Date: 2009-05-09
From: Campsite close to Jerry Cabin Shelter

To: Hogback Ridge Shelter
Miles today: 15.7
Weather: broken clouds

After waking up slightly late - around 8 am - I packed up my belongings, fought off the gnats that were merciless again and was back on the trail before 9 am. I wanted to go relatively quickly in order to catch the trail magic that would be at Devil's Fork Gap later on in the day. On the way to the first shelter, I actually saw bear tracks - one of the first times on the trail. I was on my own for most fo the time and I took full advantage of it by belting renditions of 'We Didn't Start the Fire' and 'Piano Man'. It was great to have the freedom to sing or to talk to yourself whenever you wanted to do so. I did have to share some airtime with the chirping birds and the buzzing bees, however. At the shelter, I read in the register's log (a mini journal in which thru-hikers write in order to communicate with others by leaving notes or various stories) and saw that my buddy Scavenger had an interesting experience just the night before. He said that he heard something rustling above in the rafters and then - all of a sudden - a large mouse just fell and smacked him directly on his forehead, to which he jumped up and threw the mouse off of him. These are the stories of the shelter...As I came down to Devil's Fork Gap, there was this huge trailer with many people at its side. I had arrived in time for the trail magic! A Boy Scouts group from Johnson City, TN had come through with plan to serve thru-hikers a huge meal and dessert. Seeing the sight just made my heart warm. Then - seeing the sight of taco meat with lettuce, cheese, sour cream, salsa, and tortillas made my stomach grumble. I ended up having two large burritos and some delicious peach cobbler for dessert. Outrageously good! Many other thru-hikers had found the good will as well and were equally as pleased and content. The rain came soon enough and we were forced to retreat into the confines of the large tent that they had already set up. It was great not to have to go out into the soaking rain again and we were allowed to stick around to play cards and to talk with the Boy Scouts. I ended up meeting a young man named Sebastian from Wien, Austria who was doing an exchange semester in Tennessee. He, Scavenger, and I exchanged travel stories about heading through Switzerland, Germany, and Austria - especially Salzburg and Wien. When the rain had subsided, many of the Boy Scouts had come to us to ask questions about the trail: "What do you think about when you are out there?", "What types of food do you eat?", "Do you really intend to walk all the way to Maine?". They were all just really great people and their generosity will certainly be remembered and appreciated for many years to come. Thank you, Boy Scouts crew!After waiting out the rain, we hiked on and climbed a good 1800 feet. On the way up, there was just this beautiful waterfall where I stopped to take a few breaths in and to really enjoy the serenity of the sound of moving water. I then met up with two guys that I had just met at the trail magic site named Checkpoint Charlie and Coldfeet. Both were recent graduates and, after working at Verizon for a short while, decided to come out and do the trail. Coldfeet plans to do an Iron Man right after the AT. I really commend him for giving it a go. It's a ballsy endeavor, but I'm sure he'll give his best effort. Go for it!Scavenger was already with me at this point and the four of his stopped on several occassions to enjoy the beautiful views from the mountain. We hiked together until about one mile before the shelter, where I wanted to go a little bit more slowly and make sure that my legs were adequately stretched out to push up some of these large hills. Today was a very difficult day with so many (too many) up and down climbs in such a short period of time. Unfortunately, when I arrived at the shelter, it was filled to capacity and I had to set up camp, along with several others who had shown up late or decided to camp outside. The only problem was that the rain came at around 8:30 pm and, as I do not have a ground floor in order to cut down on overall weight, I was threatened to have the rain come right underneath my tent. I actually placed my rain jacket and rain pack cover and a large rock on the front fringes inside the tent in order to provide some obstruction just in case some heavy rain water started to come down the slightly inclinated slope. Good night to all!