Stephanie's Trail Journal

Saturday, May 8th Part III

Okay, so we finally left Wesser, NC at 3:45 pm. This was a late and ominous start because not only did we have 6.5 miles of straight uphill to climb, the skies were darkening and threatening to rain. 'We' consisted of Stephan, Dan, Chris, Pat and myself. I saw some good plants along the way including Indian Paintbrush and Lily of the Valley; some areas of the trail were so lush and green, they look to be straight out of a painting. About halfway up, thunder started rumbling and some rain - very cold rain - began to fall, however this shower was brief and welcome because of the heat of the day. We continued on for about another 30 minutes when the thunder began in earnest and lightning started flashing. We thought we were close to the bald and tried to beat the storm, however we were no match for it. We were in a fairly exposed area when a bolt of lightning came a little too close for comfort. We decided to backtrack a little and spread out so as to not attract lightning. Then the rain fell harder and it brough the hail. At least 3 storm cells pushed through before we could move from our 'shelter', and I put that word in quotations because we were freezing cold. The downpour was so strong that if you tried to open your pack, everything would get soaked. We probably sat through the rain and hail for about 30 minutes. Being that wet and cold makes your skin look as if rigormortis has set in. We decided to move for the next shelter because we were risking hypothermia if we stayed put much longer. The last cell was still pushing through when we started moving, but it felt so good to get the blood flowing again. Soon the rain ceased and we were at Sassafrass Shelter; fortunatley it was one of the larger shelters that sleeps 14 people so there was plenty of room for us and our wet gear.

Dinner tasted delicious, but I'm sure you won't think it possible when I tell you what it was: Vegetable-barley soup with tuna and mashed potatoes. It was either a goulash or a gruel, but was very tasty and filling.

The morning brought some trail magic our way; the folks in the shelter when we arrived got up early to cook pancakes with syrup and extras to spare so we all had a pancake to start the day. People along the trail are so nice! Hopefully I can continue the trail magic one of these days.

Stephanie