Date: 2006-03-24
From: Standing Indian Shelter

To: Rock Gap, USFS Road 67, NC
Miles today: 19.8

When I awoke today I found 1 inch of snow on the ground and on my tent. The morning started with morning chores of packing everything I own out here into my backpack. This was a bit harder due to the snow as I had to shake off the snow and hope not to make everything wet in my pack.For breakfast I had two cold poptarts, and two slim jims. I have instant oatmeal and other hot meals but I¢m too cold to heat water and clean up after it. Usually each morning I¢m freezing and shivering and all I want to do is get walking to get warm.Today we walked in snow all day long. Snowhoe¢s footprints were the only ones in front of me for the first two miles. Soon after we left the Shelter area we were met by Die Hard, a 65 year old man from Mass. He hiked with us all day. At the two mile point another hiker, Mr. Breeze, passed us and we followed his footprints the rest of the day. Most hikers have trail names - either ones they gave themselves or one other hikers give them along the way. I¢ll be referring to them by that because, in most cases, I don¢t know their real names.I¢ve been staying near shelters most nights, so it might sound like I¢m around enclosed buildings. In some places they are referred to as Leanto¢s - mostly three sided buildings with open fronts. Many have mice living in them, and other critters are free to walk in when you are sleeping. Some shelters are quite large and have more than one floor; most are basic one level structures. Who gets to sleep in them is first come, first served. I prefer the tent and usually stay in it if the shelter is full or not.Back to today's hike - we set our goal at a shelter 14 miles from Standing Indian and figured that would be it. When we reached it we found the whole shelter area full of tents and the shelter full. Also, we were now at 4940 feet in elevation and more snow was predicted for tonight. We decided there that we would hike another 5.9 miles and come into town. So Snowhoe, Die Hard, myself, and another hiker, Sputnik, hiked to the forest service road for a ride into town. Thank goodness for cell phones - we called a shuttle at a place called Glassmine Gap and he was waiting for us when we got there. Snowhoe mentioned that something was said about this place in Bill Brysons book, "A Walk in the Woods." I¢ll have to reread it next winter when I¢m back to my civilization mode.Speaking about Bryson¢s book I¢ve heard that the number of hikers attempting to thru hike have increased due to that book. Some numbers that come to mind are that they jumped from about 1200 starting at Springer, to now around 1800. I also heard that the year after the book was publiished the number was higher. Another return to the real world project for me is to research that and put in the proper facts.While I¢m writing about books, another one comes to mind. I¢ve noticed a lot of hikers that I feel are under equipped. M ost are using equipment mentioned in Ray Jardine¢s book, "Beyond Backpacking." There are people in running shoes and very light clothes. I seem to be the only one who remembers Ray saying the reason his system works for him is that he starts a lot later in the season when the weather is warmer, maybe even late April early may. Also he is an extremely experienced hiker and knows how to live in the outdoors. If I¢m not mistaken, it took him five long distance hikes for to get to the beginning stages of his system. Oops, that¢s another homework assignment for me to research and correct in the real world.Again back to today, I¢m in a hotel room with heat and runnng water. The first thing I did was take a long hot shower to get rid of my body odor and get warm. We then went to a AYCE or All You Can Eat buffet [Pondarosa-Golden Corral type place] for dinner. I didn¢t do much damage there, as I was full quickly. I¢ve heard hikers get a large appitite after they¢ve been on the trail a while - I guess I¢m not there yet. After dinner I returned to the room and made long overdue phone calls home to family.Tomorrow is a zero day, and I¢ll spend more time filling in details on my journal. I have to apologize for the short entries along the trail. If I¢m not actually hiking or eating I¢ve been in my sleeping bag trying to stay warm. I try to get something typed in each day, but I usually get cold and stick to just the details. I¢ll try to make better entries when I¢m warm.Goodnight for now.Old GoatSnow - Click picture to see full size Sue's note: Old Goat told me that the snow acted as insulation at night, so he was slightly warmer than other nights have been.In a conversation with "Pilgrim," Pilgrim said that he's somewhat sorry he took 45 pounds off before he started the hike because he doesn't have the fat layer to help him stay warm. During that conversation, Old Goat realized his pre-Trail 25 pound weight loss did the same - he just hadn't thought about until this conversation.Although the snow made packing difficult, it acted as an insulation at night, so they were not quite as cold as they have been (still cold though).