Day 23: humming bird

Miles: 4
Water: some

Rainy day today,  I left a bit after XL this morning so I got some solo hike time in.

Massive thunderstorm was coming, and the next shelter is 15 miles down the trail, so we took a short day and are camped out at a palatial shelter. Actual doors and walls, a bowl of assorted pills, Sklanski's theory of poker, 14 bunks and pizza delivery.

We are talking about yellow blazing the last 80 or so miles of PA. Yellow blazing is hiker speak for, lightweights who take a car. I'm not hardcore enough to care, and the PA rocks are losing their novelty, and we aren't into the thick of them yet. The rock hopping might be better if not for the relentless rain making them so slippery. We will see, we have a mail pick-up to make, then we have to figure out how to get to NJ. If anyone is looking to take a road trip to the Delaware water gap, let me know.

We were relaxing in this Versailles of shelters with the doors open. A hummingbird zoomed in through the door, and was seduced by the epic skylight. The poor guy flew in circles up there for a long time. I had never heard a hummingbird vocalize before, he started making pathetic little mews it was heartbreaking to watch. After about ten minutes he started to stagger, he refused to fly down out of the skylight. We were scared to try to catch him, hummers being so delicate.

After twenty minutes he finally collapsed and crashed to the picnic table below. Passed out. A guy called butterscotch carefully scooped him up and set him on the windowsill of the shelter. Just before the massive rain storm rolled through he had recovered and flew off.

I can't imagine the awfulness of flying, lost and terrified, unable to find a way out until I collapsed.

See if you can  find him among the fallen leaves. That's him toward the middle.