Date: 2018-04-04
From: JerryÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs Cabin Shelter

To: Stealth Site - vicinity Sugarloaf Gap
Miles today: 11.2
Weather: broken clouds

The thunderstorm rolled in at 3AM, ushering in cold air and gusting winds. At daybreak it was still rainy, windy, and very cold. We were in no hurry and decided to stay put in our warm tent a little longer. By 9AM we were getting restless and started packing up from inside our tent. This sounds easy enough, but our tent is snug with two bodies lying horizontally and it is difficult to sit up without your head hitting the tent ceiling. Add two backpacks, with elbows flying as we try to roll up sleeping pads, change clothes, and stuff everything into our backpacks. Well, you get the picture. I pulled my pack in from the vestibule first and loaded it up. By the time I got out to make room for Which Way to do the same, the rain had stopped. But, it was still cold, damp and windy, a far cry from the 70 degree temps we had the day before. As WW finished packing, I went to retrieve the food bags, which were hanging from a nearby tree. I used the PCT method to secure the bags out of a hungry bear¢s (and my) reach. (google ¢PCT method for hanging bear bag¢ for a visual) When I went to pull the standing end of the nylon line, I realized the stick I used to keep the line from sliding though the snap link was stuck. Apparently the heavy winds that blew during the night had caused the rock sack to get intertwined with the stick and the carabiner. After a fruitless effort to untangle the mess I stacked some logs and rocks to the point where I could almost reach the bottom of one of the bags. I wondered, what would a bear do in this situation? He would probably jump up and grab the bags, swinging above the ground until the line or the branch 20 feet above broke and came crashing down. I did not particularly like that option. By now my hands were numb from being cold and wet. WW would be emerging from the tent soon, so I needed to come up with another plan quickly, as she dislikes standing around in the cold even more than I do. I presented WW with option 2, the one where she gets on top of my shoulders and tries to untangle the cold, wet mess dangling just out of reach. WW quickly nipped that one in the bud. Only one option remained for retrieving the food bags¢cutting the line above the bags. I had an idea.  If I can pull this off, WW will be so impressed. If not! I had to stop thinking like a bear and started thinking like, uh McGuiver. I quickly unraveled some duct tape I had wrapped around to my hiking poles for just such an emergency. Next, I used the tape to secure my pocket knife to the pointy end of the pole. Then, as WW held the line taught, I extended the knife above the tangle, and with one slide of the blade against the weighted down nylon line, two food bags fell to the ground. Who da man!?!By the way, we love our Z-pack Food Bags. They are lightweight and super convenient. The Cuban fiber construction does a great job of holding in odor and keeping out moisture. However, I am not a big fan of the bear bagging rope kit that I purchased with my Z-pack. The nylon rope is difficult to work with when hoisting two full bags into the air and even more difficult to tie off. This task becomes exponentially harder in wet and cool conditions. Before we purchased our Z-packs, I used 550 cord to hang our bag and never had problems. With everything except the tent packed up, we hurried back up the trail to the shelter for breakfast. When we arrived, most of the occupants from the night before were still there, plus a few other tenters. Just as we were ready to go back down and pack the tent, Heartburn hiked in. Exhausted from the previous days hike, he had settled for a tent site about 2 miles out. Evidently Spirit Man was close behind, but we did not wait around for his arrival. By the time we got back to take our tent down, the wind had almost blown it dry. Minutes later we started our gradual ascent up the trail. It was nearly 11:00. Soon our core body would warm and feet and hands would follow. With the exception of a mini-scramble over Big Butt Mountain, the terrain (grade and footing) was the best we have experienced to this point of our hike. By the afternoon the sun was shining brightly and the winds calmed, making it a perfect hiking day. About 7 miles into our hike we stopped for lunch at Flint Mountain Shelter. Since the temperature was supposed to drop throughout the day, we decided to have a hot meal for lunch and pre-make some P&J wraps for dinner. We heated up our noodles, sun-dried tomatoes, olive oil and basil dish and poured it into our bowls over a base of tuna. We may be onto something with this contraption. It was around 2PM and several hikers from the previous night were already occupying shelter space or setting up their tents. Several hikers who arrived while we were eating did the same. When they realized that we were hiking on, one of the young hikers exclaimed, ¢You two are bad A¢ It was repeated by other hikers as we moved on. I replied that we have been called lots of things, but that had not been one of them.The gentle trail continued with modest rises and falls. At one point we climbed stairs over a fence onto someone¢s property. The sky was bright blue by now and we were feeling our new name. But don¢t worry, it never take long for the trail to remind us who is boss. We eventually crossed a road and started a big ascent. There were four stream crossings with some cascading falls in the first half mile of the climb. The plan was to get above the last crossing and then start looking for a stealth site to tent. There were a group of hikers tenting after the first crossing. It looked like that would be cold and damp spot after the sun went down, so we opted to hike on. When we got to the last crossing I scooped up three liters of water that I would carry the rest of the way and filter after we found a place to camp. We were now switchbacking our way up a very steep mountain with no suitable place to tent. WW was about ready to pitch tent in the middle of the trail. I urged her on, ¢Keep moving sweetie, the trail will provide (hopefully before dark).¢ She reluctantly stayed with me and by 5:30 the trail hit a saddle (i.e. a piece of flat ground between two hilltops). It was the perfect spot. We were high enough up that damp air would not be an issue and the sun hung above the mountain to our west, leaving ample time for us to change into dry clothes, set up our tent, and eat our wraps. I even heated up some water for hot tea. With WW snug in the tent, I found a short tree to pitch what was left of my line over and hoisted the food bags just out of reach of Yogi. Just as I was about to join WW in the tent, another hiker approached with a look of relief in his eye, glad to have happened on this spot. For him, and us, the trail provided. -- Next Step Elevation Data:                    Weather:Ascent ~ 2,570                    Day ¢ 47 degrees / AM RainDescent ~ 2,660                  Night ¢ 25 degrees / ClearGrade ~ 8.4Over the Horizon: Roan Mountain