Hike: Blood Mountain

4/21--Blood Mountain, Day 3

Twelve miles! pretty exciting. I wouldn't have wanted to go any farther, but this was okay. I'm extremely glad to be here at the shelter ---- oh my goodness, there are clouds blowing in through the windows ---- what was I saying again? Right. At lunch with A., N., J., and D., of the platinum hair, we'd made a plan to make it up here, but R. and B., the Nice Boys from Ohio, wanted to push on to Neels Gap. We met up again putting on rain gear during a grief, cold shower and decided to stop instead at Wood's Hole, a new shelter south of Blood Mtn. Not one of us saw the turnoff, so when we were faced with the "Blood Mtn, 1.4 miles, no water" sign it was back to plan A. The men VERY generously hauled water up and we all cooked here in the front room. It's an extremely solid shelter, built by the CCC, stone, two rooms, recently had a working fireplace, but the absence of shutters of door pretty much explains why it was bricked up. The rain settled in not long after we got here and lightning hit close enough to the shelter to sound like a loud gunshot. I saw the sparks and smelled the ozone: D. said he could see it hit just beyond an outcropping of rock. The tent has been toasty, but tonight I'm glad to have a roof over my head.