Wednesday, June 17th:
I had a restful night's sleep in the hiker's hostel bunkhouse which was sorely needed after yesterday's battles with illness and the elements. My stomach was on its way back to 100%. But the blisters which have been festering for the last day or so, have not only gotten worse but have begun to occupy more real estate on my feet. Despite my best attempts to doctor them up with BandAids and moleskin, it proved to be a long, painful day of hiking.
The other guys managed to survive in the pavilion (even despite the fact that a tornado was reportedly heading our way the night before. Apparently, it must have changed course, because there was no evidence that it touched down, and the rain lessened throughout the night.) No worries, right? :)
Before getting back out on the trail, I offered to buy everyone breakfast at Jerry's as a small way of saying "thanks again" for their efforts on my behalf yesterday. It was the least I could do for this great group of guys. I facilitated our morning devotional time on the subject of "Relationships", including addressing the subject to priorities--namely projects versus people--that we men can often struggle with. When I wrote this devotional lesson some time ago, I included a very telling quote from The Shack, in which the character, Sarayu [God, the Holy Spirit] is speaking to Mack:
Relationships are never about power, and one way to avoid the will to hold power over another is to choose to limit oneself--to serve. Humans often do this--in touching the infirm and sick, in serving the ones whose minds have left to wander, in relating to the poor, in loving the very old and the very young, or even in caring for the other who has assumed a position of power over them.
The lesson served as a good reminder for me, and I hope, for the rest of the guys. Once we were done, Jerry very kindly drove us in three trips back to the trail. The weaker/slower hikers went in the first trip, so I was a part of that group given my continuing road to recovery. The other two groups followed behind over the next hour or so.
With a hearty breakfast, a decent night's sleep, and a renewed spirit, I was feeling pretty good, and we made good time up past the Old Orchard shelter (where the youth group had stopped). That said, it was raining almost the entire time, which caused "rivers" of water to flow along the trail constantly. In fact, you were either going with the current or against the current depending on whether you were going downhill or uphill. It got to a certain point where any attempts to stay dry no longer really mattered.
We moved on to the Scales (where Jeff O. had previously spent a night alone). There was actually an almost-civilized bathroom there, which made the stop that much longer as each of us availed ourselves of this rare commodity. Our lunch consisted of eating soggy Nutri-grain bars and trail mix and washing them down with water. While there, we ran into a group of about 20 Boy Scouts and their leaders. They were attempting to make arrangements to get a couple of their people off the Trail, because they had run into some trouble while hiking. We heard they were going to be staying at the Thomas Knob Shelter that night, which was also where we were considering as a place to spend the night.
After our rest stop, we then continued up the mountain and made our way into the Grayson Highlands State Park, which took us up to elevations of between 4,500-5,500 feet (an exhausting climb). We had determined to rendezvous at the Wise Shelter which was about 2.8 miles past the Scales (and was where our itinerary had us originally planning to stay the night).
I happened to be one of the first guys to arrive at the Wise Shelter, along with Levi, Justin, and Jeff S. The youth group that had been leap-frogging with us all week was already settling in there, which reinforced our emerging plan to keep going to the Thomas Knob Shelter (another 5.1 miles further on). I suggested that we send Levi and Justin on ahead to secure a place for us at the shelter, while the rest of us followed along behind. In addition, Jeff S. agreed to wait at the Wise Shelter for Jeff O., who was bringing up the rear. We assumed that at the pace we were going, we should arrive at the shelter no later than 7:30 p.m. (We couldn't have been more wrong.)
That last 5.1 miles proved to be the longest, most arduous, section of the trail we hiked the entire week, and certainly the most difficult trail I've ever hiked. We had some major climbs through the Grayson Highlands, including places where the natural "steps" up over the rocks were literally about 2 feet high or more. Hiking up that mountain with a 45-50 lb. backpack was very challenging and tiring, especially given the fact that every slippery step (because of the running rainwater) was fraught with the potential for a fall or a twisted ankle.
The AT trailbook has this to say about this section of the trail: "The elevation and open terrain here make the sudden onset of severe weather a particular risk in winter, early spring, and late summer." That description proved prophetic as we trudged over the Grayson Highlands. Normally, the Grayson Highlands are one of the most picturesque sections of the AT with sweeping vistas dotted with herds of wild horses galavanting about. Not so this day. The weather had caused a thick fog to roll which made it very difficult to navigate the terrain (including being able to see the white blazes which mark the AT). On top of that, there was a torrential thunderstorm which opened up on us as we made our way across that open ground. At one point, I found myself hiking with Josh when the lightning started to strike all around us. In fact, one bolt of lightning hit so close to us that the lag time between the lightning strike and the corresponding crash of thunder was virtually non-existent. Hiking with metal hiking poles made for a precarious situation, but unfortunately, we had very little recourse, as there was hardly any place to take cover. All we could do was keep moving up the trail as quickly as possible.
The weather was disentegrating with each step it seemed and the first indications of impending darkness were beginning to set in. By 7:30 p.m. I hadn't reached the shelter yet, even though I was up near the front of our group. And all I could think about, besides pressing forward over the rocky landscape was where Jeff O. was in all of this. I began running scenarios through my head about what we might need to do to ensure that he didn't have to spend another night alone on a mountain somewhere in conditions like this. Each of us was beginning to hit a wall during this section of the trail. We had hiked nearly 13 miles and the prospect of having to go back out and over the same terrain to search for Jeff was not desirable. But there were growing dangers and limited options.
I got almost to the shelter when I stopped and took off my pack. I told Josh to go on ahead to the shelter, which was just up around the corner, and have either Justin or Levi come back for my pack. I was going to head back down the mountain to see if I could find Jeff O. (and/or see if Jeff S. or someone else could help me get him up to the shelter). I had no way of knowing how far back he was, or how long it might take us to find him. So, I decided to plan for the contingency of being out on the mountain after dark (even overnight if necessary). For all I knew, I might be spending a cold, wet night curled up under a rock somewhere. But all of my pre-hike conditioning (combined with my 30+ years of survival training growing up in the Crane bootcamp :), had prepared me for whatever challenges we might face. The real question was, would we find him in time?
(To be continued...) 
UPDATE: I am going to be out of town (and thus not able to blog) for a couple of days, so the next installment of this AT adventure will have to wait until I get back. Thanks!
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