Date: 2005-05-03
From: Overmountain Shelter

To: Moreland Gap Shelter
Miles today: 26.4
Weather: clear sky

5/39:00I'm up in the Roan Highlands, what a beautiful place! This may become my favorite place on the Trail so far. I started off walking at about 6:30 this morning.   Walking out of Overmountain Shelter, you walk right up on the Balds and you stay on them.   I'm still walking across these Balds at 9 o'clock.   The sky is absolutely clear and there's a faint blue overcast on the Blue Ridge Mountains, far away. Last night, I sat and tried to eat as much food as possible. I figured I would be in town early. At 5:30, it was like a tour bus pulled in. Hikers everywhere, too many to name. It's a big group that's traveling together, including MoonPie, Mudder and Sensai. All young people in their 20's. I sat there for a while with all of them, listening to them chat.   I felt a little out of place because I'm 25 years older than most of them. It was amusing to hang around with them. They all cooked dinner together and sat and talked and they started a campfire.What I did find out is that I was screwed!!   I made a mistake.   My next mail drop in Kincora is not 20 miles away, but 34 miles away and I ate almost all of my food last night because I didn't want to carry it.   So now, I'm forced to run like hell !! I could have gotten food from one of the other people, but I figure they need their food. Now I'm forced to do a 25 mile day, if not more, over pretty good terrain. It's been a wonderful walk so far.   My knees are in pretty good shape so far, the uphill was like nothing.   I think maybe because I'm enjoying it so much. The views are just magnificent!!   From Overmountain Shelter, you can see the Trail going up, way high into the Balds. When you're up on the bald you see this tiny little speck that's the barn down there.11:00I'm at the AT crossing at US 19, the road to Elk Park. I'm out of breath. I just walked away from Trail Magic.I made it down to the road really fast. I would have made it faster if it hadn't been for the fact that when I hit Doll Flats, I kept going straight instead of hooking a left.So I blew another half hour, another mile, that puts the ExtraTrailEstrial Miles at 36.4I had to walk uphill too, to get back to the AT. I hauled ass, got down to the road just before 11 o'clock. I stopped at the Apple House Shelter first. A family of about 20 had taken it over. I signed in and hauled ass again.Right at the road, there sat Spicy Thai and a guy. His Trail name is Prometheus. He's a Through-Hiker from 1989. He had ham, turkey, and vegitarian sandwiches, Cokes, apples, and Ibuprofen. That was just perfect, because I was thinking I needed to stop and get water and eat. I sat there for a few minutes, had a turkey sandwich with them, and now I'm hauling ass again.I'm going to try to do another 20 mile day, or hell, maybe even a 30 mile day today, who knows?9:30 pmIt was a long, long, long day today. 12 hours of walking, including an hour break. I reconsidered going down to Kincora just to break the 30 mile mark. It would have been pointless. I would have been going in after dark and there probably would have been no beds. Everything I want to accomplish tomorrow, I would have had to wait for anyway. Today was also a day of contrast from the lush, rolling farmland of Overmountain Shelter and the beautiful view, to the wintery austerity of the Balds, to the rhododendron thickets I had to walk through and pine forests and bogs. It was like being in different parts of the world at different times. Tomorrow, I want to hit Kincora early. I'm going to get up and walk the 6 miles. Hopefully, I'll be there before 9 o'clock and pick up my mail drop. I'm going to see if I can get ahold of Carol to see what she wants to do about the Grayson Highlands. Then, I'm going to move on and try to make some more miles. The reason being is, that I'd like to be in Damascus by Friday.   It makes it easier for Carol to come in for the weekend. Friday morning would be ideal so I can do my laundry, shower and resupply. It's only 42 miles from Kincora to Damascus so, hopefully I can get there in 2 and a half days.Today, I pretended the knee didn't hurt and just walked through it. I just kept walking and it seemed to work, it was more bearable to walk. It actually hurts less tonight than it did last night. I got to the shelter at 6:30 PM, I started walking at 6:30 AM, so that's 12 hours. I got a spot in the shelter, then I changed my mind later on. I set up my tent instead. It's a chilly night again. It's not going to be like last night, in the 30's.When I woke up this morning at Overmountain Shelter, it was 35 degrees. It was easily 20 degrees up on the Balds. At 9 o'clock I was up on the Bald, there wasn't a cloud in the sky, the sun was shining brightly, but the Trail was frozen, rock solid. The mud was just frozen stiff. I'm going to skip staying for long at Dennis Cove and move on so, I can get to Damascus so I can take some time off there.That's it.