Date: 2016-03-14
From: Hogback Ridge Shelter

To: Spivey Gap
Miles today: 15.8
Weather: light rain

I woke up and packed up to head out. Rain was in the forecast and I wanted to get moving. Thunderstorms were predicted to roll in around 3:15 or so though you wouldn't have guessed it by the clear sunny skies overhead. I was making good time and reached Sams Gap pretty quickly. After passing under the I-26 overpass I noticed a little nook with business cards for a Hiker Shuttle. I passed it up not wanting to carry additional weight but thought maybe I should have grabbed on for the number just in case. It was already too late as there was no way I would go back to get one...A short while later I came up on a blue plastic bucket. Trail Magic!!! Nice. A zip lock bag with an apple, clementine, pack of starbursts and a rice crispy treat. I took the starbursts, and rice crispy treat but left the fruit for a future hiker who may want the fruit and not the sweets. I was a little concerned that having not had any fruit for a while it may disrupt my digestive system on the trail if you know what I mean...I hiked on and met a few volunteer trail maintenance guys along the way. They said they come up every Monday from Atlanta area to work on the trail. Very nice of them to keep the trail in good condition. For some reason I had a craving of PB&J and I couldn't help but notice most of the Trail Maintenance guys had, yep, you guessed it PB&J's! I hiked on and ran into another group of the volunteers and decided to take a short break and sit down and chat with them for a few minutes. One of them asked me what my plans were for later in the day when the rain came? "Get wet" was all I could think of! But the question did sort of resonate in the back of my mind... along with the Hiker Shuttle card I had passed up earlier... My plan was to Hike on to Bald Mountain Shelter and then re-evaluate what I wanted to do.I hiked on and off and on my feet, ankles, knees were causing me some discomfort. Nothing to really quit over just annoying little aches and pains. As I hiked and listened to my music I'd forget about the aches until I stepped funny or something reminded me. I'm pretty much resigned to the fact that walking all day almost everyday something is going to be aching at least for a little while longer... probably until the end... who knows... At least nothing it to the point of stopping me from moving forward.I reached Bald Mountain Shelter around 3:15 or so and found the shuttle guy's number in AWOL's guide book on my phone (pdf version) and decided to call for some info... The shuttle was reasonable and they said if I wanted one - I could call from High Rocks - about two miles up from Spivey Gap. So I thought... I had 4 miles / 2 hours to decide and headed out for High Rocks. My thought process along the way was my left knee was starting to bother me a little... my feet were really starting to hurt and my left high ankle sprain (very slight/mild) was starting to bark at me a little. After a 19.6 (I'll call it a 20 mile day followed by a 22ish mile day - I was thinking maybe I was pushing it a little hard. At my pace / where I was at - I would not reach the next shelter before it got dark and it would surely be raining. Though on the way to High Rocks - the sun came out just to mess with my thought process!!! I knew there was rain in the forecast. Spivey Gap would still be a nice 16 mile day. I could then follow that up with a "nice and easy" 11 mile slack pack into Erwin and follow that with a 0 day to rest up and yep... get some Epsom Salt bath soaks in... So that was the plan from the "re-evaluation" and I went with that one... When I got to High Rocks at around 5:30 I called for a shuttle and told them it would take me about an hour to get down to the road. Tom/10-K who was the shuttle driver said he'd be there about 6:15 waiting. That was only 45 minutes so I hoofed it down to the road so he wouldn't have to wait too long. As it ended up - the trail was very nice and accommodating for me to hike fast so I moved along as fast as I could go safely. It was sunny and warm the whole way down to the road except for that last 10-15 minutes where I started to feel sprinkles coming down. I covered the miles in about 50 minutes so he was only waiting for 5 mins or so... The good thing is a few minutes after I was in the car the rain really started to come down hard.Tom was a great guy and even stopped by Walgreen's on the way to the hotel so I could pick up a few things - Peanut butter, Jelly, half gallon of milk, epsom salts and a few other little things... If you are going to take a shuttle around Erwin - Tom is a great option.