas and ice cream weren't free, their convenience and modest price still were trail magic to me and couldn't have come at a better time.
We still had 10 miles to the shelter, and the sun was baking the clouds, so I knew it was just a question of timing before the rain and most likely storms would be upon us. We had a difficult 1500' climb which interestingly took us by the largest oak tree on the AT. It was 18' around and estimated to be over 300 years old. By the time we reached the top of the ridge, the sky was darkening and we were hoping we could somehow make it off the ridge before the storm moved in. The ridge was 4 1/2 miles long and we were on exposed rock slabs and rock ledges that made hiking difficult. As we were hiking on the rocks, three goats came running toward us at a fast clip. At first I thought they were protecting their territory, but soon knew that they merely wanted to lick the salt off our bodies. Between the goats and wild ponies I'm beginning to feel like a walking salt lick. The goats followed us for a quarter mile attempting to lick us while we hiked, but finally they gave up. We could hear thunder in the distance and knew we were running out of time to get off the ridge. The weather held however and we arrived at the shelter at 7:30 p.m. Just as we dropped our packs in the shelter the rain began, followed by lightning and thunder. What followed was simply amazing. The storm was a virtual light show with frequent lightning and heavy rain and it lasted seven hours! ! ! Finally at about 2:45 a.m. the storm settled down to a light rain. Then the mice got active. It was a long night. It was so nice to make it to the shelter before the storm hit and we felt very fortunate. Today's stats: low 50 degrees, high 61. Rainy, then cloudy, then stormy. Today's mileage: 18.2; cumulative mileage: 667.9.
