Date: 2004-02-24
From: Spring Mountain Shelter

To: Flint Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 21.3
Weather: overcast clouds

Log entry 24Starting Time-0930Ending Time-1900Morning weather- cloudy and cool, 42Afternoon weather- rainy-foggy-snowy, mid 30sEvening Weather-temps dropped then rose a fuz, 40 deg at the shelterBreakfast-strawberry CIB and OCP and green jelloLunch- poptart, chewy bars, twix, oats and honey, vanilla sandwich cookies, ice teaDinner-hamburger helper, bacon cheeseburger and hot chocolateTrail description- overall, easy day, but from Log Cabin Drive to Flint Gap there were lots of blowdowns. I mean lots. Also the trail was not very well blazed, got turned around a lot. Also there is a new section of trail, it¢s white blazed but not in Wingfoot¢s guide. I¢d guess about 2 miles. It took me 45 minutes. The new stretchgoes along an exposed ridge. Its very very cool and located after Blackstack cliffs but before Big Firescald knob.People-no oneAnimals- grouse and a handful of wild turkeys, an opossum corpseMoney-none Biggest complaints-left shoulder, weather, trail upkeep and marking, cold wet feet.Narrative: Today was a rough day. I didn't wake up until 0830 so I got a late start on my long day. There was no imminent sign of rain so I kept the gear handy. Actually I felt the fist sprinkles just as I saw the tin roof of Little Laurel shelter. I ate a healthy lunch here and spent an hour munching and reading the shelter logs. From the writings of the southbounders in November it sounds like there is a real problem with stray hunting dogs. Almost every entry for 8 weeks mentions a hiker being followed by some starving hounds. It just makes me sick to think that some people can be so irresponsible. I am pro-hunting and a hunter myself, but I do have strong opinions about hunting certain types of game. Bears being one species that I feel are not a renewable enough resource like whitetail, grouse, and waterfowl. More on that later if time allows.So I moved on and as I did the rain I had been enjoying from in side the shelter turned to snow. I kept up my 2.5 mph pace and remained sweat free as the air temps were still quite low. I made fairly decent time past Blackstack cliffs till I came to a very new sign which said "exposed ridgewalk" with a white blaze and arrow right. It then had an arrow left that said bad weather route. I looked up into the heavy falling snow, shrugged, and started the climb up the exposed ridge. This stretch of new trail was sweet. Even though it was foggy and I couldn't see more then 30 ft I know the views must be off the hook. The route was real technical too, a lot of fun. About 45 minutes later I rejoined the old AT and carried on my way. By 16:30 I made it to Jerry Cabin shelter. I finished off my cookies and visited the privy and then looked at Wingfoot¢s guide to decide what to do. I talked it over with my headlamp (my only external voice of reason)and pushed on the 5.9 miles to Flint mountain.The trail here was snow covered and slushy. Also very poorly maintained. There were times around Big Butt mountain (no joke, actual name, look it up) where there were multiple white blazed trails. Then the climb down Big Butt was in an old forest road but it was more like a ditch. Also hardly any white blazes. Enough to know I wasn't in a stream bed but still not enough to make you certain. Along the way however I did find a really cool electronic gadget. Let me know if you lost something in this stretch of trail. It was stuck in some ice so I would guess its been here a while. I made it finally to Flint gap where I turned the headlamp on for the final .8 miles to the shelter. Along the climb in the middle of the trail was an opossum head, spinal column, and tail. The rest was gone. It made me think of home and all the nights I would come home from class and Broots the dog had a freshly ¢killed¢ opossum lying on the doorstep. I have seen opossums lie in our back yard for days only to get up and walk away. I am pretty sure this one wasn¢t playing dead, near I as could tell at least. Anyways not long after the corpse I found the shelter. I ate, journaled, and I do believe I will sleep well tonight.