Finally Heard from Red Bull!

   It has been a little unnerving not having Red Bull check in, with all the severe thunderstorms and flooding.  West Virginia has had the worsting flooding in a century in some areas, receiving 1/4 of the year's total rainfall on Wednesday and Thursday.  This is just west of Red Bull's location.  Red Bull is in Virginia which has also declared a State of Emergency in some counties due to flooding, with some towns evacuated.  We have remained calm knowing he is with a group; and at least one of his buddies, Rd Brd has our phone numbers.  Red Bull also carries an emergency contact card in his wallet, as seen below (his card has the proper names and phone numbers instead of asterisks).

Note the Lord of the Rings reference?

  Red Bull contacted us today to tell us he has not had a cell signal, and he will be stopping at the "Pickle Shelter" tonight.  He also asked if I could let him know the weather forecast.

  There is a great site that will look up the weather at any shelter along the A.T., as forecast by The National Weather Service.  I just go to atweather.org and enter the trail, state, and choose from the list of shelters.  It then shows you the current forecast, as well as the predicted weather for the next seven days at that location.  I sent Aaron the link for the Pickle Branch Shelter, and also texted him the forecast since it sounds like he does not currently have internet access.  We had a chance of thunderstorms in our area, and the sky was growing dark.  He had a chance of severe thunderstorms in his area, and it sounds as though the sky was appearing ominous there as well.

   We have not heard from Red Bull for the past two days, so here is my guesstimate at his shelter locations during that time:

   Wednesday, June 22nd    Bailey Gap Shelter?       mile 658   on the A.T.  
                                           elevation 3,510 feet
                                           16 1/2 miles from previous shelter

   Thursday, June 23rd       Sarver Hollow Shelter?  mile 679   on the A.T.  
                                           elevation 3,402 feet
                                           21 miles from previous shelter

   Today he is at the:          Pickle Branch Shelter     mile 695.1 on the A.T.  
                                          elevation 1,951 feet
                                          16+ miles from the previous shelter

   I wanted this post to be... YAY, he has hiked over 700 miles (including the 81/2 mile approach trail)!  The severe thunderstorms and flooding have taken priority.

   But... Yay!  He has hiked over 700 miles!