Date: 2008-03-13
From: Groundhog Crk Shelter NC

To: Walnut Mountain Shelter NC
Miles today: 13.1
Weather: overcast clouds

Day 25 ¢ Thursday, March 13¢ Walnut Mountain Shelter NC ¢ Miles Today: 13.1 Total Miles: 258.6We had a leisurely morning in our tent because we only had 13.1 miles to go today. It was about 8:30 before our feet finally hit the trail. Unfortunately, the first thing the trail gave us was an uphill, which after nearly 18 miles yesterday, quickly informed us that our legs were a bit tired. We didn't have any muscle or joint soreness but they definitely weren't as strong as they were yesterday. However, by the afternoon when we were dished another big uphill, we both felt fine.   It just took us most of the morning to get into the groove today. We had a neat climb up to Max Patch today, a huge bald where fellow hikers Josh & Amanda, the young couple who we were hiking with a week ago, were married this past September. They mentioned they had a beautiful day for the occasion, and we¢re having another today.We met one more thru-hiker today, Brer Rabbit. Saying that we "met" him is a bit of a misnomer; he was doing a 30-mile day and flying up the trail with little time to chat and visit. He said he ¢was young and needed to get back to work so he had miles to get in¢. Brakeman was doing his nature call business as Brer Rabbit went by. Grasshopper was supposed to be standing guard and calling out a warning if anyone came.   Well, hmmm, she did not do so well.   As a matter of fact, instead of calling out a warning, she STOPPED Brer Rabbit and had a quick chat with him, positioning Brer Rabbit so he was facing Brakeman doing his nature duties! They even waved to each other! Funny. Afterwards Grasshopper got a lecture from Brakeman to make sure she positioned herself always facing him in the future so that the hiker passing through is not the one who gets to stare at his butt. Technicalities!   A butt is a butt, right?We walked through a huge, huge green tunnel today. We took a picture of it. It must have been 150-200 yards long, which was just unbelievably long. This afternoon gave us some nice solid level or downhill terrain. Actually since we've left the Smokies, every step along the way has been very sure-footed, not a lot of roots, not a lot of rocks, not a lot of snow, not a lot of ice. Actually, no snow or ice.   Very nice!We finally arrived at Walnut Mountain Shelter just after 4:00 to find Bare Fodder already there and wondering if we were ever going to show up. He left about a half hour before us this morning and arrived to camp about an hour and a half before us. We were quite pokey today as we took lots of breaks and tried numerous times to get cell phone reception. We wanted to book our Hot Springs motel room for an additional night as we will be there tomorrow, a day before expected.   We'll do two nights in the motel!!The three of us had a nice bonfire tonight. Well, sort of nice. We had a few challenges. We had to keep moving around to get away from the smoke. It's not a good idea to have a bonfire on a ridge because as the wind comes up and swirls around, you are constantly moving around to avoid the smoke. At one point in time, Grasshopper switched logs to get away from it and unfortunately the log rolled, sending her tumbling back in a backwards somersault down the ravine, clunking her head on a rock. Luckily, she's OK; I think the thru-hike will continue.The other weird thing that happened while we were sitting around the bonfire was that a dog appeared. It was friendly and looked like a German Shepherd - Beagle mix dog. Shortly thereafter, his owner came up - an older man, maybe 60s-70s. He was doing a day hike and informed us that he just saw a bear down below. Not a problem for us as we have always been practicing bear safety by hanging our food bags. Bare Fodder has not been. After the man left, we looked at Bare Fodder and asked him what he was going to do with his food bag tonight. He sheepishly grinned and said he was thinking about hanging it. But when we finally disbanded a bit before 7:00, he had already made up his mind to just hang his food in the shelter on the mouse stopper ropes like always. So good luck to him chasing the bear away if it¢s still in the area. We had talked about bears with him before. He does not believe that the bears are out this early. We told him we had seen a bear print in the snow a couple weeks ago. We explained to him that not all bears hibernate this far south. But somewhere in his 70-year-old brain he has logged that bears are just not out this early. This was probably only our second or third comfortable evening on this entire hike so far. We're really looking forward to spring. It was warm all day - probably up in the 70s. We were in shorts and t-shirts and got a bit sweaty going up hills. It's a nice break from being totally bundled up for 20 and 30-degree weather. Spring is arriving. We've had three beautiful days in a row and the rain that was supposed to arrive tomorrow has apparently been pushed back a few days, as tomorrow is to be a clear day, too. Earlier in the week we had gone extra miles in anticipation of a rainy day tomorrow but instead we're going to make a mad dash into Hot Springs on a clear day! We have 13.1 miles and we're going to be hitting the trail as soon as that sun is up or perhaps even a little bit before. The motel and grocery store are calling us!It's about 50 degrees at 7:22. We're signing off from just shy of Hot Springs. Good night.