Date: 2005-04-11
From: Standing Indian Shelter

To: Big Spring Shelter
Miles today: 14.4
Weather: clear sky

7:31 pm ¢ Do You Believe In Magic?Sometimes fortune smiles upon you. If you¢re lucky, she might just have a heaping pot of rice and beans for you with all the soda and coffee you can drink.I slept in late, all the way until 7:20, I was still off just after 9, and boy did the miles roll on by. The grade was easy as the trail wound through rhododendron glens, cutting across falling mountain streams. Lunch was consumed at the Carter Gap shelter, another one of the newer shelters. Unfortunately, the old shelter is still standing and shows up first ¢ I wonder how many people have slept at Motel 6 without knowing the Hyatt is next door. The afternoon started nice, but got progressively tougher. Soon, I was battling my way up the rocky sides of Albert Mountain. I was preparing for a final break before the last push up when I walked around the bend and saw a sign announcing what every hiker dreams of: ¢Trail Magic.¢Barry and Terry had run the Rainbow Springs campground near Fontana Dam for years, but it was closed down this year due to progress ¢ it is to be the location of a new subdivision. This year, they bought 500 pounds of beans, a barrel of rice, 4000 tortillas and God knows what else. They¢ve been camped out since March 15th continuously, feeding every hiker that passes through and helping out those that need it. Their friend Gatorade has been helping out, along with Fishing Fred, a thru-hiker that stayed behind three weeks ago to help out. (Incidentally, Fred is the guy on www.whiteblaze.net selling pendants ¢ it¢s pretty cool to meet an online name in person.) They¢ll stick around until April 15th before heading to Hot Springs for Trail Fest and then Damascus for Trail Days. Gatorade and Fred will be hopping on the trail to Maine at Hot Springs. I hope to see more of them. Until then, though, they¢ll be whipping up fixings on some very cool tempered steel cookware hanging from a tripod over an open fire, drinking coffee from an antique percolator. I envy them ¢ or the coffee, at least. That was honestly the best coffee I¢ve ever had.Two plates of food, two sodas, one coffee and a lot of footage later, I made the final push up Albert Mountain. It¢s tough scramble was made worthwhile by the views from the fire tower on top. After some picture taking by all, we strolled a half mile down the trail to the Big Spring Shelter. Since it¢s threatening rain, we¢re all squeezed inside. We¢ve got a good rhythm going and seem to have settled into a bit of a group ¢ me, Professor, Crazy Legs, Andy (now Low Bridge due to a shelter beam incident), Andy +2, and Bjorn. Don Wilkinson is also here ¢ I¢ve been seeing his name in registers for a while, and as it turns out, we¢ve stayed at the same shelter several times already.All in all, it¢s been a good trip so far. Life has been very relaxing ¢ I really enjoy just chilling around for a while after a long day of hiking, taking a few minutes to quietly reflect on the day. I could get used to this.One other item to note¢I kept running into Batch, a thru-hiker who turns 83 in a few days. He¢s hoping to be the oldest thru-hiker. Good luck, Batch! See you at Trail Days and then Maine!