We slept in a bit, enjoying a lazy morning. We still had to make eighteen or so miles today, eventually we got ourselves into gear. We hiked the ridge a couple of miles to our first stop, Mary’s Rock. I remember sitting at this overlook when we last visited. It’s where the photo on our “Wanderers” page was taken of us. There have been so many memories that have filled these last couple of days, making this section all the more special.
While we were there we got a message from Wonder Woman and Snow Monkey warning us. A ranger had gone up to the shelter to let hikers know about storms coming in. He told them that between 1p and 4p we were supposed to get four inches of rain. Holy. Cow. It totally changed our plans for the day. First up, get as far as we can in dry weather. Once we got closer to a shelter or road crossing, we had to make a decision about if we wanted to push to the next exit option or not. We made it to a road crossing where we hoped to hitch a couple of miles to the next wayside (store) and wait out the storms while drinking a blackberry shake.
Our thumbs were out for almost thirty minutes. Kirby decided it wasn’t going to happen and walked into the woods to set up his tent. Warthog started to set up near the road and planned to drag it over if we didn’t get a hitch. Just then a guy stopped. Yes! He opened the van and let us throw our stuff in. He had a makeshift bed in the back. We sat around it.
As we drove to the wayside, he talked about videotaping animals in the park. I asked if he was a videographer. He said yes, he takes videos and before that photos. I asked what he photographed; weddings, portraits, commercial, etc. His answer: dead bodies. Uh… if you missed that, he said DEAD BODIES. I poked Warthog’s leg like, “get ready to jump out if needed.” He wasn’t a forensic photographer. Turns out he would go to crime scenes and get photos or videos to sell to the news. It’s a thankless job, but somebody’s got to do it. We made it to the wayside and hopped out of the van, thankful for no more “interesting” moments. Just then, the rain started.
We darted for the overhang where several other hikers were already established. Some had been there for a couple of hours preparing for the bad weather. The rain was heavy, but not four inches heavy. During the storm we got lunch; burgers and fries, a club and fries. I got blackberry ice cream (the shake machine was out of order) that I turned into a float. The weather had lulled and seemed to taper off. There was a chance of rain for the next several hours but we were hoping the worst was over.
As we were preparing to leave, so were friends of another hiker. I saw they had keys in their hands and Warthog asked if they would be willing to give us a ride back to the road crossing. They happily obliged. We left our packs at the wayside. We only had four miles to cover until we came across it again and I knew some of our hiker friends would still be there. I was a bit nervous about leaving the packs, but we would hike quickly and I trusted the people there with them.
We got back to where Kirby holed up and helped him breakdown his tent. We were off. As soon as we left the rain started up again, this time harder than the last. Just our luck. At least our packs were staying dry and the rain was warm.
After picking up our packs, we only had six miles to go for our next shelter. We hadn’t seen Wonder Woman or Snow Monkey and no one has reception to be able to check in. This shelter is not my favorite shelter I’ve been to. When we arrived, there was a bear in the woods near the camping sites. Awesome. I tried to be careful, but of course, tonight was the night I spilled half of my dinner on the ground. I might as well laid out a bowl of juicy berries with a freaking name card for the bear. We cleaned it up as best as we could and covered the spot with dirt. As if bears can’t smell. Fingers crossed for an uneventful evening. That would be lovely. Sometimes I really frustrate myself. Gah! Spilling half of dinner…
-ansel