Date: 2009-04-20
From: Spring Mountain Shelter, NC

To: Jerry Cabin Shelter, NC
Miles today: 15.4
Weather: light rain

I have been on the trail for one month and I've only done 298.2 miles. That is a little less than 10 miles a day. I had better pick up the pace if I'm going to finish this thing before the snow comes in the fall. I'm told that things flatten out a bit once I hit Virginia and the miles come easier, but I just don't know what to believe anymore. The bad thunderstorms did not materialize last night. Thank goodness as many people were tenting outside. We did have some rain, but nothing to hard. There was a weird conversation that went on in the middle of the night. I only caught one portion of it and it was TinMan saying the no he didn't see a bear outside with a headlight on. Made me laugh and then I went back to sleep. I asked Tinman about it in the morning and he didn't know if Tom was having a bad dream, but had asked about the bear with a light. Last night I was sleeping between Tinman and Gasper and they were giving me a hard time about sticking things in my sleeping bag. Now, I stuff lots of stuff in my bag besides myself: phone, camera, spare batteries, clothes, headlamp, databook pages and toilet paper bag. When I was packing up this morning, I found there cooking windscreen and spice container. Ha ha. Pay back will be coming their way some time soon. Never trust the French. This morning was actually warm enough for me to stand around the picnic table to eat my breakfast. I didn't sit as it was all wet. This is the first time that I can remember that I could eat breakfast comfortably outside. Yeah! Good start to the day and it wasn't raining. I could actually see some blue showing in the sky. I was the first to leave and enjoyed the morning. I had hiked four miles before 9:30. I was just about to cross a road when I saw a garbage bin, so I took out what trash I had accumulated and tossed it. Just one day out of Hot Springs, but I didn't want to carry anything I didn't have too. I walked towards the road and there was a sign for trail magic just down the road at Hercules and Fal's house. I was by myself and was debating whether to go. I decided no and started walking across the street, then changed my mind and walked back to read the sign again, then decided no I wouldn't go by myself. Then I see Gasper and Tinman and ask them if they want to go get some trail magic. They didn't even hesitate and off we went. We walked up to a beautiful log home and was greeted by Hercules. He welcomed us to his home and told us to leave our packs and boots on the front porch. We went in and met Fal who told us where to wash our hands and invited us to their table. We had a waffle, egg quiche, pork stew, and our choice of dessert and drinks. We had a choice of four different desserts, but I was so full that I just had a scoop of ice cream with chocolate syrup. Yummy!! They were extremely nice people who hiked the trail back in 1999 I think. They invite hikers into their home six days a week during the busy thru-hiking season. After we ate they did a low key witness of their Christian faith, but in good taste. They offered us free books, but they were all very heavy so I didn't take one. After we left there we headed back to the trail which was more up. Tinman and Gasper walk faster than me, so they soon pulled away. I caught up to them at the Little Laurel Shelter and we talked about what the trail had in store for us for the rest of the day. The elevation chart showed a 1000 ft ascent in the next 1.3 miles, then relatively flat until the shelter we were going to stay. They took off and I took a little break before leaving myself. The ascent was very steep in sections which kills my Achilles tendon. I try to slow my pace until it doesn't hurt too bad. I finally made it to the top (Yeah) and stopped to try to send and receive email. I also put on my rain gear as the trail was mainly downhill for the rest of the day and I get a bit chilled when just going downhill. Besides it had started raining a bit. Off I went thinking that all would be easy. NOT!!!Some sections had been peppered with large boulders that had to be negotiated, others were the deep mud that is so slippery. Then I hit a sign that had a bad weather blue-blaze option. It wasn't windy and thunderstorms were not in the forecast, so I took the regular white blazed trail. Then the fun began. I don't even know how to describe this section. It was scrambling up and down boulders. In some sections, I had to sit and slide down and in others I had to use hands and feet to climb up a batch of boulders. All while wearing my pack. There were not a lot of blazes and I was just taking the path I thought I was supposed to take. In a couple of places I just looked at where I was supposed to go and shook my head in amazement. All I could do was keep going. About the time I thought it was over it would send me over another batch of boulders. Of course, it was foggy and I missed any views that may have been available. Finally, it was over and I came to the bad weather option sign on the far side. I had no idea how many miles that section was and didn't know how far I had to go to the shelter. All I knew was that I was tired. I told myself that I'd walk until six and if I wasn't at the shelter I'd just find a place to tent. I wanted to make the shelter as I didn't want Gasper and Tinman to worry about me. So I walked and walked. I saw a sign ahead and was like yes the shelter. But no it was just a blank sign. Ugh. Then I saw another sign, but it said Andrew Johnson Mountain and pointed to the left. That made me happy the trail didn't take us to the top of that mountain, but just pointed it out. That is very unusual as the trail likes to take us to the summit of mountains. Shortly after that I ran into the Shelter at about 5:45. Man was I tired. Tinman and Gasper were there and were happy to see me. They were worried about me going through the rocks alone. The shelter is full and I'm tenting. I actually sleep better in my tent, but I hope it doesn't rain in the night. No fun packing a wet tent in the morning (adds weight to the pack). It is fairly warm tonight and I should sleep soundly. SpotLight came over and talked to me while I set up my tent. Nice of him. Anyway, I'm beat and I'm going to sleep.