Date: 2017-04-28
From: Jerry Cabin Shelter

To: Big Bald
Miles today: 24.4
Weather: clear sky

The first order of business this morning was summiting Big Butt Mt. Big Butt is a bald, so I walked through a dewy field filled with spider webs gleaming in the morning sun. To the west Tennessee was convered by a sea of fog... massive in comparison to the lakes of fog we had seen in the mountains. A bit past the field I came across a giant bolder standing vertically that had a giant crack down the center partitioning it into two equal sized... cheeks? Perhaps that's where the name comes from? I was on cobweb duty this morning as the first hiker down the trail, clearing the cobwebs which had been erected on the trail overnight as I hiked. Thankfully the brilliant sunshine illuminated most of them so that I could swing my pole and clear them with something other than my face.As I hiked we got some views to the north through the trees... the mountains look like they stretch on forever northward which means we have a lot more hiking to do. Not a bad thing.Sidenote: It's kinda cool that we're planning for what we're going to do when we hit Damascus, VA, 150mi up ahead since it's only a little more than a week away. We started the trip planning like 40mi in advance, so that's a measure of progress.Also, a while back we were chatting with someone who thru hiked last year... he was musing that for the first 2-3 weeks hikers talk about gear and from then on the conversation is mostly about food. We've definitely passed the gear phase... At this point most people with way too much gear have dropped out or ditched the gear and the gear that everyone does have now has been working well enough for them for the past month. Not to say that people don't still occasionally talk about their gear, but it's an interesting shift.Also, my poison ivy is almost gone, which is super nice. The blisters are dry and closed and are just red with some small scabs. Hopefully even that will be fully gone soon, but it's no longer a bother.As I continued hiking I noticed that someone was having fun wiring in mud, drawing smiley faces and AT symbols every so often. I also saw an owl flying between trees to my west as I hiked, but he didn't come very close to the trail. My knees are still a bit sore, presumably from the extra weight yesterday. Up until now my knees have gotten a bit sore some days, but they've always healed/felt fine by the next morning. This is the first time that's not the case, so I'll have to watch them and try to rest them for the next couple days so that I don't start accumulating damage.We hit a gap and I checked my phone and had great service, better even than up on the ridges... Go figure. Also, interestingly, from this gap for the next 15mi the trail heads compass south (that's why trail-east/trail-west are useful for navigation, because as a hiker you don't have to care which direction the trail is facing).At the shelter that I stopped at for a quick break and met Huggable from Portland, Maine who, in response to my name, told me about a guy who crushes beer cans with his bare foot... sounds like a terrible idea. As I continued hiking I walked through a grasshopper/cricket rain... they must've just hatched or something because walking along a sunny section of trail it sounds like it was raining as the thousands of them jumped out of my way.I hit a road and walked 0.5mi to try to find the hostel that the guide listed, hoping for a drink or treat. Turns out I can't read a guide and went down the wrong road. Oh well, what's an extra mile? I got back on trail, trekked through a field of lovely smelling wildflowers while some early dandelion puffs floated through the air, hiked a bit further to the correct road, went down that, and found that the hostel in the guide had closed. There was another hostel, but without a store, so I just setup my tent to let it dry in the sun and ate my lunch.From there I headed uphill, past a nice stream with a series of waterfalls, and over a series of rolling mountain tops. The sun got hotter as the afternoon wore on and the trees, which once again held no leaves, didn't provide much cover. I ran into Lookout at the next shelter, 16mi into our day, and we confirmed that we were both good to push towards the next shelter which would leave us at almost 26mi for the day. I cameled and tanked up on water and hit the trail again for the couple miles down to Sam's Gap where we crossed I-26.As with everything that goes down on the AT, it must come back up, and we hiked up a long uphill to regain the altitude we had lost throughout the day. The ridge we we're heading for was adorned with condos, which spoiled the view a little bit, but I spotted a bald mountain up ahead. Sure enough, the guide confirmed it as Big Bald and it was just a mile short of the shelter we were heading for. After conferencing with Lookout, we tanked up to capacity to give us enough water for the night and finished the ascent. We emerged from the sparse trees onto the open plane with a good breeze keeping the air cool. The bald offered a panoramic view of everything we had just hiked, Erwin (where we'd be tomorrow), and the surrounding mountains. We setup camp but that light breeze turned out to be not so light and we had to make sure everything was weighted or tied down so that it wouldn't fly away. We cooked dinner and watched the sun as it headed for the horizon. The sun turned blood red as it fell, the haze which caused the mountains to fade off into the distance scattering the sun's light. Before the sun reached the mountains it had entirely disappeared into the haze... not a usual sunset, but nonetheless pretty.We headed to bed as the sliver of a moon emerged... Hopefully the wind settles down a bit overnight. I think my tent will handle it, the winds are probably ~20-30mph but I've got it staked down and weighted with rocks on every tieout. We'll see.