Date: 2005-03-15
From: Stover Creek Shelter

To: Justus Creek
Miles today: 11.1
Weather: light rain

Miles hiked today : 11.1This morning, it was so cold that I didn.t want to get out of bed. By the time it warmed up enough to consider rising, it was 7:30 a.m. and it had been light for nearly an hour.I slept almost 12 hours and only woke up a couple of times, mostly because of the cold air on my face. My mummy sack did a good job of keeping me warm and I only slept in my boxers and a clean pair of socks. I'm going to try the same thing tonight. Holly didn't sleep quite as well and is going to try sleeping with all of her clothes on tonight. I'm actually not sure where she's at tonight, but more on that later.This morning we started out ar Stover Creek Shelter at 9:30 a.m. and I took the lead for a bit, stopping to take a 200 foot side path to Long Creek falls, which was very beautiful. There was even a short path to the top of the falls, where Holly and I snapped pictures of each other.After the falls, we continued on, with me ranging ahead and occasionally stopping to rest a few minutes while Holly caught up. I hit a good hiking pace and continued on to Hawk Mountain Shelter, arriving around 12:30 p.m., and made lunch using my soda can stove from Tinman.I had never used my soda can stove before and kept extinguishing the flame when I placed the pot on the lit stove. In a last ditch effort to heat my water, held the pot slightly above the flame and after about ten seconds, noticed flames coming out of the holes on the side of the stove.My first ounce of fuel didn't boil the water, nor did the second. Even though the water wasn't boiling, I could tell that it had been heated, so I decided to throw in the packets of noodles and, sure enough, it began to boil. I threw in a package of tuna fish, waited for the fuel to burn out, then simmered the food in the tinfoil cozy and neoprene shell, both also from Tinman. It's quite an ingenious system and very lightweight.Some of the folks at the shelter were talking about a big storm moving in, with the possibility of snow. Even though it was only around 1:00 p.m., I thought I'd wait for Holly to see what she wanted to do. A short while later, Sunshine showed up and told me that Holly and MJ had continued on, thinking that I would have skipped the shelter. That was odd, as I had passed MJ at the creek 0.2 mi before the shelter and had mentioned that I was stopping for lunch. Perhaps she didn't hear me.With the decision of continuing on made for me, I pressed on, finally catching up to them on the descent to Horse Gap. MJ mentioned that we were about to start climbing Sassafras Mountain, otherwise known as "kick your ass mountain." I thought that we had already done it, though when we reached Horse Gap, MJ pulled out the map and showed me that what I thought was Sassafras Mountain was actually a series of three hills. That didn't change the fact that they were difficult. Before setting out, I proposed that we stop 1.4 mi shy of Gooch Mountain Shelter at Justus creek, which would save a 400 foot climb for the morning. That still left us with Justus Mtn. and Phyllis Spur to climb before descending to Justus Creek.We started up Sassafras Mountain and MJ took off, though I eventually passed her. She was right behind me when I reached the top, though she must have stopped to rest or wait for Holly, as I didn't see either of them for the rest of the day.While climbing Phyllis Spur, I saw a cave-like looking ledge/overhang that I would have liked to camp under, though I desperately needed water, so I continued hiking. I finally reached Justus Creek around 6:30 p.m., happily filtered water and drank heartily before filtering more. Next on the agenda was pitching my tent and preparing my sleeping bag/pad before it got dark. Lastly, I tied my Ursack to a tree, as there aren't any bear cables here tonight.   Hopefully the Ursack doesn't get tested, though I doubt it will, as there is a jar of peanut butter close-by, which I had to leave unsecured due to lack of space in the Ursack.As I finish this entry, it's ben dark for nearly an hour and there is no sign of Holly or MJ. I'm guessing that they may have camped at Cooper Gap rather than climb Justus Mountain and Phyllis Spur. Tomorrow, I'll press on and wait for them at Gooch Mountain Shelter or Woody Gap.