Date: 2003-03-30
From: Groundhog Creek Shelter 

To: Groundhog Creek Shelter 
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light snow

Weatherman's forecst, according to section hikers here at the shelter: Mix of rain and snow, with snow at higher elevations. But it won't stick." Hmmm, I say. Hmmm. Hotdog woke me up as he was crawling into his bag around 2 this morning. He said "It's going to be an interesting hike today." "Why's that?" I asked. "Because there's a couple of inches of snow on the ground, and it's still snowing." He turned his headlight toward the shelter opening and even without glasses, I could see the accumultion. I smiled and said "Cool."When it got lighter, I put on my glasses and took a good look outside. There was about 5"of snow, and it was still falling. It's now 9:30am. There are 7 of us sitting in the shelter, taking a snow day today. The snow seems to have stopped. Accumulation estimation: 10".It is really beautiful, but it's hard to find the trail. } was the pathfinder to the privy this morning, and } found out my boots" wterproofing has about worn off. I really wouldn't mind hiking today, but } want to be safe. And dry...ish. And warm. So here we sit. Hoping the time passes more quickly than yesterday afternoon. I doubt it.It's almost 3pm, and two more have joined us in the shelter. Aurelius came late this morning, after having camped about 6 miles from here with Yukon last night. He said Yukon didn't have a tent, and Smokey T had gone home. She'd planned on going home for a few weeks once she reached Erwin, but the weather must've chased her home early. Toe Bow (Jeff) showed up just after lunch, looking for someone to hike on. We couldn't help him out. We've all decided to head on tomorrow, even though the snow still hasn't stopped falling. Hotdog had called Mrs. Hotdog this morning and the Weather Channel said snow should stop in the morning. HA! Mother Nature fooled them again!We're up to about 12" now. Every now and then, we hear branches snap and fall to the ground. At those times, I'm thankful I'm in a stone shelter. Two more thruhikers with a dog just came in and told us about 10 more are coming here. Yikes!   We'll make as much room as we can.It's 6:15pm, and there are 9 of us in this 6-person shelter, and 7 tenting nearby. At least 3 hiked farther north. It's still snowing. I'd say we're up to about 15 or 16" now. Some are talking of heading south, back to the hostels if the total accumulation is 18" or more. I'd rather not backtrack, and if it's too deep, I'll stay here again. If many go north, which they're talking about, I'd probably head that way too. The next shelter is over 11 miles from here, then another one within 2 miles of there. I'll decide tomorrow which direction I'm going. We heard from Lite Shoe (who's still at Standing Bear) that Yukon made it back there this morning and told the not to head north. Apparently there are a lot of hikers there. I don't know that I want to sit in a shelter for another day. I feel like I need to move somewhere, but I don't want to be stupid about it either. The limbs are snapping more frequently now...about every 15 minutes. One tree, less than a foot i! n diameter is arched all the way over so the top reaches the ground. It's amazing. A clothesline collected snow 2" on eitherside of it so it looks like a puffy white tube. The temp is around 25*, and if it stays cloudy, we hope it won't be too chilly. The sun peeked out for about 3 minutes earlier and immediately there was some melting, so it the sun comes out tomorrow, it might make for good temps for hiking, although sloshy.I thought snow flurries would be a neat thing while on the AT, but it has turned into much more than that! It is still very pretty, and falling snow is one of the most peaceful weather events to watch. If I were on a ski trip, I,d truly be in heaven. As it is, it could certainly be a lot worse. The AT experience is wonderful.