Date: 2016-03-29
From: Overmountain Shelter

To: Mountaineer Shelter
Miles today: 18.0
Weather: clear sky

Boy was it cold again last night. I prepared better than I have for any night in the cold: all my warm clothes were on, I drank a lot of hot liquid before bed and did a few sets of jumping jacks before getting into my sleeping bag. And I supposed it probably helped for the beginning. But I tossed and turned later in the night trying to get warm. Again, the warmest position seemed to be on my stomach, but I wasn't particularly happy. I slept til about 7:45 and got up with the morning light pouring through the slats in the barn walls. Ghost was long gone, as were Blaze and Dr. Trails. Ghost was planning on meeting some college buddies at the Mtn Harbor Hostel, whereas the other two wanted to put in a 28 mile day and have a very easy time getting to Hampton in the morning. I packed up all my stuff and was gone by about 8:30, as usual. The morning hike was tough. The Balds were absolutely astounding, just like yesterday. The views were spectacular, I had clear visibility for as many miles as I could comprehend. But the wind was howling. It was blowing consistently at probably 20 miles an hour and gusting way higher. My backpack hung off kilter, and multiple times, I got blown off the trail. It didn't help that the trail was muddy and slick. The wind died down in the few patches of woods on the Balds, but most of the hiking I was stuck between feeling amazed by my surroundings and absolutely crushed by the weather. Seal tree passed me and I paced him up Hump Mountain, probably the longest bald hike we've done yet on the trail. We passed rock outcroppings and fences and the wind bowled us over as we clambered up the steep trail through the brown grass mounds of the bald. The wind for some reason was lowest up at the top of mountain, probably because of a stand of trees that appeared under the northern side of the ridge. The view was gorgeous back over to the Balds where we've been, the mountains of North Carolina to our left, the plains of Middle Tennessee to our right, and ahead, the fields of the towns of Roan Mountain and Hampton. Seal tree pointed out two little figures moving along the trail in the col beneath us, Frost and Rain Man. The hike down was along a very long bald ridge called the Houston Ridge, and was gorgeous hiking. The wind had died down and it was almost warm in the sun (and my rain jacket, hat and gloves). After about 5 miles of being mostly out on the bald, the trail snuck back into the trees. The duct tape repair on my boots was not doing so hot. It had mostly come off on the sides and the top was not long for this world. The trail became a lot of rock jumbles and roots, which was exactly what I didn't need with my sole falling off. Still, it mostly held up, especially when I remembered I had picked up a single rubber band I found back in Hot Springs thinking it would be good for something. It held the front of my boot together most of the day. Soon enough I came upon a sign for Doll Flats, and then past a big field, another sign saying "Leaving NC!" After almost 250 miles of crossing back and forth over the NC/TN border, I passed into Tennessee for good. Seal tree was there over the border and we celebrated. I headed down a few more miles to TN 19E, where Ghost would've gotten off for the hostel. The next miles were in and out of civilization, hitting a lot of roads, plowed meadows, right by a church, up a jeep trail, next to a cemetery... It was tougher than I was expecting form the profile. Soon enough I was back in the woods, heading down to Jones Falls, the first in a series of waterfalls along this section of trail. I stopped to admire the stream falling down the ledges, spilling over giant faces of rock. I met Polar Bear, who is making a long day out this morning from the Mtn Harbor Hostel, as well as Zeke, who has done the section to Damascus many times but keeps stopping there, and Ski Slope, a man who fulfills a lot of stereotypes I have had about the south. I will say nothing more. The trail wound down among streams and finally hit an old woods road along the width of the Elk River. It was flat hiking and a very pretty day for it. A couple who were day hiking asked me what trail this was. The question took me sort of by surprise. When you've been following one trail for 400 miles, it just seems silly, but it was an honest question on their parts. I explained to them what the AT was and they wished me luck. I had noticed that I was about to hit the 400 mile mark on the trail. At 100 miles there had been a graffiti sign on Albert mountain, but at 200 or 300 there had been nothing. I had seen pictures before of sticks with the numbers laid on to the ground, and I thought I would've seen them (and considered making them) but had been disappointed. Today, I made a point to be very exact about where I was, and right as I passed the 400 miles mark, I dropped my pack and searched for sticks. Soon I had enough to crudely write "400!" on the ground. I took a picture of my handiwork and pushed on the remaining two miles to Mountaineer falls shelter. The falls are nothing to write home about, significantly smaller than Jones falls. Ski Slope was there when I arrived, and I explained to him that the shelter was still ahead and not up the crazy side trail next to the falls. The shelter is lovely, new-looking with two shelves of bunks (plus a small third-floor loft) with a great water source and benches around a big porch area. Polar Bear, a hiker I met earlier in the day, was here having a snack before his 10 mile push to the next shelter, as was Wild Card, a large man with a big gray beard, leggings, poncho and a beret. Ski Slope showed up a minute later, and Zeke was soon after. They met last year on the trail, but Ski Slope is pretty insistent that they were best friends, something that Zeke seems skeptical about. Wild Card made a big fire in order to cook up the hot dogs he had packed in from Erwin, and it was good to sit by the warmth. Frost and Rain Man showed up later than I expected: they had caught a ride into Town and gone to lunch. Frost paid me back with interest for the time I gave him a McNugget at Uncle Johnny's by giving me a fried Oreo from the dessert they'd gotten at lunch. We sat around the fire for a lot of the evening and told stories. Wild Card and Ski Slope played Uno. It's not going to be quite as cold tonight, but it'll be close.