Date: 2013-05-01
From: Clyde Smith Shelter

To: Stan Murray shelter
Miles today: 12.9
Weather: overcast clouds

Not even 15 min into my hike I was super frustrated. M brocken pack zipper had put me in a bad mood I soon felt something wet on my loser back. And then my leg Uh-no! I think I knew what it was and I was not happy. My platypus cap sometimes comes a little unscrewed and leaks I was wearing my jacket so I didn't feel it til it soaked through my shirt and pants. As I emptied everything in my pack onto the trail I began to cry, why am I out here What makes this fun? Why can't I have a good day one with out tears? I wasn't thinking about quitting, just grumbling to myself. I mopped up my pack, put everything back in and marched up the next mountain. There was a super incredibly long uphill on Roan mountain. It seemed like everyone was passing me going up. I went up and up and up. There were a ton of switchbacks and it was a gradual climb up.   I prefer a steeper mile to a gradual 2 mile but I'm just weird like that. Roan was covered in spruce trees which bade it smell nice. I was excited about restrooms in the parking lot at the top of Roan. More tears came as I scampered up that mountain I finally made it to the top where there was a meadow clearing. It was a little foggy but but even with no fog there was no view. I meandered down the meadow to the parking lot. The restrooms said closed til May 27th Argh! From Springer to just before here signs said restrooms, water etc not available til May 1st. Now that it's May1 it says May 27th. So I pushed on passing a random chimney. I went up to Roan High Knob shelter for a break. It used to be an old rangers cabin so it's an odd shelter with a doorway. It was super chilly up there so I tried to hurry eating peanut butter and Nature Valley Oats n honey and banana chips. Hand me down another guy joined me up there in the cold. We all left around the same time hoping to make it 7.5 more miles to overmountain shelter before the fog and maybe rain rolled in. I enjoyed hiking through the spruce, everything was so damp and covered in green moss I stopped at Roan bald to take some pictures of the descending fog. I was on a bald for about 2.5 miles so I could see the fog settle in. It was tough climbing and occasionally I'd get big raindrops. I made it to Stan Murry Shelter just after 7 There were 2 section hikers there and one had setup his tent in the shelter. The shelter was facing into the wind and didn't look to inviting. My back hurt too bad to go on so I stayed. I set up my bed in between the tent and the other guys sleeping bag. The tent was blocking the wind so it was the tent me and Rob or Mark. I cooked dinner at the back of the shelter because of the wind. It started sprinkling just before dark but we all thought we were fine because we were in a shelter. I slept alright when I woke up I reached my hand out to unzip my bag zipper. My hand touched my bag and it was soaked. I hadn't felt it yet as it had not soaked through yet. It was a chilly morning and it was still rainy and foggy. I knew then that I'd be going to town 11 miles up even though I'd planned on going 6 further at least. I was not a happy camper. The guy next to me was not very wet because I had absorbed the water before it got to him. The rain blew in the shelter and ran toward the back where we were sleeping. I made oatmeal and hot chocolate sitting grumpily at the back of the shelter.