Date: 2006-04-03
From: Spring Mountain Shelter

To: Jerry Cabin Shelter
Miles today: 15.4
Weather: light rain

4-3-06Spring Mountain Shelter to Jerry Cabin Shelter15.4 milesThroughout the night I had woken up to the sounds of the storm alternating between raging and a subtle pitter-patter, but by morning there was only a drizzle reduced to dripping foliage by the time I got up and got our food bag. We made breakfast, got water, and shook out the tent the best we could before packing it up and getting on the trail at around 10AM.Our boots had seen some rain but were still only slightly moist as we headed along the trail in the morning. As we were hiking along I mentioned to Shanae how I hoped she got to experience trail angels, but I doubted she would, as they were fewer and fewer the farther north along the trail hikers went.But sure enough, we came to a road crossing and there was a sign posted telling us to walk down the gravel road to the main road, and then continue down the main road until you get to a concrete driveway, and walk on up there. The list of food they had to offer was astonishing, so we had to see it to believe.The house wasn't too far away (it did have a killer uphill driveway) and was a beautiful log cabin style home. To greet us at the door was one of our own, a 1999 thru-hiker, Hercules, along with Redneck, who I had met before at Albert Mountain. We took off our boots and came inside and sat down. Hercules first offered beverages, hot or cold, and Shanae and I both opted for sweet tea. We had so many choices for food, but I picked a manwich and Shanae chose a pecan Belgian waffle. The Tortoise was already there, working on a brownie sundae.When the manwich came out, it was accompanied with a pickle, beans, potato salad, and potato chips. Hercules' wife and fellow thru-hiker, Free-at-last, or Fal, brought it out for me. As we happily munched away, we chatted with these generous folk about their lives and their thru-hike. Next course for me was a breakfast burrito, no, two breakfast burritos (!), while Shanae had a brownie sundae. I also fit in a brownie sundae - I couldn't pass that one up.So completely stuffed and realizing we had been there for almost two hours, we got water, packed up our stuff, thanked our hosts profusely, and headed out the door. Dark storm clouds were a brewing overhead by the time we got back on the trail.Walking for a couple of miles, it started to drizzle, but it felt good to cool down. Soon enough, it started pouring down hard, and we put on our rain gear. By the time we made it to the Little Laurel Shelter, it had stopped raining, but light gray clouds were still covering the sky.It was 4:30PM when we got to the shelter. Shanae and I stared at the sign showing the mileage to the next shelter: 6.8 miles. We were still full and felt good from our huge lunch and rest today. The hiking so far had been relatively easy, so I left the decision up to Shanae. For whatever reason, she decided to do it, to hike those miles.I don't think we knew what we were getting into that afternoon. We went up, and were greeted by a trail sign that gave us the choice between Ridgeline trail or Bad Weather trail. The weather wasn't the greatest, but the Ridgeline trail was the actual AT, so I didn't want to pass it up.Onward we went, scrambling up and down big rocks and boulders along this whole ridge. Fortunately there was tree cover to shelter us from the winds hitting the left side of the mountain. It didn't rain the whole time we were up there, maybe a light drizzle here and there for a few minutes.But it took longer than we expected, and by the time we were hiking on normal terrain again it was getting pretty dark. We unshouldered our packs to get at our headlamps, turned them on and kept moving. After passing another side trial, I checked the map to see exactly where we were; the shelter was only another quarter of a mile away, and by the time we got there Shanae was exhausted.We got the tent set up, this time right and proper, so that no rain would get us wet this time, but in our haste to get the tent up; we had placed it facing the wind, making it a bit chillier than it should have been. We threw our sleeping bags and other necessities in there as fast as possible, and then hopped inside because it was cold.Shanae was pretty much catatonic once she got into her sleeping bag. I tried to get her to respond to how much water she wanted for dinner and other things I had to ask her, but she wasn't having it. She did not want to budge from her sleeping bag, not even for hot food. I don't think I've ever seen her that miserable before. After much bugging on my part, she finally got some food together and I made dinner for us. Bellies full, I hung the bear bags, and then crawled into my sleeping bag. It was going to be a cold one.