Date: 2007-08-30
From: Big Branch shelter

To: Minerva Hinchey shelter
Miles today: 1.0
Weather: clear sky

Date: 08/30/07Start: Big Branch shelterStop: Minerva Hinchey shelter   Miles: 1Wx: warm-am/pm. Tenting: Shelter: HandymanSlept in some this morning. I am still tired and feeling run down. Maybe it's mental or physical or both. I know I am tired of being on the trail some days and motivation is hard. I have just over 500 miles left and I can't quit now. I will see it through to the end. It may be mentally harder now since I am close to finishing but I need to tough it out. Big Branch shelter is an awesome shelter mainly because of its location near the creek. The sound of rushing water soothes the soul. I knew I had to get going because it's going to be hot today. The trail picked up where it left off yesterday. Rocks and roots! I feel like I'm back in North Carolina again. I decided to take it easy today since it is short miles and both feet are sore too. I still make pretty good time and get to Little Rock Pond about 0930. I come near the pond and then I hear some chanting close by. It turned out to be one of the Yale Orientation groups in the tenting area. That's the third group in two days. I briefly talk to the caretaker of this area and ask him how long he is out here. He said all summer doing 10 days on/4 days off. The area is beautiful and I think would be a fun job. I wanted to stay ahead of the group so I headed down the trail. The trail follows the shore about 1/4 the way around the pond. Beautiful scenery! I continue on for awhile before taking a short break at a stream crossing. The group catches up to me there and goes by. I start hiking again and catch up to them about 25 minutes later taking their break before climbing White Rocks Mt. It's a good climb up but not to bad. Once on top there are pine/fir trees. They smell great. There is also a strange but interesting site up there too. On some bouldesr, people have been putting rocks on them and building little cairns all over. I see this again at the White Rocks Cliff trailhead. The only difference here is that the cairns are built on the ground. Very interesting and pretty neat or spooky depending how you see it. I finish my break before heading on knowing I have about 1/2 liter of water left. I pass up Greenwall shelter since the guide said the spring goes dry in drought years. I continue on until I hear water in a creek on the way down to Vt 140. This creek is about 1/2 mile before the road and I need water-bad! I filter 3 liters and drink one. Now I have enough water to eat lunch at the road. I get to the road and cross another creek there but I also find some trail magic hanging from a tree. It's a bag with snacks in it. I take a couple Hershey chocolates and find a place on the guard rail to eat lunch. After lunch I cross the road and the trail climbs some to a parking lot 1/4 mile away. No problem. The problem begins when I start back on the trail and it goes up, up, and up. What the hell! This does not match the profile on the map. I'm suppose to go down into a gap before doing a little hill called Button Hill before getting to the shelter. No, the trail climbs up and over Bear Mt which is 2200 ft in elevation. The road is at 1160 ft. I don't mind climbing mts if I know they are coming but this was a surprise. To top that off, the temp is about 90 and I hear thunder in the distance. I'm pretty tired going up this mt so move slowly with many short breaks. I am dripping from head to toe by the half way point. Once I get to the top I take a 15 minute break to figure out where I am, cool off, and to see how far I still need to go. The thunder is also getting closer and the weather is also changing to windy and cooling off. Good to hike but hopefully the rain can wait. I have know idea how far exactly it is to the shelter but estimate an hour to get there. Off I go and I finally get to the shelter about 40 minutes later. Not bad since the trail was pretty smooth so I could go about 2-2.5mph. I am definitely ready for a long rest break. I think I will stay in the shelter tonight with the chance of rain almost certain. About 45 minutes after I get there and get water the forest area starts to fog up. Almost as if it were smoke. Pretty cool looking. So far I am the only one here. We'll see if that is how the rest of the night goes.