Date: 2005-04-24
From: Hot Springs

To: Spring Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 11.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Nina took me back to Hot Springs yesterday afternoon. We got in at 3 o'clock and I bought her lunch at Paddler's Pub. We sat there, there were dozens of hikers I hadn't met before. Some interesting characters. Sitting across from me was Miss Janet from Miss Janet's Hostel. She was with Nemo, whom I had met in 2003 in Walasi-Yi. It took us a few minutes to figure out how we knew each other.When we got done eating, I walked down to Nina's car and I got my pack. I walked down the street and ran into Albert, who told me that he and Free Radical were sharing a room at the Alpine Motel. He invited me to share the room with them. The price was steep for a crappy little room, $66.00, and between the 3 of us it was still a little high, considering I could have stayed at the camp ground, but it was raining. I decided to take him up on it.      I went over to the Outfitter. My package from Christine with the flashlight and the spandex shorts came in. I went back to Paddler's Pub where there was now a huge group of hikers. We pulled 3 tables together, with about 40 people altogether.   I ran out to watch the duck race. They throw plastic ducks in the river in the rapids a couple of miles up the creek. Everyone bought a duck for $3.00 The winning duck got $100.00   Everyone decided to go out to the bridge and watch the ducks come in. Some crazy people were out there in the river with nets trying to catch these ducks, the water had to be 30 degrees. One of them was Ramble.I hung out at the pub talking and drank WAY too many beers. At about 11:30, someone came in and said that Miss Janet was hosting a bonfire at the campground. I headed over there. That was pretty cool. There were about 25 hikers under a tarp in the pouring rain. We sat around the fire. Vocal bought a case of beer with him and passed it around. Hot Springs was his destination, so he's off the Trail now. Most of the hikers I talked to were planning a zero day The news was that snow was pending. They didn't want to hike in the snow. I didn't get back to the Alpine Motel until about 1:30, and I crawled into my sleeping bag on the floor as quietly as I could.Surprisingly, I woke up at 6:30 in the morning, not feeling too bad considering I tried to drink the pub out of beer. I dragged my stuff outside, trying not to wake the others. Albert ended up waking anyway. He wanted to walk down to the Smoky Mountain Diner to have breakfast with me. While I was packing, the snow started coming down, pretty suddenly and fairly heavily. By the time we were in town, the sidewalks were covered in snow.We had breakfast and got walking at about 8:30. Albert says that's the earliest he's ever been on the Trail, but it's one of the latest I've started. We walked together for about 90 minutes and we talked about all kinds of interesting things. I really like him, he's a great guy. He's got a good head on his shoulders, he's a good kid. I shouldn't call him a kid, he's 31. We separated because I wanted to take it easy, I had 2 zero days and 40 beers and I wasn't in the absolute best hiking shape.   As we walked on, it started to snow harder and harder, and at some point it whited out the Trail. In some places, where there was no leaf cover, the snow was melting pretty quickly. In other places the snow had come down so hard and so fast the Trail was 1 foot deep in snow and as much as 2 feet deep on the sides where the snow had drifted.It was a really challenging day. It got cold as hell. I kept looking at my thermometer and it said 29 at one point. I would say that the wind chill factor was way below zero. As long as you kept walking it was ok, but once you stopped, you froze your ass off. My gators were driving me out of my mind! The strap that goes along the bottom is made of Kevlar. They were somewhat frayed, and there were threads sticking out all over the place. The snow was very sticky, it would just attach itself to the threads and all the dirt, leaves, rocks and roots would all pile up in the instep. I'd be walking on this hunk of ice and dirt the size of a tennis ball. So, every 10 steps for 11 miles, I had to keep stopping to knock these off. It took forever to get to the shelter. I didn't get in until 2:30 because of that.At the shelter there were a few people there already. As I sat, more and more hikers came in. ABout 25 hikers passed through. Albert was at the next shelter, he did a 20 mile day. I'm actually staying in the shelter. I got these things called Snore Tabs. You're supposed to suck on them just before you go to bed. It's supposed to shrink the tissue in your throat. They seemd to work last night. I don't remember waking myself up and Albert told me he didn't hear me all night. I'm going to try them again tonight, if I get complaints.. Oh well. It's a tiny shelter, there's only 6 of us in it, and that's all that fit. Seeker and Snowman and his wife, Sparkplug, and 2 others, Wiggy and Jersey, are here.It's 35 degrees right now so, I figure with all the snow that's on the ground, it's going to be in the 20s tonight. I was thinking of making a hot water bottle from my platypus water containers. I might hold off. Right now, I'm wearing everything I have with me. I'm wearing 2 pairs of pants, my longjohns, 3 shirts and a down jacket. Hopefully I'll stay warm.Good Night.