The shelter seems to be missing its roof

I looked out my motel window this morning to discover that it was raining. I turned on the weather channel to determine when it might clear up.

I decided I wanted a cup of coffee, so Cookie and I got a shuttle from the Rendevous Motel to the Courthouse Cafe. This is where I had a cup of coffee and used the internet service.

At 9:30AM I walked back to the Motel and did final preparations to hit trail.

It was starting to clear up when I hit trail at 10:15AM, a pretty late start for me. As usual it was uphil leaving town, but the climb was not all that difficult in the grand scheme of things.

Once I was on the ridge, it was smooth sailing for the rest of the day. Rice Field Shelter is located in the woods adjacent to an open field with a supurb view of the Virginia and West Virginia countryside, it was absolutely amazing.

There were once again plenty of rocks though. The upper arch of both my feet started to feel sore after a while due to these rocks.

The climb to the top of Peters Mountain was straight up for the first part, eventually connecting to a ridge and "leveling" out a bit.

My home for tonight is Swamp Branch Shelter. Actually, I am tenting due to the fact that the shelter seems to be missing its roof.

I have been thinking a lot lately about why I am out here, Evertime I am in a town, someone always asks me "What made you want to do that?", and I never have an answer for it. I am going to think about it a lot over the coming days.

By the way, if you were on my email list, please send me an email so that I may re-add you to the list. Being the computer savy kid that I am, I managed to delete all the email addresses from the group I created.

Well, I think I shall hang my bear bag, read a book, and then sleep.

Good night, and good luck.

Kirby

Ga>ME 2008.