Date: 2005-03-13
From: Springer Mountain Shelter

To: Hawk Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 7.6
Weather: clear sky

7:03 on the first morning of the trip. Travis woke me up by tickling the bottom of me feet because he needed some stove alcohol, and I'm the only one carrying any until we get to the first resupply point or outfitters. Speaking of getting to the first resupply point, on the FIRST NIGHT of the goddamn trip, my thermarest mattress has developed a leak and gone flat. It's not that I miss the comfort, but I really miss the WARMTH. Last night was mild as trail nights go, and I was a bit chilly already, I really hope the weather holds up until Neel's Gap. We had another hiker, who's name I don't know yet, join us in the middle of the night, and of course, he found a spot in the shelter, between me and Travis. And of course, he was the only one in the shelter who snored, oh well, after the 1 hour of sleep in the past two days, it was pretty easy to fall asleep through the chainsawing.Also I forgot to mention, last night a ridgerunner came into the shelter, gave everyone some lectures on LNT in a very open and friendly manner, and also hooked us up with some GATC matches which apparently are a magic item on the trail.Sunrise was beautiful this morning, maybe the trail is trying to tell me something.Well, 7+ miles to do today, better start on breakfast.(later in the day)Quite a different day than before, today was quite a different day than yesterday. The miles went relatively quick, my knees and ankles hurt a bit, but nothing more than I expected. Travis seems to be having some knee problems, and it appears that tomorrowwe may separate for the first time. Not that he plans on doing a shorter day, actually the opposite. We¢re looking at a roughly 7 mile hike to Gooch Gap tomorrow, and then a 12 miler into some shelter who¢s name I can¢t remember right now. Travis and Raz are looking at doing 10 tomorrow, camping, and then 10 more the next day. I¢m thinking that another 7 will do me good and then the 12 will be a good challenge, as long as there¢s a short day after the 12. But enough about miles. I¢m at Hawk Mountain shelter, chilling with WAY more people than I thought I would be. Most of the hikers from last night are here, minus Subman, who joined after most of us were asleep and snored. Longhaul and Redhat from M company are here, although they¢re both tenting it outside of the shelter. In the shelter are Newbie, who¢s another attempting thru, and Katrina, who¢s a member of the GATC and an attempting thru too. Noticing the amount of people in this shelter, and noting that there is apparently a good chance of rain tomorrow, I think that I may practically RUN to the next shelter to guarantee a spot to sleep under a roof, ESPECIALLY if Travis has my tent. There are far too many people to name in the surrounding areas, but I can remember Kevin: a fellow computer programmer who is from Baltimore and is section hiking, and three girls from Wisconsin who are also on a section hike. The comradery and companinoship on the trail is amazing, after only knowing Raz for a day, I was honestly concerend about because of his lagging behind from blisters, but he made it just OK.Note to self: Lipton noodles are absolutely horrible when yo make them without milk and too much water. Buh, I needed the calories and I can deal with it. I will definitely make some different decisions at the next resupply, which is looking like 2 or 3 days away right now. I think my food can make it no problem.Even though I¢ve only been doing this for 2 days now, it feels like I¢ve been doing it my entire life. I never thought I¢d say something so cliche, but it just feels right. I¢m loving the community of the trail. I¢m loving meeting people, I¢m loving the jokes and the pranks, the hiking: well, I¢m OK with that .Oh yeah, the whole hiker-no-bathing thing is probably a half-truth, I washed up with my bandana in the stream today, I had to after I realized that all of the dried salt from my sweat was drying out my skin on my face. I¢m thinking about home a bit, but at least for now, I wouldn¢t miss this for the world. There¢s aapparently a HUGE group of hikers starting March 15 so if we want to do some miles and get ahead of them, and if I want to do that I better get some sleep.