Sprout Day 187 (Friday, September 30, 2016)

We woke up early to the sound of thunder and heavy rain. No one showed up to the shelter yesterday and since our tent was already up and dry under the porch we just slept in the tent.

This shelter is .3 off trail and it's a steep climb down. It doesn't look like too many people use it. There isn't anyone on the trail right now anyway. With the rain and thunder we just stayed in bed and decided to wait it out. The rain didn't stop and we eventually decided to stay here for the day. I'm glad we did because it rained off and on all day. It would've been a wet miserable day had we hiked on. The ledges are slippery around here so it's easy to fall. Walking over some of the rocks feels like walking on ice. We made the right decision.

It's funny we’re even at this shelter because normally we wouldn't come to a shelter this far off trail unless we needed water (that’s probably why it doesn’t seem as if a lot of people use this shelter). After we were here I realized this is the shelter I was looking up and reading about last winter. I wanted to come here and see what the old property looked like. I wish I could've seen the old house still standing but it's still cool to see it with the frame and chimneys still standing. All the rubble in the middle just adds to the character. I'd like to see some old pictures of what the property looked like back in its prime. Going down to the spring in front of the old house made me think a lot about how life must of been for the Sarver family. The house was built in the 1850’s and four generations of Sarvers lived in it.

Day: 187
Miles hiked: 0
Total Miles hiked on the trail: 1515.5
Baby Bear: 1
Bald Eagle: 1
Bluegill: 2
Butterflies: 8
Chipmunks: 3
Cows: 24
Crawfish: 1
Deer: 20
Donkeys: 2
Grouse: 1
Horses: 15
Hummingbird: 1
Inchworm: 1
Really Big Dog: 1
Mice: 2
Moose: 2
Nest of bugs: 2
Newts: 2
Owl: 1
Rabbit: 1
Red Squirrel: 1
Skunk: 1
Snail: 1
Snake: 3
Squirrels: 12
Toads: 3
Trout: 2
Turkeys: 4
Turtles: 107
Vultures: 6
Woodpecker: 1