Date: 2005-04-13
From: Rock Gap Shelter

To: Wine Spring
Miles today: 12.0

Wow, What a Day!I had a good start to the day hiking out of the shelter with Fester.We both needed to make a stop at Franklin, NC for a re-supply and take care of some other things. On the way we took a blue blaze trail (a trail that takes you off the A.T.) to see the second largest poplar tree in the U.S. It was .7 miles off the A.T. so 1.4 extra miles round trip to see the tree. I didn't really care to see the tree but Fester wanted to, so I went. It was a waste of time. I don't even know what a poplar tree is. The thing was big but it was dead. On the way down I bent one of my trail hiking poles. We got to the road crossing shortly after and a guy picked us up right away. He was working for a motel and was giving free rides into town. I don't mean to be ungrateful but Fester and I wish we took a different hitch. The guy wouldn't shut up and he seemed to like to bad mouth people we thought were cool, like the Trail Angels from the day before. He told us he was a broadcaster for some independent minor league hockey team in who knows where. I don't know who would want top listen to him. He drove us crazy. So he ended up taking us back to this motel that we had no intention of staying at. I thought I had my new stove waiting at the post office so I walked about a mile out of the way to pick it up, but found out they didn't have a package for me. My phone was working so I called my Mom to find out that she had it rerouted after I spoke to her last week because I wasn't expecting to stop there. So anyway, I walked across town, which is pretty spread out, to the library to meet up with Fester and check email. It was the first time I checked since starting my hike. After we left the library we went and had pizza. I ate all but one piece of my 14" pie. (the appetite is getting BIGGER)I had the one extra slice wrapped in foil which I'll get to later. After lunch we went to the market for re-supply for the next few days. As we were sorting our food a nice lady offered us a ride to the outfitters, our last stop before getting back on the trail. It was raining again pretty well after we got out of the outfitters and we ended up waiting about 10 minutes in the rain before we got a ride back to the trail. We ended up hiking about another 9 miles in the cold rain all the way up to over 5,000ft.It is hard to put into words how bad we felt when we finally arrived. We were so cold, wet, tired and hungry yet it was pouring down rain in sub 40 degree weather. I still had to set up my tent but it was pouring rain. We got Fester's tarptent set up and then he helped me with my tent. However, I ended up snapping my tent pole and I was about ready to freak out!After trying to rig something together without luck, my tent is pitched but it is pretty messed up. Hopefully I can get it fixed or replaced in a few days when I get to the NOC. At this point I'm still soaking wet and freezing but need to eat dinner before getting in my tent. Fester and I got under his tarp tent and ate dinner. No cooking for me tonight. I had two breakfast bars, some beef jerky and two mini snickers. The tarp tent is so low to the ground that I had to eat basically laying down in wet clothes on wet ground. It sucked pretty bad and I hope I am giving a decent visual of what was going on. In the meantime I was looking for that last piece of pizza so I could put it in my bear bag to hang but I couldn't find it anywhere. After searching what I thought was everything I decided to hang my bag so I could finally get out of my wet clothes, and into the only slightly wet tent. As I went into the bag with my journal, I found the piece of pizza. I didn't want to eat this crappy piece of pizza but I couldn't leave it in my tent because of the bears, so I ate it and decided to throw the foil ball as far as possible. Hopefully I don't get attacked tonight!The interesting thing about today was that it sucked from the beginning and only got worse and worse yet I was able to laugh it off and not go insane. However, if I didn't get warm and dry I probably would flip out and think about quitting but that shouldn't happen no matter how bad it gets.I am actually pretty cold right now but should get better when I put some more clothes on.My hair is still wet.......maybe I should cut it??????I got to pee right now but it is still raining.Got to speak to some people today....that was nice. Congrats on being home owners....you are going to love Southern Village!Alright, I don't know why I am still writing......it is 9:30pm. I need to get warm and go to bed.I think this rain might turn to snow.