Location: Unknown Shelter
We got a decent start form the shelter this morning as we set out on a twenty mile day. The rain fell hard last night and stopped early this morning. After a quick Pop-Tart breakfast, Bears and I left the shelter.
The wind blew hard all day. Acorns and leaves fell all around us. As gusts ripped through the treetops, the trees presented a colorful show of different shades of green. Strong leaves twisted and flickered on the branches, flashing dark and pale greens in a constant kaleidoscope. Sometimes the heavy gusts scared me as I heard limbs cracking and falling trees breaking through the branches of other trees before colliding with the ground in a heavy thud.
I separated from Bears after a few difficult climbs. He stopped to rest at a shelter off the trail and I continued. Eventually, only a mile or so before the shelter, I caught up to Bonefish, one of the southbounders that I had met last night. Bonefish (Ted Cava) is 17. He is from Miami, Fl. That’s all I really know about him now. He started nearly one month after I did and he has already caught up to me, so he is moving quickly. When I found him on the trail, he had been hit in the head with a branch, and he was somewhat disoriented.
Bonefish and I finished the day together. The rain had just begun to fall when we reached the shelter. Beebo Fox, Wasp’s Nipples, and Caveman were already at the shelter. Caveman, an older SOBO, has been hiking low mile days after an ankle injury. Bonefish and I filled the remaining vacancy in the shelter, so when Bears arrived he had to set up his hammock behind the lean-to. We could have squeezed him into the shelter, but he didn’t ask us to do so. He has tied his hammock between two trees, which should make for a memorable night in Ernesto’s high winds. The storm is supposed to pass in the night. Hopefully there won’t be too much damage caused by the storm.
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