Date: 2017-03-23
From: Russell Field Shelter

To: Spence Field Shelter
Miles today: 2.8
Weather: scattered clouds

Well, I debated whether to explain the details of this day (and a few to follow, it turns out). After one of my other long section hikes a few years ago a friend asked me if they could really believe everything I wrote in my journal. My response was something like "A lot of what I write in my journal is mostly true". This description will be very true to the facts. If you have a delicate constitution you might want to skip ahead a few days. I had been hearing thru the trail grapevine that hikers were getting sick. Some of them were friends of mine and most were hiking in my group or a day or two ahead. They were all comparing notes on where they had camped, ate, gotten water, got food, etc, since Fontana Dam/Fontana Village. Yesterday, my first day out of Fontana, was one of my strongest hiking days so far - very encouraging. When I got to camp the discussion about sick hikers raged on and no one could come up with the cause. There were about 30 to 40 hikers that we knew who had gotten it but with many different experiences coming into Fontana, spending the day there, and coming north. About midnight I began to lose it on one end, and at sunrise I had to find a tree in the woods quickly so I could throw up my supper on the other end. People began to tell stories of staying in their tent for a day or two being too sick and weak to hike. There were people all around me - some sick, others not. Today everyone hiked on. I saw that Spence Field shelter was 2.8 miles away and I decided to try to hike there. As a side note, in Great Smoky Mountains National Park hikers are required to sleep in a shelter if not full or tent right next to a full shelter. Added to that the park has about 70 miles of the AT in it and a little over 40 miles of that is in the first section with no road out until Newfound Gap at Gatlinburg, Tennessee. So I was committed to get to Newfound Gap. Shelters can be unfortunately spaced apart so I decided to pick away at the miles as best I could. Spence Field shelter is only 2.8 miles ahead so I gave myself hours to make it. Honestly that is the hardest hike I have ever done in my life, including two years in the Marines and one of those in Vietnam. I would take 50 steps and then sit at the side of the trail for 10 minutes to recover. Very weak. If I ate I could not keep it in, but hiking is hard work and you need nourishment to sustain that much effort. Spence Field shelter finally came into view hours later. I went inside, got ready for the night and collapsed into my sleeping bag. About 6:30 that evening I heard someone say that they were going to check my pulse ( in jest). I was waking up then so I moved so they would know I was still alive. I slept about 5 hours like I had taken a knockout punch. So that was day one of this. If I'd known how hard that days hike would be I would not have done it. But then, with the potential to take days at that pace to get to the next road, I was happy for any progress. Add to that the inability to communicate with Marlene very well in the park I was concerned because we had talked about GSMNP being a big obstacle to get past this time of year. I didn't want to drop off the radar and have her wondering what was going on. So I pray tomorrow will be better. Thank you to any and all who are praying for me. I need God's strength. Goodnight Sweetheart