Rausch Gap Shelter
Last night I slept poorly. I kept waking up and at 4:30 AM when I answered nature's call I just couldn't get back to sleep. Finally I read my book for an hour before taking a hours nap. It is shame too because today would have been the perfect day to sleep in. The rain that started last night continued right through to the morning. With the exception of Martini and Rossi everyone waited out the rain and finally it stopped around 9:30 AM and I got out on the trail at 10AM.
For the first part of the day I hiked with Caps. 
We did well going the same pace for a long while. As a result I was following close behind him deep in conversation. When you hike behind someone you have no abilty to scan the trail ahead. As a result one tends to focus on the behavior of the other person and look down at the ground below their feet for one's next footstep. That was the situation I was in when suddenly Caps, without changing pace, ducked. I started to look up but before I could I heard the sound of my head going full force into a thick tree trunk that had fallen across the trail. I hit it hard and it was a complete surprise to me. 
Caps heard the bang and I dropped to my knees with the combined pain of my head and general disorientation. The hit didn't break any skin but a hour later I had a 1.5" bump and some light scratches. The inital headache lasted all day. I hope it goes away tomorrow.
About a half and hour after the tree and I's firm embrace we came to a short rocky stretch. That is where we found the rattlers, four of them, trying to sun themselves in the overcast. 
I got lots of good pictures as Caps and Anonymous wanted to stick around for a while and be macho. They poked at the snakes and took more daring pictures. After about 45 minutes of that we go moving again. The rest of the day was not nearly as exciting as the morning though it was more comfortable. The day started hot and muggy but in the afternoon the temps cooled way off leading to very comfortable hiking.
I ended up hiking with Kata-pilllar for the afternoon/early evening. he was having a bad time of it as his shoes were rubbing a spot on his ankle raw. I was not in a hurry so I hiked with him for a while. Along the way during a late lunch we came across a campsite with some fresh potatoes hanging in a bag from a tree. I grabbed a couple to spice up dinner.
Finally it was closing in on night fall so I hiked ahead so I could set up before it got dark. Rausch Gap is an area that used to be popular for coal mining and the trail passed by much evidence of this. There were massive piles of tailing from the past mining and some small creeks run orange from the minerals that leach out. The local rocks I know can be rich in iron and I suspect the water running through the finely ground rock is is leaching it out a much higher rates than would happen with bigger pieces. These tailings did make some of the best trail surface. For about a mile the surface of the AT resembles a jogging path, firm and smooth.
I made my regular dinner and then boiled the potates I found earlier. I was full from the dinner though so I am saving them for breakfast.
There has been a flower we all have seen on the ground from time to time that seems to fall from a tree. However the flowers occur so high up in the tree I haven't been able to identify the tree in question. Well Caps just graduated with his degree in biology and solved the mystery. It is a tulip tree. The bud is orange green and white, and inch or two across, and is very durable compared to other flowers.
Tonight exactly same crew of people is spending the night as the shelter spacing here is rather bad. We had choice of a 17.5 mile day or the next shelter would have made 30.8 miles. We all chose to take the more sane choice but there turned out to be numerous campsites along the way and I am sure up ahead as well so we really had more options than we knew.
I have spotted the neighborhood mouse, I hope he is friendly. :)
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