Date: 2005-04-02
From: A. Rufus Morgan Shelter

To: Nantahala (Outdoor Center) River
Miles today: 5.0
Weather: light rain

We walked the mile between the A. Rufus Morgan Shelter and the Nantahala Outdoor Center for the third time this morning on our way to breakfast. This one mile has gotten more attention than any other on the AT. Good thing it is rather gentle and has a ton of beautiful wildflowers; I like it.   The restraunt at the NOC overlooks the Nantahala River which is both scenic and sporty, as there are many kayakers. Torch and I grabbed window seats, and we got an early morning start on the bird list. The bird of the day spent all of breakfast diving and dipping over the river. They were Northern Rough-winged Swallows that were not detered by the cold or the rain.   There were many AT hikers there to enjoy large a breakfast, and we quickly called over a table-ful to join us. I had biscuits and gravy AND juice AND coffee AND yogurt and fruit. Okay, and I helped someone finish their veggie hashbrown scramble. I'm a little more hungry these days.   We're not in town, just a hotspot for kayakers and thru-hikers. There is an over=priced outfitter, the resturant, a cafe that is only open for lunch, and the hiker/kayaker hostel.   We have to pick up a box, shower, and do our laundry; meanwhile, eating regularly. (That last bullet is a high priority.) Everythign edible in the box is coming with us, and then we'll send everything else (extra meds, extra hat, film, etc.) all the way to Hot Springs. The laundry proves to be the limiting factor as there is only ONE washer and ONE dryer, and we have to wait.   We go to the Outfitter's; Alex buys a new hat. I do my best to memorize the wildflower book of the Smokys without buying it because it is way too heavy for such a little book. It rains. It sleets. It snows. Then, back to rain. It's very cold outside. I have to wear the last of my (mostly) clean clothes, which are neither warm enough nor water resistant. My hair will never dry running around this place! Bah!   We wait in line at Slow Joe's Cafe for BBQ and hot chocolate. (The wind is going straight through my leggings. It's an outdoor cafe and we shiver as we eat. We go back to the hostel to check on our clothes which have been drying. They've gone through their cycle and someone promptly removed them to dry their clothes, BUT they're still wet!!! Lovely. And there's a line.   Alex is antsy and rareing to go. Everyone we ate breakfast with has already departed to tackle the crazy 7 miles of uphill out of the NOC. There is a shelter shortly after, that we were planning for. Alex wants to pack up and go, now. I'm still staring at our wet clothes. It's the socks and my warm pants that are noticably wet. Hmmm... I really cannot see how we can leave with wet clothes.   Torch expresses that he has been waiting around all day and he's not going to wait around any more. In fact, WE have waiting around all day, I remind him, and I just don't think it's a good idea to leave in the freezing rain with wet spare clothes. We'd have nothing dry to change into later.   Then, he suggests an odd solution: drying our clothes in the oven (like the home-made jerky he made). Hmmm. Sounds odd, even dangerous. But concidering we've been drying our hiking clothes by camp fires for weeks, sounds possible. In go the socks and pants on "warm," with the door open.    Everything appears okay, steaming but not too warm. Then, just as everything is almost dry, the oven begins to warm up. I'm in the other room putting on my gators and ask Alex to check on the clothes. He comes choking back into the room from the kitchen. I run in wondering; he's shut the oven. I open it. Assess. Grab the socks which are okay, and toss the pants out the door in the rain. Alex is in the kitchen now and I get him to hold the door open while I open windows, turn on ceiling fans, and prop the door across the room. Meanwhile, he's tossed the pants in the outside trash. They're ruined. Sigh...   I grab a newspaper and start fanning. We're silent. I do a quick clean-up. There isn't much smoke, just a funy smell. Remembering my brother's near burning-down-the-garage incident, I checked on the pants in the trash. Sure enough, they're still smoking, so I douce them in the sink. I'm mad. I want my fleecy pants back.   Torch has collected his socks and packed his bag. I'm still fussing with windows and such, then eventually get my socks. I blame him now that I don't have a warm layer. It's been a crappy, cold, wet day thus far that really discourages hiking, and now it's worse. Really, all hikers want is to be warm and dry (and I guess fed) at the end of the day, and I will have to do without both. Grrr...!   I pack my bag in silence and we just walk out. The situation is rediculous. It is 3 o'clock and we have 7 miles to hike, all uphill. It's sleeting, and already getting dark. (Here, in the mountains, it's getting dark around 5-6 depending on mountain shadows and such.) We generally keep a pace of ~2 miles/hour in good conditions; right now, we have the worst conditions.   We stomp along for awhile, Torch setting the pace in front, a bit too fast for me but I'm running off emotion, as is he. Then, the sleet turns to snow, and the wind blows it all sideways. We've gone maybe two miles, when I make my stand at the first camp-able site.   "This is not a good situation. I'm already soaked from the rain, now it's snowing. It's freezing! The wind is pushing us over, the snow is accumulating on the sides of trees, and it's going to be impossible to see as it gets dark. It will accumulate on the ground,-I'm not even sure we'll be able to see the trail or the blazes. We're not going to make it to the shelter tonight, even if we did have a enough daylight hours, which we don't. We need to set up camp here." And, I wait for a response.   He really didn't think it was a bad situation; Alex still wanted to push on to the shelter. I (on the other side of the situation) had been praying since the rain turned to snow and came at us sideways. Again, I felt like there was no question as to the severity of our situation, it wasn't good! We needed to find shelter and get dry and warm before night hit and temperatures plummit.   He gave me the option: we could try to get to the shelter, or we could go back to the NOC if I didn't want to get wet. I ignored the sarcasm and chose to go back, even though the hiker in me grimmaced at the lost miles. So, we turned around. We had hiked 2-3 miles out and now we had 2-3 miles to get back, off the mountain.   Torch is hiking ahead, which is fine with me. He can stomp and I can cry; ah, the differences of the sexes. I'm miserable. Freezing and wet, and I feel alone. Ranger and Grunting Bear are struggling toward me; we're on a ridge where the wind really gusts. I try to compose myself, stiffle the tears, grab at my bandana to wipe my endlessly running nose. The girls were really sweet to me; they ventured out here together and were also concerned with today's weather. Somehow, I just spilled my woes. Getting les composed and surely not making much sence.   "We're scared too." Ranger said the perfect thing and gave me a hug. It was just a moment's conversation that I really needed. They said good girl-talk stuff, that I've missed out here.   The girls were going to camp on the first flat spot they came to. They envyed us that wew would be warm tonight with heat, and have another heaping dinner tonight. I told them to be careful and we'd see them tomorrow. Good luck.   Alex and I made it down the slippery mountainside. We checked into the hiker hostel, oddly got a private room, and stripped out of wet clothes. With out my fleecy pants, I have only my leggings to put back on, with the fleece top I sleep in. All the wet stuff gets hung up, the heat turned on full blast and we leave for dinner. We still have to wear our soaked jackets and boots, oh well.   Dinner is soothing. I finally stop chattering over my hot chocolate. I hope Ranger and Grunting Bear are okay. The river is wild outside, very high. We get dessert of blackberry cobbler with ice cream. Sweet rewards.