Thursday, May 28th - Got up at 6:00 am (Spice-Man stayed in bed); took awhile to get all our non-drying gear together, so we ended up leaving around 6:45. Light to moderate rain on and off all day today, along with distant thunder now and again. Various ups and downs to get to a bridge (a very nice bridge) over Stony Creek - which was raging out of its banks. Most of the creeks and tributaries are either at or above flood, and obviously this is becoming a concern with seemingly no end to the rain. We had two very tough climbs today (both over 1500 feet), to get to our intended destination, Laurel Creek Shelter. Passed Bailey Gap Shelter - no one there - and we kept on truckin'.
One of the biggest negatives of the trip occurred today, as we passed through several long stretches of the trail where the trees were virtually defoliated from gypsy moths, the first time we have noted this; it's clear many of the trees will not survive (many appear to be already dead). I'm not sure why the state hasn't sprayed the area yet - it seems to me they're already a day late and a dollar short. You can actually hear the damn things chewing; unbelievable. The ground is littered with bits of leaf. Also passed many more dead or dying hemlocks, all from the Woolly Adelgid infestation. There were some good points too, however; first, we had many stretches where we were walking through tens of thousands of blooming mountain laurels. Also stretches of what I will call "fern-fields," with (again) thousands of ferns lining both sides of the trail, some up to 3 feet high. Finally, coming up one of the hills, we could hear and feel a deep rumble underground, and realized we were listening to a major creek pounding (through the rocks) 10 or 20 feet below us - something else I have never experienced in all my years outdoor.
Continued past War Spur Shelter, and started up the second major climb, a brutal straight-up-the-mountain old jeep road that seemed like it would never end. Took over a hour to get up, and we were pretty whipped by the time we reached the crest. [Apparently we just missed seeing a huge rattlesnake, photographed by Rollo, a hiker, about 15 minutes behind us.] We spent a few minutes and called Mark's Aunt Essie in Cave Spring, VA (near Roanoke), where we plan to stop for a day or two this Saturday and maybe Sunday. Then a descent and final minor climb to get to Laurel Creek Shelter, arriving 6:15, in the rain. Only 6 spaces at this rather small shelter, so we were quite happy to find two remaining spaces left - not a trivial concern with heavy thunderstorms still expected (and we could hear distant thunder even as we arrived). Criqui, Rollo, Witness, and a section-hiker Can-Do, were there.
Both Mark and I spent some time doing some personal cleanup down at the creek (which was also raging), which helped a bit on the groadiness front - the water was bone chilling cold! Dinner around 7:15, and bed around 8:30, with lightning on the distant western horizon. Amazingly, a large group of local hikers came in around 8:45, with 2 dogs in tow, and sat at the picnic table nonchalantly chatting with Rollo and Criqui, seemingly oblivious to the potential of a coming storm. By this point the western horizon was being lit up every 5 seconds or so, and we had distant booms of thunder. They finally started get set up (in the dark) around 9:15 - 9:20, about 10 or 15 minutes before the skies opened up and yet another torrential downpour started, along with heavy winds and a couple of nearby lightning strikes. Those of us in the shelter were VERY happy to be inside and under cover. I'm not sure I've ever seen any group so heedless of a coming storm, and I'm sure they paid the price overnight. Another night with minimal sleep.
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