Date: 2008-03-31
From: Winding Stair Gap, NC

To: Siler Bald Shelter, NC
Miles today: 3.7
Weather: overcast clouds

Thanks to everyone for all the guestbook entries. They're really encouraging, so keep 'em comin'. I wish that cat would stop haunting me, though.-------Another wonderfully comfortable night in a hotel last night. I'll have to tone down the hotel quality level a bit to save money ($45 was a little high for my budget), but it was a great rest. I soaked my feet in epsom salts, had beer and pizza with Crabby and his brother in their room (Colby and I shared another room), and sealed the leaky zippers on my rain jacket with some silicone. I think I'll get to put me sealing job to the test over the next couple of days...it's supposed to rain and maybe thunderstorm off and on throughout the week.Crabby's brother sropped us off at the trailhead around noon after chauffeuring us around town for 24 hours...what a nice guy. He drove 7 hours to meet us and then drove us all around town to run errands. He even brought us brownies from his ans Crabby's mom. Good stuff.We made it a pretty light hiking day today...3.7 miles on the AT and an additional .5 miles on a blue-blazed trail to the Siler Bald shelter. My friend Mat had emailed me while I was in Franklin to say that this shelter whad a beautiful view and to try to stay here. The trail register shares his opinion, but the view's been covered in fog since we arrived here this afternoon. After arriving and eating a late lunch, I busily collected enough firewood for a great fire. It started raining soon after, though, so I guess I'll just leave the firewwod for the next inhabitants of the shelter and consider it good fire karma (to borrow a phrase from Greenwood and OrangeDust). After reading my so far crappy book for a bit I took a short nap and called Tara. She was busy making dinner...things with fancy names like "!lfredo" and "-auliflower", whatever those are. Whatever...I'm not jealous.Greenwood and OrangeDust are probably a few miles ahead of us. They had planned to meet up with a couple of friends from home and hike with them today. Hopefully we'll catch up with them. Their dog Bea was just starting to warm up to me. She was an abused shelter dog and her timidness reminds me a little of our dog ZigZag.I'm sleeping in my tent tonight, but I just went into the shelter (8:30) and everyone's hunkered down in their sleeping bags trying to stay warm and dry. It's not raining hard right now, but it's damp, raw, and kind of chilly. I picked up the fleece sleeping bag liner that Tara sent me this morning and I'm pretty happy lying in it right now. I'm also listening to Night Ranger's "Sister Christian" on my little mp3 player. That.s just good stuff. Now you wanna dowload it. You're welcome.Our next big(ger) destination is Fontana Dam, NC, located just south of the Smokies. Before that, though, we'll be stopping to clean up and resupply at thr Nantahala Outdoor Center (NOC) in Bryson City, NC in a couple days. It's 23.5 miles from where we are, so we'll probably do two 12 mile days if we can handle it. Crabby's knee gives him a little trouble and Colby's knees have been bothering him for a while. The Cold Spring shelter is 12.1 miles from here, so we'll shoot for that tomorrow. I'm a little nervous about the next couple weeks. I'm also really excited,though. It's gonna be tough hiking and I've been all but guaranteed that we'll get snow when we're in the Smokies. Should be fun.