Date: 2004-05-02
From: overmountain shelter

To: capsite past walnut mountain road
Miles today: 19.0

every morning i crack my eyes open at daybreak. i nap a bit, look around a bit. then somehow someone else will make a slightly bigger shuffle, someone will sigh or stretch. i think we all listen to eachother and somehow communicate without words until all of a sudden all of us are upright and soon enough chatting. its uncanny, fun. especially this morning when we stretch out of sleep simultaneously, breathe in the morning air, and soak in that view. nice.the clouds were moving so fast. one moment it was clear, the next we would be in a foggy cloud. there was no telling which way the day would go.me and flamingo get to hiking the humps, there are two of them, both big full grassy summits littered with huge rocks, flamingo tells me they are glacial deposits or something. glaciers dropped em there. big old piles of big old rocks. a long bald ridge connects the two summits. its some fantastic scenery.for the first, little hump, we had a break of sunshine so that on one side of the ridge was impenetrable fog, on the other we could see down into a sunny valley. we stood on the summit and watched the fog creep around and encroach on the valley. it looked like big arms embracing us. and closing the door. its official, its a foggy day.and so the hike up the bigger hump mountain was very windy with very little visability. moisture was accumilating on my arms, though it wasnt raining. it was an eerie walk through transelvania or scotish highlands. quite something.when that was done there was no holding the mind back from obcessing about cheesburgers. yes, the plan was to get down to 19E 8 miles into the day and hitch to one of the close by resteraunts. and so we were running with a one track mind. hauled ass to the road and before flamingo closed the 50 foot gap between us i had got a hitch. they only took us a half mile to the "king of the road" steakhouse. a sign on the window says "buffet 7.95." yeah buddy!the waitress was so friendly and had so many questions about our trip. she was sure to say "i can fill up those camel back things for yall before you leave. ill fill em with good water. darlene was filling them from the tap cos she thought they were showers!" she also said "yall should have seen the girls who came in here a couple days ago, i mean they were jacked! i should hike the trail for a month just to get those legs!" she found the whole thing quite novel, much like joe flamingo found the product resembling meatloaf quite novel. i found it quite good. joe, you missed out.we done good. stuffed with unholy amounts of country cookin.hike on. it started raining a warm rain that shifted its intensity throughout the day. when we got to the huge wonderful jones falls, burried out there in the woods, it was pooring. warm, though. it felt great to get soaked from a warm rain climbing around the terrific cascade. its the life, ill tell ya.life is about decisions. it is hard to make the right one some time, but there are times when you know so much in your heart that you have made a righteous and perfect decision, that you become completely at peace with the world, all moments of your life and all living things on this planet all converge in your present moment and empower you to know that this life is perfect, this world is harmony. its not easy to make such a decision, one can only hope to make one a few times in thier life span. i knew i had made one when i sat down for dinner and instead of pulling out the stove and the (elch) mac and cheese, i pull out a silver hockey puck and peel back its majestic layers to unveil the perfect hamburger. tomatoes, onions, letuce, mayonaise, mustard, beef, cheddar, sesame bun. oh god. oh god. i can see the light. then we camped.