Date: 2013-04-21
From: Bailey Gap Shelter

To: Niday Shelter
Miles today: 27.0
Weather: clear sky

I awoke without a firm plan for the day. I just thought I would hike, daudle and linger at places that interested me, and see who I met along the day. Since the morning temps were in the mid 30's, and the shelter wasn't crowded, I was able to prepare and eat two packets of instant oatmeal while sitting in my sleeping bag. Two hours into my hike, I came upon Inertia and his mom who had camped alongside a gravel road crossing. Inertia is apparently not a morning person, as he was still in the tent. His mom served me hot chocolate made with real milk and some carnation instant breakfast; she also gave me a banana. A huge treat!I ate lunch with Running Bear, who gave me a very descriptive retelling of this year's Master's Golf Tournament at Augusta. I also hiked for awhile with Blue Moon. The trail left the ridge line and descended 1900 feet into a gap and then quickly ascended again to nearly the same height. A thru-hiker from 2007, returned to do some "trail magic" and had placed a plastic container with Little Debbie snacks and pop right alongside the trail at the end of the arduous climb. I chugged down some orange soda and greedily gulped down two Little Debbie snacks before realizing that I should probably have only taken one. Oops.Late in the afternoon, I descended into a beautiful valley with farms and farm houses. This valley was 4 miles wide, and I was energized by the sun on my back and the change of scenery. The trail cut right across fields, and I'm sure I climbed over at least 8 barbed wire fences on wooden ladders. As I was crossing the valley, I could clearly see the mountain range and the ridge that I'd be ascending back up to. There were few switch-backs on this climb making it more difficult, but when I made it to the ridge, the trail became fairly level with descent footing, so I was making good time. Then I had a decision to make. There was a shelter that I could stay out if I took a side trail four tenths of a mile off the AT (and an elevation drop of over 300 feet). Or I could press on to the next shelter and water which was right on the trail but was still six 6 miles away. I decided to press on. Within a half mile the trail changed dramatically as the ridge line became rugged and spectacular; with huge boulders and rocks to navigate and great views on each side. This slowed my progress drastically both because of the difficult footing and all the climbing up and over boulders that I was doing; and because I didn't want to rush past the views. So I took pictures and paused often trying to take it all in. Watching the beautiful sunset from the ridge was an added bonus. The result of all this was that it got dark long before I made it to the shelter. For the last hour on the trail I had only the moonlight shining through the woods casting eerie shadows and my little headlamp to light the way. If I kept my head down to light the trail (in an effort to not trip over rocks and roots), then everything else was dark and I had to be careful to look up often enough to actually look for the white blazes on the trees and stay on the trail. I am not afraid of the dark, but I have noticed you hear a lot more sounds at night in the woods then you do during the day. I relaxed and went with it and enjoyed the adventure. By the end of the day I had covered 27 trail miles, my highest one day mileage of this journey. When I finally arrived at the shelter I was disappointed that it was empty. I guess that's good because I didn't disturb anyone by arriving so late, but I also didn't get to interact with anyone either. Perhaps tomorrow...