Date: 2013-05-11
From: Roaring Fork Shelter

To: Deer Park Shelter
Miles today: 14.8

Day 13: Roaring Fork Shelter to Deer Park Shelter¢It's not easy having a good time; even smiling makes my face ache!¢ (Dr. Frank N. Furter- The Rocky Horror Picture Show)Barring an application of force, an object at rest will stay at rest and an object in motion will stay in motion (Newton¢s First Law)¢¦ of course sometimes a good kick in the ass is a reasonable application of force Today was my day to feel it (or not feel it), whatever Rider had yesterday was visiting with me today. I woke up before 7 a.m. but just could not make myself get up. I heard Rider breaking down his tent right outside my front flap. I was irritated already, but why? I lay there with no motivation to do anything, I was just dog tired. This decision to lie around cost me a dry tent. About 30 minutes after I woke up it started to rain. Irritation became pissiness. I packed everything I could while inside then stepped out to take the tent down. It wasn¢t raining hard at all but somehow I felt off-put the weather. This was not a good way to start my last full hiking day. I moved slowly, had breakfast under the shelter overhang. I just didn¢t want to start walking. I finally gave in and left with Rider around 8:45, my rain jacket and pack cover on. Not too long into our morning walk I was pulling off my jacket due to the heat. If it¢s warm out it makes no sense to wear a rain jacket, I just end up wet with sweat anyway. The day was not supposed to be too bad. It was a sub-15 mile hike, starting with three miles of relatively ¢flat¢ terrain and only two climbs Walnut Mountain (climbing 750¢) and Bluff Mountain (climbing ~960¢) neither of which were as significant as the previous days and then near to the end of the hike was a long 4-mile downhill section (my generally preferred angle of terrain). Despite that this all looked mild on the map, it didn¢t feel that way underfoot. The morning was not too bad, those first three miles I schlepped along, hardly having to think about anything and trying to enjoy the flowers and scenery around me rather than focus on the sinking feeling that something was not right. As we started the first climb from Lemon Gap to Walnut Mountain, I couldn¢t ignore things anymore. It felt like my pack was 20 pounds heavier than yesterday, I just couldn¢t get it to sit correctly and so I was starting to have pain in the small of my back. I kept shifting the pack, readjusting it, tightening, loosening- frigging nothing made a difference. I also was having some not-insignificant pain with both feet thanks to the blisters and not very volcanic hotspots on the bottom of my heels. There was no good way to walk and I was gritting my teeth hard. I told Rider to walk ahead of me, that I was just not feeling right but would catch up. There were pretty big gaps between times that we walked together. I kept stopping, sitting down, wondering why the food I ate in the morning and the snacks I kept eating as I walked up the hill were not doing anything for me. It was like having a giant tapeworm inside me consuming all that food so I got nothing from it. I really just wanted to lie down. I made it to Walnut Mountain, a pretty semi-bald but one swarming with bugs (yeah, warm weather!). Day 13- My Unlucky Attitude DayThankfully Rider stopped here and so we ate lunch. Apparently this shelter is too close to access roads because it was kind of trashy; not nearly as trashy as Sassafras Gap Shelter over a week ago but there was garbage in the shelter, in the fire ring and there were 3 or 4 dead mice just in front of the shelter. A lovely place for lunch. I didn¢t care. While we were there Alana arrived. Also disgusted by the poor conditions of the shelter she ate something quickly and then the three of us ended walking together on and off for the next 7 miles. If Walnut Mountain sucked, the climb up Bluff Mountain was my personal McKinley. Not even U2 could kick my butt up that climb and the grade was less severe than the prior mountain. I found a campsite where I just sat for 10 minutes, contemplating what to do (as if I actually had options). What was wrong? Was I carrying some Horcrux of the Dark Lord?! Had my soul been unwittingly sucked from my lips by a Dementor while I slept last night?! I was pissed but then still too tired to let the anger fuel my action they way Rider did with his yesterday. I got up and went back to trudging along the path; I was pretty far behind Rider and Alana at this point so I had no reason to try to catch up. ¢You can do this.¢ I did come across Alana again and about a 1/4 mile from Bluff Mountain Summit. She had found an even better camping area to take a break at. I waved as I passed by, afraid that if I stopped to see her, I really wouldn¢t go any farther. Finally, without any fanfare, I arrived at the summit (a sign told me so) and found a grouping of rocks where Rider had laid down his stuff and sat to have (what was probably a long) break. The bugs however, were terrible and I was still in a cranky, low-energy mood so after a brief stop for water, I kept walking. I figured they¢d catch up and they did, very quickly. I was able to do a little better on the long descent to Garenflo Gap but I could feel how exhausted I was. Still Alana passed me and I was walking more quickly than Rider so we finally were strung out along the mountain and I did not see her again after we reached the gap more or less together. I decided to wait at the gap because there was one of those signs there that said the number of miles from Springer and to Katahdin. Ok, I also decided to wait because my feet went on strike and coordinated a sit-in with the rest of my body- damn unions!I sat there, looked around but not much to see at this place. The air felt unstable, but I didn¢t care. Rider showed up and I took his picture before we went on. As we were climbing up what was the last and littlest hill, Mother Nature decided to add to my misery with a little rain. I didn¢t want to put my jacket on though. A little rain turned into a lot more within 10 minutes. Pissed off, I pulled the jacket on and then finally got the anger-motivation that I was so lacking the rest of the day. It was less than 4 miles to the shelter but it seemed to take forever even with my new-found energy. I was sick of the trail, the mud, the rain. I was angry that I was going to have to walk a couple tenths of a mile to get water once I got to the shelter but I just took off especially on the last half mile down hill to the shelter. It seemed to take so long that I thought I might have even passed the shelter (and had that been the case, I resolved myself to just walk the additional 3.2 miles into Hot Springs and call it a day). Day 13- Frigging RAIN!But I did not ¢miss¢ the shelter. By the time I arrived the rain had been stopped for a little while, and with some reasonable wind, the ground was pretty dry so I walked straight passed the shelter with a grunt of a hello to the folks inside and set up my tent. Everything damp came out of my pack and I strung a line to hang things. After 20 minutes or so of camp chores and lessening of the residual attitude problem, I went back to the shelter, apologized for my short behavior and began to enjoy the day¢¦finally. Good food (Couscous, beef and veggies); a good fire; good company- Rider, Nobody, his wife and their three doggies, Thumper, Frodo, Skywalker, Alana, Bootsy, Tiny Tim and a Father with his 4 year old son, Chase; good conversation Alana shared her wildflowers of the Smokies book so we could try to identify the flowers we saw today and finally some great music courtesy of Thumper and Nobody. Everything was as it should be and then once again, the rain came. It stayed for a while, and a number of us huddled under the short overhang of the shelter roof. It was a tiny shelter though, not like the ones from the Smokies. After about an hour, I gave up trying to wait the weather out and took off for my tent. I managed to sprint during a lighter period of rain but as I zipped the fly close, the rain resumed pinging my tent rapidly. It¢s been about 45 minutes now and I¢m finishing up the my journal entry now. I can still here laughter from the shelter, and the rain seems to be letting up but I¢m tired so it¢s time to turn in.Day 13- Ending on a good note at Deer ParkGoodnight from 3.2 miles away from the end of my section hike. Tomorrow to Hot Springs, a big breakfast with Rider and hopefully some other folks and then into my car and a long ride home to see my baby! The day started poorly, but music, company and food has all but erased that memory now. More photos for day 13 of the trip can be seen at: 2000Miler_Day13