Date: 2008-03-08
From: Gooch Mtn. Shelter (2730')

To: Blood Mountain Shelter (4461')
Miles today: 13.2
Weather: overcast clouds

I think my pen is frozen. Today I started late again due to being awoken by rain and the fact I set my alarm to PM instead of AM. Either way I woke up and there was snow on the ground and it was still snowing (Dad you were right). I thought I dreamed someone say it was snowing but I guess I was just in a daze. I got up ate 2 packets of oatmeal, got water and packed up. I didn't leave until 20 of 10 (or 9:40) and was the second to last person out. It was snowing/flurrying still and I much prefer snow to rain. The temp didn't bother me much and I soon passed everyone ahead of me except for the person who left the shelter the earliest. The wind was blowing hard as well and it was cold every time I stopped. Its weird to think that in order to stay warm I need to have layers on and keep moving, but trees and plants are just chilling wherever they happen to grow. They cant move to a side of the mountain with less wind or crawl into a den, they just take it. The snow was real pretty all over the ground and eventually the sun poked out and the snow stopped. There was still snow drifting around in the wind and the wind seemed to be getting stronger. All of this was around 3PM. I hadn't seen anyone for a while and when I got to the woods hole shelter turn off I decided to keep going up Blood Mountain to the shelter up top. I stopped at a stream before heading up because there wasn't any water at the shelter. My camelbak nozzle had frozen so that there was a solid tube of ice in it, thus making it worthless. The hike up Blood Mountain was not as hard as I thought it would be. I figured that since it was at the end of my day I would be tired and also it was the highest mountain I've climbed so far (first 4000 footer in GA). I did rest for about 15 min at the stream where I refilled my water and I think this made the hike easier. I need to take rests like that more often. I got to blood Mountain shelter at 4:15PM so I did about 6 hours and 35 min of hiking. I didn't feel as exhausted today although the bottoms of my feet hurt like they do when you walk around a mall a lot. It was real pretty right before the shelter because there was a lot of snow on the ground and mountain laurels (rhododendrons) everywhere.The sun was out so I tried to dry my clothes out from the day before and my fleece which was soaked from sweat. The shirt underneath my fleece wasn't that wet and I'm so glad I brought an extra warm layer so I could change out of my wet fleece. The guy who left the Gooch Shelter first that I never passed eventually showed up. It turns out he went south instead of north coming out of the shelter and walked 3 mi before realizing it. So he walked an extra 6 mi he didn't have to and still made it to Blood Mtn. which noone else that stayed at the Gooch Shelter did. Good thing he got an early start.I ate mashed potatoes and beef jerky again (steak and potatoes). It was hard to get my stove started in the sub-freezing temps. My fleece had kind of frozen instead of drying. It was 22oF by my watch and 17oF by the other guys watch before the sun went down. Its real drafty in this shelter which worries me but I'm sleeping in layers and my liner/bag with a trash bag around my feet and waist to insulate a little more and protect against the wind. My shelter mate has hung his tent in the shelter and is sleeping inside of it (his tent is the same as mine). Tomorrow is all downhill to Neels Gap which should take and hour once I get packed up and then its a bed, phone to talk to my family and Esra, and of course the Wire finale.