Date: 2005-04-08
From: Low Gap

To: Miss Janet's House
Miles today: 21.0

Miles hiked today : 21.020.8 AT miles + 0.2 miles of side trailI woke up this morning at 7:30 a.m. and had slept fairly well, despite having pitched my tent on somewhat of a horizontal incline. This meant that I kept rolling to one side of my tent during my sleep. I normally try to avoid sleeping against my tent walls, as the condensation on the tent walls easily transfers to my sleeping bag.I was on the trail at 8:15 a.m. and only had 3.9 miles to cover to the next shelter. I'd only been walking for about 20 minutes when it began to lightly rain. I thought that I'd try to wait it out like yesterday, but then it really began pouring, which reminded me of an Oregon rainstorm. I was forced to switch from my fleece to my rain jacket.To further complicate things, I had started at an elevation of 4,300 feet and had to climb and cross 5,516 foot tall Big Bald, which is a huge grassy field on the scale of Max Patch. The difficult part was climbing the hill with the thick mud on the trail. The footstep of each recent hiker was filled with murky water and it made for a sloshy, slippery climb. With the wind driving the rain, I was soon drenched and wished that I would have put on my rain pants this morning.I reached Bald Mountain Shelter at 10:30 a.m. and stopped to change my socks, which were drenched. I also put on my rain pants and ate a snack before continuing on at 11:00 a.m. Fortunately, while I was changing, the rain let up. The 200 foot descent from the shelter and climb up to 5,185 foot tall Little Bald was more mud sloshing and didn't get much better until I'd dropped below 3,500 feet. I continued on, not stopping to take a break until I reached Spivey Gap at 2:00 p.m. Shortly after sitting down to eat, the rain began to pour again. Grrr! So I put my snack away and began climbing alongside an inclined creek that had miniature waterfalls at various points. The sun decided to come out for a bit, which served to heat me up, as I was still wearing my rain jacket. I wasn't about to take it off, as it had been raining off and on all day.Around 4:00 p.m., I ran out of water and stopped to filter while resting my feet. Sure enough, moments after I sat down, it began to rain again. Thinking that I only had 0.2 miles to go to the next shelter, I moved on and then began to hear thunder. I was wondering whether lightning always accompanied thunder, when I got my answer. There was a huge flash of lightning with a simultaneous deafening crash of thunder, which meant that the lightning was very close to me. I could smell what I believe to be burning ozone and threw myself into the treeline, not that that would have done much good since the lightning had already struck. Suffice it to say, I was frightened and high-tailed it, making sure to keep my aluminum trekking poles horizontal to the ground, lest they act as lightning rods. Now I had thought the next shelter was only 0.2 miles away, but it turned out to be at least 0.5 mile away, which is about a 10 minute difference in hiking time.When I reached No Business Knob Shelter at 4:30 p.m., I was extremely grateful. I ditched my trekking poles and sat beneath the cover, planning to wait until the storm passed or stay the night if necessary. Cotton Joe was also at the shelter waiting out the storm and at 5:30 p.m., it appeared that it had lifted, so we headed out with 6.3 miles to go to the Nolichucky River, which is where the road to Erwin, TN passes by.We started under blue skies with fluffy white clouds, though they soon turned grey. I covered the first 2.4 miles to Temple Hill Gap in less than an hour, then I charged up the 700 foot climb to the top of Temple Hill, only to begin the steep 1,800 foot descent over 1.9 miles down to the river, finishing at 7:45 p.m. It never started raining again and I covered the 6.3 miles in 2 hours, 15 minutes, which is a personal best. I suppose it was because I was highly motivated. Between the steep descent and the wet socks I'd been wearing for several miles, my feet were very sore.Cotton Joe and I received word that somebody from Miss Janet's hostel was headed our direction to pick up hikers, so we bypassed the first hostel and were walking in the direction that the ride would be coming from. Within a few blocks, the ride showed up and told us that Miss Janet's was full, but that he'd still take us into town.We were dropped off at Erwin Burrito Company, which I'd heard many good things about. True to the rumors, the food was great. I had a spinach & mushroom quesadilla, followed by a huge burrito. After eating, we walked a couple blocks to Miss Janet's to see whether we could tent in the yard.We had to wait for her to return from dinner, upon which she told us we could lay our sleeping bags out in the living room. Before doing that, I showered and made some phone calls, then checked e-mail. While checking e-mail, it was made known that one bunk was available and I snatched it up. I put sheets on the bed, chatted with Miss Janet for a few minutes, and then headed to bed. As I finish this journal entry, I am definitely ready for la-la land.Tomorrow is laundry and mail-drop pick-up day. I may go for the buffet at Pizza Hut, though I wouldn't mind going to Erwin Burrito Company again. I'm planning on heading out of town around 4:00 p.m. to do the 4.2 miles to the next shelter.Bedtime at 12:30 a.m.