Date: 2004-04-20
From: Tanyard Gap (past)

To: Jerry Cabin Shelter
Miles today: 20.2
Weather: overcast clouds

Hitting a lull where I'm starting to struggle mentally. Maybe it's the miles, maybe it's just the trail. It was another long day and I seem to be having a tough time getting rolling in the mornings. I usually pick up the pace in the afternoons and look forward to camp but I approach the day with a milage point of view calculating all of the uphills and deciding just how much they're going to suck. Gotta get a new perspective on the day because I didn't come out here to bang out miles like a shopping list - it makes me forget to enjoy the ride.I got lost on the trail today which is incredibly embarassing because there is only one path with two options of travel, north or south. Getting lost on the trail is like getting lost in someone's driveway, it's hard to do. I came down into Allen Gap where we cross Rt 208 and stopped at the garbage cans to unload stuff from my pack. I could see the road from where I was standing so when I was finished tossing my trash, I just strapped my pack back on and headed straight for the road. When I got there I couldn't see any white blazes in either direction and therefore made the entirely sensible decision to continue down the road anyway, flipped a mental coin, and turned right. Still no blazes. I headed back up the road and even cut through some guys yard thinking there was a blaze behind his house. There wasn't. Wait, it gets worse. After wandering up and down the street for a few minutes and not seeing a single blaze I finally got desperate enough to start knocking on peoples doors to ask where the trailhead was. Can you imagine a hiker coming to your house to ask where in the hell the trail had gone off to? Thank God I was spared further embarassment because no one was home. I decided to retrace my steps back to Allen Gap and carefully look for the blaze near where the garbage cans were. Initally, I still couldn't see any blazes and was preparing to head back to the street again (I don't know why unless I was thinking of flagging down a car and asking for a ride to the trailhead or something) when out of the corner of my eye I saw a path in the woods. Yes, it was the sneaky little AT and I hopped back on it feeling relieved and humbled. I have trail maps, the AT data book, and the AT companion book and still managed to get lost for a moment. Impressive.The last stretch to Jerrys Cabin Shelter includes this incredibly rocky ridgeline where you repeatedly ascend and descend near vertical 20 foot scrambles of large rocks. I felt like I was on an adult version of Double Dare -minus Mark Sumners and any prizes. It was fun though, especially because I managed not to injure myself and unobscured ridgeline views are always pretty spectacular. The sun was low on the horizon, splashing color onto the mountains, and to my left the valley was filling with evening clouds. I took a few minutes to breathe it all in before I got cold and started moving again.Rolled into Jerrys around 7:15 where the boys were already cooking dinner. My feet were tender but intact and I opted to sleep in the shelter as opposed to pitching my tent. Dinner, chit-chat, and bed.