Date: 2011-06-07
From: Hogback Ridge Shelter

To: Jerry Cabin Shelter
Miles today: 14.7
Weather: clear sky

Al, who had tented was out of the camp first and Scar and Bookworm left by 6:55. After two trips to the privy and an Imodium-ad tablet I left Laser Legs still packing his gear at 6:59. My intention today was to hike to Flint Mountain Shelter, 8.8 miles away. As all my hiking friends were northbound and I was heading south I didn¢t expect to see anyone else I knew today. At 8:06 AM after an up and down trail, with the ovenbirds singing, I took off my pack for a break. Removing my pack even for a few minutes was a treat as was the cool breeze. At 9:38 after a winding, mostly downhill, side trail descent on a narrow woods trail, often paralleling an old rusty barbed wire fence, I reached a beautiful small cascade where I took a break. I had been hearing about this cascade from other hikers for more than a week. A number of hikers had gotten water here, or wet their heads. One adventurous hiker, Long Trail, had taken a shower. I wish I had been there to see that! At 10:48 just prior to reaching Devil Fork Gap, I met two baby boomer thru hikers, Speed Stick and Bunny, and joined them on a log for a break. At 12:15, after 8.8 miles of hiking I reached the Flint Mountain Shelter where I had lunch, signed the register, got water from the stream and took a forty-five minute break. As it was still early I wrestled with the idea of trying to make it to the next shelter, 5.9 miles away. But by now it was hot and the next section of the trail would begin with a 1,000-foot ascent of the next mountain. At 1 PM I decided to go for it and started walking very slowly. Suddenly, a bear cub ran down the slope forty feet in front of me, then continued running down the slope to my right. I could see the top of the head of another bear to my left but only briefly and will never know whether or not it was the cub¢s mother because it promptly disappeared. As I began the ascent of the mountain I walked in slow motion for a count of 200 steps then stopped for a standing break. After repeating the process over and over again with two sit down breaks sandwitched in the middle I finally reached level ground at 2:10. I was sweating so profusely that water was dripping off my shorts and I kept losing the grip on my wooden hiking stick because of all the sweat that had accumulate on it. By 2:21 I reached the Shelton graves, two NC civil war soldiers. At 3:10 I reached the grave of Howard E Bassette, a 1968 AT thru hiker, one of the early AT pioneers. Much of the prior hour my pace was fast as I walked on old jeep roads but I also went through areas with weeds, Rhododendron, a couple of large meadows, and a wild area of boulders with rocks ranging in size from televisions to automobiles. For the third time this week I flushed a turkey while crossing one of the meadows. (I had flushed a group of baby chicks earlier in the day). At 3:45 I reached the Jerry Mountain Shelter. I had hiked the last 5.9 miles in 2 hours, 45 minutes. I was elated as I thought it might take me five hours to hike that distance and climb a large mountain in the ninety-five degree heat! As I was finishing my chores two northbounders came into camp, cousins, from Louisville and Nashville. I started a fire, which helped to combat the gnats for a while. A took a short nap then finally crashed for good by 8:30. Slept well till 2:30 then slept fitfully the remainder of the night as at least one of my shelter mates snored.