Date: 2003-03-03
To: Women Hikers Rule!
Miles today: 0.0

This is the hike report from my second, and last, preparation hike for my upcoming thru. Myself and nine women met at Miss Janets in Erwin, Tn. last fall and hiked twenty four miles in three days. As you will see, it was quite a learning experience for me!!! For those of you following her journal, Jan is actually our very own Lite Shoe!! :)                 Miss Janets, Red Beans and Rice, and Yin Energy         Day one started with us all getting up and moving fairly early. Miss Janet made a wonderful breakfast, and has us all go around the table and introduce ourselves and tell the one thing that was in our backpack that we were embarrassed to tell about. I remember something about men's underwear and a blow-up doll........er, wait......a blow up mattress? Oh well, you get the general idea of how the conversation went. :) It was neat to meet the other women face to face and before we knew it, we were jumbled in the back of Miss Janet's van like a pile of puppies headed for the trail.   I don't know about anyone else, but I was pretty nervous about thishike. I rarely hike with others cause I am slow and I wasn't sure at all about this group hike thing. It turned out to be so wonderful, though! And so hard! Did I mention that it was hard?! The first day was 8 miles long, about 5 1/2 of which were uphill. I didn't even know it was possible to have that much uphill in one place! However, the woods were stunning, the sky was bright blue, and the hiking was awesome! I hiked for a little while with Bumpkin and a little while with Rogene. After lunch, I ended up hiking alone and really had the time of my life. Unexpectedly, my asthma (which had not flared up for ten years!!) reared its ugly face and my normally slow pace got slower and slower.         It turns out that breathing comes in handy when you are walking uphill! :)    Regardless of that, I was having a great time as I hiked my way toward Big Bald. Snow started to appear on the ground as I climbed higher and the temperatures dropped.         Have I mentioned that it was beautiful!? :)   As the afternoon wore on, I kept thinking 'well, I will certainly be on top of the bald by 3:00..........ok, maybe by 3:30.........4:00?' I could not believe that it was taking me so much time to hike up that mountain!!!! But, when I did break through the trees and walk up there..........well, words cannot describe it. The wind was blowing like crazy, the sun was just starting to set, the mountains around me were glowing purple, and I ...........well, I was just at the top of the world. I proceeded to do the 'dance of the real woman' and laugh hysterically before making my way to the other side.   Important Note- Balds are really big.........when you get to the top, there is still a long way to go to get across to the other side!!"         About now, I start to get a little worried. The sun is going down fairly quickly and I still have a mile to go to camp! I was perfectly equiped to spend the night anywhere, and of course, I had my head lamp, but I knew that there were nine women that might be wondering where I am! I was starting to pick up the pace when two voices cried out to me. It was Jan and Bumpkin!!!!!! They were coming back to check and make sure that I was all-right! I cannot tell you how much those two women lifted my spirits!They made the next mile fly by and before we knew it, we were at the shelter!   Note: It came to my attention later that when Jan said that she wanted to go look for me (after hiking her own eight mile day!!), she asked who wanted to come with her. After no one volunteered, Bumpkin put down her hot baked potato, put her boots back on, looked forlornly at her hot chocolate, realizing that it would not be hot when she got back, and said, "I'll come with you". Could anyone ask for two more wonderful women to hike with?! Their effort did not go un-noticed by me!!!           After a weak attempt at boiling water, I ate a dinner of sludge and Ramen and sat back happily. Jan had the fire going, and life was good. Most everyone was already asleep by then so after hanging out for a little while, I finally crashed as well. I did not sleep well, cause by now I was worriedabout tomorrow! If it took me that long to do 8 miles and if my ashtma kept up, how in the world was I going to do 10 miles tommorow? With these thoughts blowing through my head and the wind blowing through the trees, I finally fell asleep. (And in case I haven't mentioned it yet, I have been having a great time so far!!)           When I woke up it was about ten degrees! Ok, so the thermometer said 40, but that does not take into account the wind am I am postive that it was at least ten degrees!! It was cold!! So after a little loosening of the joints, a cold english muffin, and quick packing up, I hit the trail. It wasn't long before most people had passed me. Bumpkin came up and told me that Jan and Rogene were still behind me. They later caught up to me and we leapfrogged around each other til lunch. At one point we came up on seven hunters and their dogs and I asked them if I could pet their dogs. You could tell that they didn't want me to, but they begrudgeingly nodded and I proceeded to pet each dog that wasn't scared of me. I figured, they were going to spend the day killing smoky the bear, least they could let me do is give their dogs a little love! :) I seemed like a fair trade to me!         As it turned out, for the rest of the hike every time I heard gun shots, I would shout, "Run, bears!!! Run for your life!!!!" *G* Maybe you had to be there, but it was pretty funny!!   As I was hiking down toward the road where we were supposed to meet for lunch and drop off Rogene, I have to tell you, I was hurting. My knee was totally blown out by coming down off of High Rock Mountain (?) and my whole body was tired. I was also very worried about the time. It was looking more and more like it was going to be more night hiking for me. I finally asked Jan what she thought and she said, "Go for it!! Let's hike together and if we have to night hike, so be it"! So, it was settled!         But I was still hurting!! I thought we would never make it to the road!!! All of the sudden, we came around a corner and there was Miss Janet standing there with ice cold drinks in each of her hands smiling and saying 'welcome to lunch'!! My very first trail magic and trail angel all rolled into one!!! I am telling you, I could have cried right then and there!   After a quick lunch, Bumpkin, Jan and I decided to hike the rest of the day together. Jan fed us some sort of vitamins and off we went. The climb out of the gap was merciless and I still couldn't breathe!!! But it was awesome! The three of us leap-frogged for most of the day and it seemed like everytime I came around a corner, Jan was playing in a stream or climbing on some rocks grinning like mad! Those magic pills of Jan's really did the trick and we all seemed to have more energy!      As the day went on we all got tireder and tireder! I don't know about the other women but I was seriously dragging! The sun went down, the head lamps came out and my will to live pretty much left me! *G* We spent some time hiking up hill....looking for the blue blaze to the shelter....hiking some more up hill..... Every now and then Jan would call up to Bumpkin, "Did you find it?". When she said no, I just had a few choice words of my own to add! When I truly felt like I could not lift another foot to take another step, a loud chorus of 'whoo-hoo's came through the trees! We had made it!!!!         Again, I could have cried. A man walked up to us and said 'we have you some hot red beans and rice here, just put your stuff down and have some dinner'. Trail magic again!!! I was so tired I couldn't function! Someone came and got my cup and spoon and brought me some beans and rice, (and might I just add....Yumm, Yummm!!!! *G*), and Nancy came and helped me put up my tent. This was really wonderful of her cause I am telling you, I would STILL be there trying to get that tent up if she hadn't helped me! I was just plain worn out!   After getting into my tent, I talked to Jan for a while, who was tarped next to me. I asked her if this is what she thought a thru hike would be like. "Hmmmm, I am not sure" she said. With that I went to sleep with the sound of wind blowing through the trees.         (And in case i haven't mentioned it yet, I was still having a really good time!! *S*)           Day three came with me not being able to move!! Seriously!!! I didn't know that the human body could hurt so many ways in so many places!!! The worst was my knee! I could barely flex it at all! This was not good. I packed up quickly and took off after Jan down the trail. Today we had six miles to do and 4+ of it was a rocky downhill. I was not sure I had it it me! We had been shuffling down the trail slowly for about 20 minutes when I stepped on a rock and my right foot twisted. A resounding crack came out of it and Jan turned around with wide eyes and said, "What was that?!".         "I am not sure" I said shakily as I tried to put weight on it. I cringed as pictures of myself crawling for 5 1/2 miles filed my head. But, it held and after walking for about ten minutes with it turned out at a right angle, it slowly turned it's way back in.   (Note- On Monday morning it was the size of a grapefruit and all kinds of ineresting colors but it doesn't hurt at all! Isn't that weird!?)        (Post script- several days later it starting spasming. It turns out that I displaced my peroneal tendon. Ouch! Oh well....if I am going to thru-hike, i guess I better get used to a little pain!!! *G*)   As I hobbled along, really I just wanted to cry. Poor me.........my whole body ached....my left knee was trashed, ....my right foot was probably broken into six pieces, .....I smelled bad.........and I was THIRSTY!!!!! (did I mention I was out of water!) About then, Bumpkin joined us, andshe and Jan shouted back to me that they had found the water source!!! Hallelujah!! After they assured me that they could get me back up once I sat down, I sat down to fill my platypus. A half hour later I hiked along well-hydrated, my muscles loosening up, talking to my friends and my ankle feeling great! Life was good! Everyone in the whole world should be as lucky as I am!!!   We spent the rest of the morning leap frogging up and down the trail, sometimes talking, sometimes not. It was great. Don't get me wrong.......I still hurt! And Lord knows, I still smelled bad! But I was really happy. *S* Hiking along, I came around the corner and found the two of them sprawled out. "Break time" they said! Jan passed out more vitamins.....Bumpkin passed out fudge..... Did I mention that life was good? :) Before you know it we are talking like we have known each other forever. Jan looked up at me and said with a smile, "I think THIS is was thru hiking is like".   The day progressed with us hiking down hills, ouch, and hiking up them, meeting at the top to do the 'dance of the real woman'. Jan kept promising us that it was all down hill from here til finally it was true. We started that long, long, long, downhill. It went on forever, but in payment for our battered knees, it gave us the most stuning views of the mountains and the Nolichucky River that you can imagine. It really was beauty that cannot be described. And before long we were hearing the noise of the train below us.   Note: I think there should be a rule that no road noise can be heard til you are within a quarter of a mile of the road. Otherwise, it's just cruel! You come around another switch back and think for sure that you are at the road and NO!! You still have another mile to hike!!! Would someone please get on that as soon as possible!!! :)   Near the end Jan took off to go call Miss Janet while Bumpkin and I hiked along. We came to a tree that had fallen across the trail that was too high to climb over and too low to walk under. Bumpkin says, "No problem, Anna, just swing under, like this". She loops her arms around the tree and swings her body under it to the other side. I just stood back and said, "You might as well get your camera out now!". *G* Sure enough, I grap ahold, swing under, and plop! Down I go! Now I am like a June bug stuck on her back with my legs and arms in the air!! Well, I get tickled........then Bumpkin gets tickled. Before you know it we are laughing hysterically in the middle of the trail....her standing and me still lying on my back! I guess that is a move I am going to have to work on before next spring!           As we truly did get down to the end of the trail, we looked through the trees and there was Swallowtail's van!!!!!!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! As we came down onto the road, I asked the other women through my tears if I had actually just backpacked 24 miles of the AT. They said yes, and after high fives all the way around, the three of us commenced to do the 'dance of the real woman' in the middle of the road. *G* After a quick trip to Sonic for some much-needed sustenance, we headed to Miss Janet's to say our good-byes. After giving Miss Janet a very smelly hug, I was on the road back to Atlanta. I wasn't even on the highway before I missed the trail.   But I knew it wouldn¢t be long before I was back there again!!                                        Anna Huthmaker aka Mud Butt