Date: 2015-03-05
From: Stove Creek Shelter 

To: Gooch Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 13.0
Weather: snow

It rained hard all night long. Despite adjusting the tent to be as low to the ground as possible, the inside still got very wet by the mesh sides. I woke up about 6 times to adjust my down sleeping quilt and make sure that no part of it was touching the water. It still got damp in places anyway. I used my raincoat and tied it around the foot end to try and keep the bottom half dry, which seemed to work. If it's like this again, I will need to figure out how to protect the rest of the quilt from the rain. Inside the bag, it was still warm, dry and snug though.At one point, something definitely brushed against my tent front door but I'm really hoping that was actually just a stray gust of wind.Even though I'm not in or near the shelter, I can hear snoring. If the inside of my tent wasn't a swimming pool, I would feel bad for everyone in the shelter.Today is much colder and wetter than yesterday. I think 13 miles is going to be a miserable slog.~I was very accurate. Today was tough. The wind was biting and loud. There was rain and drizzle. All accompanied by our old friend fog.We left at 8.15, and I had one of my strawberry oatmeal packets for breakfast.After some brief confusion about the direction we needed to go (white blazes don't indicate which way for north or south), we were off hiking. I quickly removed some layers but spent then whole day putting on or taking off my coat and gloves, depending on if we were in the wind or not.We briefly met with Laura at a big bridge crossing, but moved past at a faster pace. We met James at the same time too, who quickly sped ahead (again). We also met a ridge runner who warned us about the bears - apparently there have been a lot of signs of them. Then it was a walk in the freezing woods until we reached Hawk Mountain shelter five miles away about 10.30. We stopped for lunch because it was pouring with rain and there would be no other shelters until Gooch, 7 miles away. There, we met James again and another hiker who was laid up with a sprained ankle. We left first, heading for Sassafrass. We met James and he kept pace with us the rest of the day. Sassafrass is notable because it has a steep incline in about a mile, however it's mostly switchbacks. It was quite impressive though- it seemed like half the trees had been blown down or warped by the wind. There was also a break in the fog so we could see distant mountains.At the bottom of Sassafrass was a water tank for hikers, which I used but immediately regretted the extra weight, as we started climbing Justus, which is maybe worse than Sassafrass for inclines. After that, it was a lot less mountainous and more slopes through a forest following a river. We heard gun shots which we later learned were blanks being used by rangers for practice. We joined with a couple hikers at a creek, and walked with them part way to Gooch shelter. We reached the shelter after 3pm.The shelter was smaller than yesterday, but similar loft style. Almost as soon as we got there, the temperature dropped and most people were in their sleeping bags- even at 4pm! It even snowed for a bit. Then, there was a brief dinner. I burned my instant tagliatelle onto the bottom of my pot; so my food and drinks for the foreseeable future will have a mild burnt pasta taste. Asah showed up, along with Greywolf, but no signs of Laura or Mad Hatter.Cleaning up at dinner, James noticed that his camelbak had frozen, and mine too. Then I noticed that my gas canister was forming ice crystals. So, I quickly cleaned up and chucked it all in my bear bag to hang, went to the privy, brushed my teeth, and got ready for bed. By 6pm. Everyone else in the shelter had already done so.It's now 7.30, and I'm the only one showing signs of life. It is freezing here. Genuinely dangerous to be unprepared for this. I hope everyone out there is okay.Today was such a hard day. I definitely need to get rid of some of my food, it's too much at the moment and my pack weight is a killer. Tomorrow we might try to reach Neels Gap, which is 17 miles but over 2 enormous mountains. Blood mountain sounds very ominous. I think if the weather is like this, I won't be able to make that far. It's only day 3 after all...