Date: 2008-01-06
To: Cable Gap shelter
Miles today: 5.5
Weather: broken clouds

mi. 5.5sleep shelterdest. cable gap shelter day I'm back on the AT! I can't say how strange it feels to be back. Under 3 days ago I was back at my parents house in Northwest Ohio. Now I'm back out on the AT alone after being around so many people in the last week. I loved seeing my friends and family don't get me wrong. Plus now I can say I had town stops on my thru hike of Upper Sandusky OH, Cincinnati OH, and Altanta GA. I think I can now say too that on future hikes I will only take so much time off trail for injuries. I consider this a complete thru hike, just with more zero days. It just feels different now. I would like to throw a huge thanks to my friend Ashley in Atlanta. She was a huge help the last couple days. I got a place to stay, food and beverages, and a ride to where I got off the trail. Plus a ride from Springer when I get done. Thanks again. Well once again I putted around too much in town. This was just the town stop before driving back out to the trail. Mapquest said it was 3.5 hrs away. So of course we wait until 3pm to leave. The plan originally was to leave around 10am and give me plenty of time to get to the shelter before dark. Now I was starting after dark. That I think turned out to be better for me. Yeah we all know how I dislike night hiking. But this was different. I hurt myself hiking at night. I got a big sense of taking over right where I left off. The original plan last thrusday was to night hike to the shelter, and now I was doing just that. I think it felt better to night hike it. The hike went pretty good. I was a little concerned with what a week off would do. I felt a little rusty, but it will wear off in another day. It was only 5.5, but the first up was at least 1700 feet over the first 3 miles. But at least the ankle will be tested. The ankle feels pretty good. Still not 100%. That would take another week of solid rest and I'm not prepared to take that much time off. The whole time I was off it felt like I had a huge hole that needed to be filled. But back on the ankle. I think it is going to be sore for awhile. I just need to take it easy and keep and eye on it. I ended up getting to the shelter at around 9:30pm. I did pretty good at staying on the trail. Only once did I get a couple steps off. The rest of the time I was able to follow it. I am still a little uneasy night hiking. I decided to fix this by banging my trekking poles together a couple times every few minutes. I decided not to want to see any wildlife tonight. I heard a stick fall in the distance and started singing the song in my head out loud. I didn't hear it again so it was either a stick falling or was not impressed by my singing. Now off to bed if I can get to sleep. I slept in pretty late. Plus it is already after 11pm. Maybe I'll sleep in and just do the 6 miles to the next shelter. I have enough food. I thought I would be all alone out here. I am tonight, but there is a few people close. Torque is going to be at this shelter tomorrow night. I am hoping he will catch up tomorrow or the next night. MissingLink and John along with the 2 New Zealanders are close behind. Hopefully I'll see them too. Gear Updates. I switched a couple things around. I figured I was at home, why not. I am not carrying my 3 L platy water resivor anymore. Mainly because I forgot it at home. I wasn't using it that much anyways. Plus it isn't completly waterproof after I melted the threads a little. I did a sewing repair job to my hiking convertable pants. Originally I was just going to sew the rear pockets back on that have been coming off since PA. After a closer look I noticed half the seams were coming out. I am actually surprised they didn't fuller rip by now. I paid $20 back in Lincoln, NH for them. So I think I got my money's worth from them. The biggest thing is I subbed out my crappy pricey gregory pack or my cheap, heaving internal frame REI pack. It has more room and carrys the weight better. Plus it is not falling apart. It feels a lot better.