Derrick Earls, More Heart than Scars tackle the AT together and in Spirit!: Day 49, July 3, 2014

Today was a start of what they call the Virginia Roller Coaster which is 13.5 miles. I started at 8 a.m. and completed 10 miles by noon. I felt great and took a hour and thirty minute break to dry my sweaty clothes. My clothes were soaked from walking through the wet shrubs the precious day.

I left for David Lesser Shelter which would be a 21.1 mile day. A saw in the distance a nasty storm and checked my phone for weather. I had service and saw the rough thunderstorms on the Doppler. I pushed on and did I get rocked!

A mile in I received a downpour, hail and blasting lightening. I threw my pack down, trusted my pack cover and pulled my tent footprint over my head. I wrapped my boots in the tyvek type material and took a beating for 30 minutes. I was already soaked but my gear and my pack stayed dry. I felt cooler and it felt like a shower. I was in great spirits and ready to go on.

Somehow after the storm passed, thirty minutes later another storm rolled in behind me. This storm settled in and was with me for the rest of the evening. I would guess about 2-3 hours. I was soaked and mentally weak until I stopped early at Blackburn AT Center. When I say mentally weak I was miserable. This was by far my toughest moments on the trail at this point. However, blessings ALWAYS change misery!

This was the best decision I made all day. I met a beautiful log cabin with a wrap around screen front porch, a mountain lion soda, endless spaghetti dinner, fresh salad and a bench to sleep on. I was in heaven and went to bed on the screen porch dry.

17.9 AT miles hiked