Date: 2004-03-05
From: cheese factory site

To: deep gap shelter
Miles today: 9.2
Weather: overcast clouds

the morning was exactly like it was last night - dark and windy. when i got up i taped my feet and moved out of my tent to give the girls their 7ish wake up call. it was a usual morning, the same routine: eat, get water, pack up. just before leaving i noticed a red heart shaped balloon stuck in the top of a nearby tree. it's shiny red skin made a large contrast with the grey sky. i asked alex if that was there before. he said no, must have just blown in.when a morning starts off this way you the day is going to be special.starting out from the cheese factory at about 8:30, alex and i found ourselves in a cloud. the air was wet and cool with a strong breeze. as we started, i felt cold. within minutes of walking up tray mountain my body began to heat up and i needed to stop to take off my windjacket. alex went ahead and quickly disappeared in the mist. there was only about 50 foot visibility on the mountain today. remember, every time i say mist or fog i really mean 'cloud'. i started moving, now in my t-shirt and shorts, up the trail. in a few minutes i could make out alex. he had his pack off and was looking at some boxes on the side of the trail. as i approached i immediately knew what it was. TRAIL MAGIC! there was a case of mello yellow, coke, and beer. a cooler and an empty ice bag was next to the drinks. i took the rock off the styrofoam lid. under it the lid said "mello magic". when i opened it, alex and i both let out a deep "ooooohh". the cooler was stuffed with little Debbie cakes, danishes, and honey buns. under all this was some celtic wheat beer. we skipped the beer but grabbed a mello yellow and a few of each of the snacks. my 400 calorie morning just turned into a weight watchers worst nighmare. Mmmmmm. our blood sugar sky-high, we practically ran up tray mountain.at the tray mountain shelter we met up with pat and mike and shared some of our pillage. we kept moving from there, still in our cloud, up and down several peaks fueled by the excitement of our find plus an unending surge of carbos. all in all we ascended 3300 feet today, though the descents are the hardest.whoever left that magic, thank you! look for pictures in a week or two.but wait, there's still more... after getting to deep gap shelter around 2:30, i'm unpacking my stuff when a guy named jay walks up and says, "anyone here lose a balaclava?". swwweeet! i said yeah i did. "you dharma?"yes!"someone named arlene gave this to me and asked me to carry it forward. i then saw your note at blue mountain shelter that said you lost it."this trail stuff rocks... it truly does. how often does this stuff happen in the normal world?i now have to get rocky's hat back to him. he should be at the blueberry patch hostel tonight. if he leaves tomorrow morning, he may get back to the trail on the 9:30 shuttle. i'll try to meet him at the road. if not, jay said he would walk it up the trail for me tomorrow since i'm going to town for a zero day.i have more to tell about that being in the moment stuff from yesterday, but it will have to wait. time for bed.no wait. i have to bitch. this will put a smile on the 2003ers out there. i forgot to mention that since i've been walking/living in the clouds so far today... everything is damp! i can't wait to get to town to throw my bag... errr, everything in the dryer! k.... now i'm done.