Date: 2015-04-24
From: Bobblet's Gap Shelter

To: Thunder Hill Shelter
Miles today: 23.7
Weather: overcast clouds

I woke up last night a couple times because of the wind blowing underneath the shelter. It blasted through the gaps in floor boards and into my sleeping bag. The sleeping pills seemed to help a little, but not enough to give me an undisturbed nights sleep. I left the shelter about 7.15. It was difficult to get out of bed because the wind made it so chilly. Tonight the temperature is supposed to drop to freezing, so I have to keep my new Sawyer water filter in my sleeping bag.I met Princess and Rocketman not too long later. I was glad, because they were going south bound so they had already cleared away the spider webs. My right ankle still had the strange pain going on today, which was not helped by the amount of times I rolled my ankle and fell over. Both my ankles feel exceptionally weak at the moment. At least ibuprofen makes it bearable. Similarly, yesterday Cruize learned that he has multiple stress fractures in his foot. He has had them for a while, but has been very liberally taking painkillers and hiking a bit slower than the rest of us. He is going to continue hiking despite the stress fractures. The trail was quite nice today, even though there was a whole lot climbing. Nearly 10 miles of climbing, with varying degrees of intensity. The wind died down for most of the day, but still kept me feeling cool despite the intense sun. There was also definitely more shade today, the greenery is definitely growing in now. I met a trail maintainer who chatted to me for a while and told me to stop by the next shelter, which she said is their Taj Mahal. It's the Bryant Ridge shelter, and it was quite impressive. Very modern, with a cool loft, and all the amenities that make a shelter great (mouse hangs, bag hooks, sheltered picnic table, extra seating). Unfortunately, I still had 10 more miles to go from there (all up). So I had lunch and was on my way. Not too long later, I was stopped because I spotted a snake on the trail ahead. It was a bit scary because it was a yellow and black snake. I don't know anything about snakes, but I do know that yellow and black is usually not a good sign. The snake refused to move and eyed me up as I moved closer and stamped my feet, even when I threw sticks near it. I ended up having to climb up a steep little hill to go around it. I found out later that this kind of snake is not actually poisonous. Cookie Monster told me that I still don't want to be bitten because of the bacteria in its mouth. Frodo reassuringly told me that I won't see poisonous snakes before they bite me. Great. About an hour later, I was scared a little by a tiny grey mouse on the trail. It jumped in front of my feet and I nearly stepped on it. Then it moved and I nearly stood on it again, then finally it scampered off into the forest. The wildlife is really starting to make itself known. As long as the animals aren't bears or poisonous. About a mile before the shelter, the trail reached about 4,000 feet and there was a special kind of tower. The tower was shaped like a giant football, and no one knew what it was supposed to be for. The view there was really amazing. I was even higher than I had been the past few days, and in the distance I could see the mountains that we had hiked days ago. Once again, I was stunned by the incredible vastness of America. Sometimes I wonder how the first Europeans must have felt when they came to these places, it must have seemed incredibly wild and enormous, but also just dramatically beautiful. Tomorrow is another very early morning. There are 25ish miles tomorrow, and it's supposed to rain all day. The trail also does a lot of up and down, and it's hard to tell whether it will be an easy day or not. Probably not.