Date: 2007-04-30
From: Little Laurel Shelter, NC

To: Flint Mt. Shelter, NC
Miles today: 12.7

When I woke this morning, it was 58 degrees inside my hammock! I woke upsweating again last nite. Guess I should stop dressing like it is going to be 20degrees! LOLI haven't slept a lot the past few nites due to having some stuff churning in myhead.I got up about 7:40 a.m. Did not want to at all, but we were shooting for 13.7miles today. We headed out @ 9:22 a.m. and god, the climb up Camp Creek Baldwas brutal. What a wake up call for your legs. At one point Persistent askedme if it could get any steeper. I thought not.It was, however, another glorious day. Sunny, warm (got into the 80's) and ifyou were on a ridge, there was a nice breeze. I did discover I have a small leak in one of my canteens though. It looks like small puncture, right in the middle of it. Thankfully, Rachael had bought mesome little patches made for the Platypus canteens, so I slapped one on and it'sall good now (THANKS for talking me into that Rachael). After we got over the first mountain, it descended into this beautiful greenvalley with a nice stream. I could have stayed there all day. Something aboutit was so peaceful.The first half of my day was full of pretty incredible views. We stopped @ aplace called White Rocks where I sat right on the edge of the mountain andsoaked up the sun and breeze. Honestly, we were both having a hard time gettingmoving today. It was so nice not to have to be worrying about freezing to death.By this time it was around 11:30, so we decided to find the next lookout calledBlackstack Cliffs and eat lunch there. It was supposed to be another .2, so wefind what we thoght was the corect blue blaze (a side trail), but it wasn't theright place. We ate lunch anyways, and man was it getting toasty out.After lunch,we hiked probably another 100 feet and THERE was the sign forBlackstack Cliffs. Someone had drawn an arow and even written "worth it" on arock. So we take the side trail, and boy were they right. This was even betterthan White Rocks! It was these huge boulders sticking out from the mountain, and I could seeprobably 100 miles away on this clear day. At first Persistent was a littlefreaked to go out on the rocks (remember she has a pretty big fear of heights),but I couldn't wait to get out there and dangle my feet over the ledge.Breathtaking is the only way to describe it. We could see a good sized town,but never figured out what it was. We stayed there for probably an hour. Ijust didn't want to leave. Persistent finally got comfortable going out to theedge (I think once she saw the rock didn't fall off the side of the mountainwith me on it LOL). We finally pulled ourselves away and walking back to where we had dropped ourpacks, we ran into Radar, whom I'd met in Hot Springs. So onward it was. The topos looked really flat, so I figured we'd make greattime today. WRONG! LOL This "flat" part was a ridgewalk\climb. We ran into 8women (who looked like they were a ton of fun) who told us it is a rocky ridge,beautiful, but to take our time. Boy were they right.We were climbing up and over HUGE boulders and rock slabs, while on either sideof us about 3 feet each side, the mountain dropped straight down. It was prettyawesome, and a lot of fun climbing around these rocks, but it was exhausting. The sun was pounding down and sweat ws dripping from my face like a slow faucetleak. There would be points I'd look ahead and see Persistent about 20 feethigher than me.The past 2 days have been so warm that salt has been caked onto my face, my packstraps, and my clothing from sweating so much. I made a gross joke that ifPersistent needed any salt to season her dinner, just let me know, I'd be happyto provide some! LOL (it's so fun to gross her out LOL) So my day, I split it into 2 parts. The first half where it was hard but I hadgreat views and a pretty positive attitude. Then there was the second half,(which started when we got to Jerry Cabin Shelter, NC, where I started gettingfrustrated.We got to this shelter @ 3:30 p.m., and still had 5.9 miles to go to the nextshelter. My feet were KILLING me, and I just wanted to call it a day, but thatwould have been a 6.7 mile day and would have forced us to do a really long dayor add a day onto getting to Erwin, which we didn't have the food for.I popped vitamin I of course, and Persistent went to get us water. Radar wasthere (who had passed us earlier), Church Mouse and another guy (both hammockhangers) also showed up. Radar had hiked 16 miles today, and was already @ hisdestination.Church Mouse was talking about how he did a 42 mile day from Clingman's Dome (inthe Smoky's) all the way out of the park, in 1 day!So here's Persistent and I, we've done a whopping 6.7 miles, which has taken us6 hours to do (yes, we stopped for lunch ad enjoyed the views), and it was now4:00, and we had all this way to go, which would put us into camp close to 8:00p.m.Well, we started off again, and started the climb up Big Butt Mt., and we cameto a small bald where there was another grave marker. I was dragging, and atthis point, just needed to vent. I took off my pack, and told Persistent I feltlike kicking it (which I proceeded to do) and went off about how I would NOTwant to ever hike 42 miles in 1 day, but it sure as hell would be nice tophysically have the option if I wanted. I am frustrated because it takes me ALLfreakin day to hike a mere 12.7 miles. It's a double edged sword too. I stopand smell the roses, I stop and enjoy the views, and I won't give that up. But,if I do that, then we're dragging into camp @ 8:00 p.m., whichI hate because Iget zero "me time" at the end of my day because by the time camp is set up anddinner is made, it's 10:00 p.m. and I just want to pass out!I could care less that people hike faster than me, but I wish I was physicallycapable of hiking faster (when I feel like it), so that I can spend timeenjoying views AND actually get to camp at a decent hour so I can relax a bitand journal. I don't know how they all do it. So I am going off, and Persistent totally feels the same way, so I turn to thegrave marker of Howard Bassette, who thru-hiked 39 years ago, and I told him ifhe had any answers, to come visit me in my sleep tonight and let me know! LOL GEEZ! I just feel like I sometimes have to make choices to NOT do something (likejournaling or enjoing a view) if I want to be able to make it further than 7miles that day, because I'm so freakin slow.So where are these promised "you'll do 11 miles by 1:00 p.m." days? Am I notgiving myself enough time yet? So to anyone out there who has had a similarexperience, I'd love to hear from you. It seems there ar days when there isn'tenough time to do anything but pound your feet, and I really like to actuallyenjoy and take in my surroundings instead of racing down the trail. I am just alittle frustrated (like ya couldn't tell LOL) and it is days like today where Iwonder if I'm physically capable of getting to Maine even in 7 months, becauseI'm slow.Ok, enough venting, I thought it was important people know that this happens outhere. I'll still get up and keep putting one foot in front of the othertomorrow.We also ran into another grave site (there are a bunch of these out here, Inever heard anyone mention them before). This was a grave of a 13 year old boywho died in 1863. The descendents have kept this site beautiful, decorated withplastic flowers and flags. So, a milestone was hit today, the 300 mile point! We of course stopped and didour traditional toast. I had a Snickers bar that had melted, so it looked likea turd. LOL Here's some of our toast:We would like to toast to 300 miles, butt paste ointment, sushi in Waynesville,cleaning up the river, Persistent's snot rag that carried her thru her cold,being FINISHED with the Smoky's, being able to stand there and not freeze,Gadget and Scribe's hilarious "free spirited" town stops, The Smoky Mt. Diner and its tomato biscuits and strawbery rhubarb pie, as always..the almighty pee rag, trailmagic, my visit with Rachael, my new food bag, the train and roosters in HotSprings, the Motel 6 in Newport where we recovered from the Smoky's, The Sagebrush restaurant in Newport with its horrible service and even worse ribs,getting out of Standing Bear Farm in one piece, a fun nite around the campfirewith Ducksoup and Pyro, incredible cliff views, being the slowest hikers on theentire AT this year, salt on our faces, the moment I had with the owl, and ofcourse, Persistent making it to the privy on time this morning, and of course my hammock. We made a 300 out of rocks, and Persistent asked me to find a big rock for 1 ofthe zeros. I found one, and can you believe she started pushing it around and"visually criticizing" my rock! LOL I called her on it and she admitted it,which made me dye laughing. Apparently she didn't like that it was a darkcolor. LOLWell, we finally dragged our butts into the shelter @ 7:45 p.m. Only after ourfavorite end of the day knee and foot pounding 2 mile downhill. AAAHHHH!! Whata day!!!The beutiful thing about tonight though is how warm it is. It is a full moontonite (or maybe tomorrow nite), and guess what I'm doing. I am going to sleepwithout my tarp, and as I write, I am laying in my hammock, looking at theincredibly bright moon, looking at the reflecion of its light on the treesaround me, and gazing at the stars. WOW!! First time to not use my tarp, andit is awesome. It is currently 56 degrees, I'm using my bag as a quilt, thereis zero wind, I hear dogs in the distance and an owl. Everything is going to beok. Just a rough day, and tomorrow I will keep putting one foot in front of theother. ~Certain