Date: 2004-03-24
From: Rocky Mountain Summit

To: Deep Gap Shelter
Miles today: 11.3
Weather: few clouds

Don't know what time it is but the sun is well and down and this is the last thing I'm doing before I go to sleep. Woke up feeling great this morning - it was ABOVE freezing! Took my time breaking camp and hit the trail very late - 9:15. Set an ambitious goal for myself today - to make it to Deep Gap shelter. Though it was only (only!) 11.3 miles away, it included both the Tray Mountain and Kelly's Knob climbs. Tray Mt is 100 feet of elevation in 0.8 miles and Kelly's knob is 1000 feet in 1.1 miles. Strangely, Tray really wasn't so bad - lots of switchbacks and flatish areas. KElly's Knob, on the other hand, kicked my sorry ass! Maybe because I'd all ready gone 9 miles by then, or maybe because it was straight up, no switchbacks, no flats, and no view at the top! Also, a BILLION false summits! And, reading the shelter register, the Knob kicked everybody's ass!Anyway, I made it to Deep Gap Shelter around 6 or so (lost my watch today, so I'm going by the sun) and I am very happy with myself! My new shoe inserts must be working because my feet didn't really hurt too much all day, but my right knee is still twinging. I was on Ibuprofin all day, but always knew when time was coming to take more. Not good, not good.Well, tomorrow I'm only going to Dicks Creek Gap, a mere 3.5 miles away. Will go into Hiawassee to do laundry, shower, eat good food and get my mail drop. Maybe hit the library for internet, too. I think I'll stay the night but I'm not 100% sure yet - depends on if I can buy a shower, how long it takes to hitch, how my knee feels, etc. I'm finding that town days are nice, but when the weather's good I want to be on the trail, not a hotel. On a similar town-days related note, Intents has what I think is a particularly profound way of looking at things. He's been taking a lot of zero days at the beginning of his hike (like I've been taking a lot of half days) and he says to me, "I'm not going to (insert town here), I'm going to Maine. And if staying the night at (insert town here) will help me get there, I'm staying." I like that. I'm always reminding myself that I'm not punching a clock or running a race, and it doesn't matter how fast I get anywhere, but sometimes it's hard to keep that in mind.Today was beautiful! Mid 60's and a bright blue sky. Even now at 8pm or so, its about 40 degrees and I am (thank god!) staying warm. Pleasant change.And the best part was that I caught up to a bunch of my friends today! Jane's a day ahead still, but Joe, Dad-O, Slowpoke, Brandon and Intents were all at the shelter when I got there. Met a very nice 19 year old today (shut up, Patrick!) named John, who has since taken the trail name "Ice Break", his friend Fast Eddie, and a guy named Ray-L who I will share a room with toimorrow if I stay. Good times, good times.Amusing conversation of the day (well, yesterday):ME (heading into Unicoi Gap and being REALLY ready to be there) - "Hey, is that the highway?" (Points to something a half mile or so in the distance.)FELLOW HIKER: "Nah, that's just a big downed tree that LOOKS like the highway."Well, maybe you had to be there... for the record, it was a tree.