A Night From Hell
Day 82
June 13, 2017
Miles: 856.9 - 861.9 Completed: 5
Time: 7:04am - 9:35am
Staying at a church Hostel in Waynesboro
It was a night from Hell!!! Why is it when the sun goes down our paranoia goes up. All those scary movies we watched as kids come back to haunt us trifold.
I fell fast asleep last night with little concern about the crazy hiker info we had. I armed myself with my SOS device and cell phone on and ready close at hand. Until about 11:45pm when I was startled awake with bright lights flashing through my tent. I sat up ready to attack and or defend myself and Shortcake. I slowly sat up unzipped my tent and peaked out. There I could see a headlamp shining sporadically from crazy hiker tent. "Oh great!" Was my thinking. "He's on the move."
I went back to the false safety of my tent but left the vestibule open so I could keep an eye on the situation. After an hour of watching the weird light show I drifted off to sleep. Only to be startled a second time at 1:30am but lights from the other side and closer to my tent. This time I was in high alert. Ready to wake up Shortcake if needed. I jumped out of my tent on the far side side tucked between our two shelters and peered over the top to see a head lamp uncomfortably close. I ducked back down not to be seen. Then slowly peaked above again. I did this bobbing motion several times until my eyes adjusted and realized it was a new hiker who had just arrived and was setting up. As I felt comfortable again I relaxed and crawled back in to my tent. Just as I was zipping up crazy hiker lights returned and my guard went back up. Morning didn't come fast enough.
Morning did come and we were packed up fast and headed to town. We had three goals by noon and accomplished them all. The post office, a shower and Ming's Chinese buffet.
Once that was done we needed to decide on a place to stay. The town offers free camping at their park. That was our first choice but had news of an incident that took place last night their and seeing who was already tenting we declared dead we had enough crazy for one night and decided to stay at the Lutheran Church hostel. It was fun and reminded me of all the wonderful teen retreats I attended as a youth.
So we went from a night from Hell to a peaceful night under God's roof.
Happy Hiking.