Date: 2012-05-09
From: Big Bald Shelter

To: Nolichucky River in Erwin, TN
Miles today: 16.3

I woke up at 4:15 am after 9 hours of sleep and lay in my bag until 5:15 thinking about the trip so far and about the day ahead. I plotted out how I'd go about slipping out of the shelter without waking others while still making breakfast and getting packed up. It had stopped raining and the moon was shining through a thin veneer of clouds casting an eerie neon light through the grove of trees surrounding the shelter as I drank the last of my coffee.Unfortunately, the sun never made it out today and an hour up the Trail it began to rain heavily which it continued to do until I reached the outskirts of Erwin, eight hours later. Except for the quick lunch at a shelter along the way, I spoke with no one during that entire time. I was soaking wet and cold. I walked, and walked, and walked; head down, eyes on the Trail, listening to the rain splatter on the leaves and the rocks and on my pack cover. And I walked.Walking in the rain is different from normal hiking. Besides there not being as much to see, you don't make much effort to look around. Instead, you concentrate on each footstep to avoid falling on your face. Such a fall is called an "Ostrich" because you fall forward, face first and stick your head into whatever happens to be in front of you... a rock, mud, a tree or a hole in the ground. Ostriches are usually more prevalent in Maine where the roots that cross the Trail reach out to grab your ankles. ¢Trail Ostriches¢ are usually accompanied by a moment of amnesia because the first thing that someone who has taken an Ostrich usually says (if they can say anything at all) is "What the hell happened?!"Besides the dangerous ¢Mountain Ostrich,¢ you have constantly be on guard for a fall called the "Eagle", usually the "Spread Eagle" or the "One-Legged Eagle", where one leg goes one way and the other either stays put or decides to go in an opposite direction. Any variety of Eagle can result in knee, wrist or rib trauma (the fall I took a couple of days ago was definitely a One-Legged Eagle and my rib is still sore to prove it.)The third variety of fall that can get you is the "Turtle", a more common and less injurious fall. It occurs when one or both feet are launched skyward by a wet root, wet rock, wet leaves or, more usually, by Trail mud (and be advised that when it rains, the entire Trail turns to mud!). The execution of a Turtle is greatly aided by having a 35 to 40 pound pack on your back that pulls your center of gravity backwards. When properly landed the Turtled hiker is on said pack, feet up, wiggling down the mountain like a turtle on its shell... The Turtle falls appear to cause a brief moment of total constipation and inter-ocular uncertainty as most ¢post-Turtled hikers¢ can be heard to exclaim, "No Shit! I didn't see that coming,"Besides the slippery conditions that can lead to an ¢Ostrich,¢ ¢Eagle¢ or ¢Turtle,¢ the way you walk when it rains, in itself, adds to the chances of taking a fall. Hikers have to change their gait when it's raining due to the problem of underwear that occurs when it rains. If you wear underwear when it rains for any period of time, it, like everything else you have on, gets soaked. Walking for hours in soaked underwear is like wearing an unchanged wet diaper, causing the wearer to walk like a toddler after a long nap. This gait is not normal for most adults except, perhaps John Wayne in high heels.If, on the other hand, you elect to forego wearing underwear when confronted with hours of walking in today's monsoon conditions, you face another gait-changing phenomenon: the problem of serious chaffing. The kind of chaffing that leaves you looking like those Baboons you see on the Nature Channel... Yes, THOSE Baboons! Either way -- with or without undies -- you end up walking differently on the AT when it rains. And between having to contend with different kind of stride and the heightened chance you'll find yourself doing an ¢Ostrich,¢ ¢Eagle¢ or ¢Turtle¢ as a result of the Trail conditions, the smart thing to do when your hiking in the kind of unrelenting rain we had today is to put your focus on each footstep and nothing else until the day's trek is completed. So, today I just walked.Just as I was approaching Erwin, it stopped raining (of course!) and began to clear. At the Nolichucky River Bridge, I pulled out my soaking sweat towel ("Wilson") and held out the side that says "HIKER TO TOWN" as well as my thumb. Within minutes I had a ride for me and two other hikers who had come in right behind me, "Chubby Hubby" and "Rockweiller", to the local Super 8 Motel about two miles away.After spreading everything out in my room (including setting up my tent) I turned the heater up to high and headed to the local laundromat to wash and dry every piece of clothing and gear in my possession. I returned to my room, soaked in a hot top, turned on the Television and ordered a large salad and a small pizza from ¢Rocky's Pizza¢ which was delivered none-too-soon. Now with my belly full, a hot shower to warm and clean myself, I'm beginning to feel human. It¢s the end to another day on the AT and time for bed!