Date: 2016-03-09
From: Standing Bear Hostel

To: Walnut Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 20.0
Weather: few clouds

My plan leaving Standing Bear Hostel was to hike 15ish miles to Roaring Fork Shelter, then the following day hike 15ish miles to Deer Park Shelter... then do an easy 3ish miles into Hot Springs... I ended up having a harder time getting packed and out of the hostel. My body was tired from the previous day's push and I think really needed some more rest but I decided to press on anyway. I knew the hike would be as much up as the previous day's was down so mentally I think that also beat me down a little... add in the baking sun and the raging temperatures in the upper 70's and you have all the ingredients for a bad day of hiking... Yeah... Upper 70's is HOT when you are used to hiking in the 40's/50's with snow and ice on the ground. (I'm not complaining though... at least not too much!) As the day dragged on and the miles seemed to go by infinitely slowly I swore my pack seemed way heavier than it was the previous day. I had picked up a little food to get me through to Hot Springs but it really seemed much heavier. I kept thinking maybe one of the guys at the hostel put a rock or something in my pack... that thought led to thoughts of payback when I found out who had done it! Finally around 6 pm I had made it to Brown Gap, USFS 148A - a WHOLE 9.8 miles in about 9 hours... again... WTH (H = heck of course!!!)??? By my calculations... I'd make it to the Roaring Fork Shelter at 0 dark 30... I sat down on a log near the forest service road and took off my shoes and socks and put on my crocks for a little while... a small blister on my right foot from the previous day had expanded a bit so I just sat there evaluating my situation and trying to come up with a new plan. Seriously I was feeling more dejected than I had on any other day's hike. As I sat there in a fog... I decided to go through my pack and see what was in there that shouldn't have been. I took everything out... emptied every pocket and check the pockets on all my clothing that was within. Do you know what I found??? Yep... maybe you guessed it... NOTHING!!! There was no extra weight... I was really hoping for a big rock or something so my pack would feel lighter again but there was nothing...I ate a power bar and drank some water and just sat there chilling out. After a short while... Jason - no trail name - came by and stopped... He said he was going about 3 miles an hour... and was talking even faster... about all his hiking experience, skills, miles per day, and on and on... I was saying... yeah, ok, sure, yeah, ok. He did offer some blister first aid stuff for a blister I had on my right foot but I politely declined. I tend not to mess with blisters unless they absolutely require attention. This one was big.. but still intact and had migrated to the side of my foot so the bottom was fine. Anyway... a short while later a hiker Bootie... I think that is how he spells it... came and we talked for a little while. He was going to set up camp there. I packed up my stuff and put on my socks and shoes and headed out for the next shelter. A little ways up the trail I came across Jason setting up camp. He offered to let me camp out there as he was putting together what looked like would be a nice fire for the night. I really wanted to get to the next shelter and politely declined and pushed on. I did comment to him that Bootie was at the bottom of the road setting up camp.. he decided he'd hike back to the road area and get him.As I pushed on the sun got lower and it really started to cool off. I crossed another road and then put on my head lamp for some night hiking as it was really getting dark. The night hiking really energized me as I got my second wind. I felt like I had just started the day hiking and was moving way faster than I had the previous day. When I came to the sign for the shelter I was shocked! It had seemed like only a few minutes since it had turned dark and I had covered another 5 miles. I decided to just ride the wave and keep going to Walnut Mountain Shelter about 5 more miles down the trail. I had my music going and was moving well. Fortunately the trail seemed predominately level or down hill and relatively smooth. I really enjoyed the hike in the dark, cool night. As I neared the shelter (a mile or so from it) the trail made a dramatic turn from level/down to UP! I looked for the elevator/escalator to the top but had no luck finding it in the dark... so I just kept hiking slowly up the mountain. when I got to the shelter there was one guy in there and of course... at 11 pm coming into a shelter no matter how quiet you are... the people there wake up. Maybe it's the high alert while sleeping that bears or other animals may come in... maybe it's just so peaceful and quiet any sound stands out... anyway... the wind was whipping pretty good. I drank some water, found the privy, and tried to settle into the shelter quietly for the night. Oh... after the first half of the day's hike monumentally sucking and it taking 9.8 miles in about 9 hours the second half was one of the better hikes... a little over 10 miles in about 5 hours... an amazing ending to what would have been a crappy day...