Date: 2007-04-14
From: Icewater Spring Shelter, NC

To: Tri-Corner Knob Shelter, NC
Miles today: 12.6
Weather: overcast clouds

Last nite was a cozy nite in my hammock. I think I'm developing an attachmentto my hot water bottles though. I probably would have been fine witout it, butman do I love the feeling of a heat source. LOLIt sprinkled on and off all nite, but nothing significant. I did discover thatone corner of my tarp had come off the stake in the morning, but it was ok. Again, I think putting my sleeping bag liner over my bag, and my down jacketover me as well as stuffing other dry clothing around me is doing wonders for mywarmth. It was 38 degrees when I woke up today, and slightly windy.We knew we had the longest day yet (with full packs) ahead of us. We werestepping out of camp @ 8:59 a.m. (see, BEFORE 9:00! LOL) The weather forecastsaid rain in the p.m. with highs in the 50's. It was overcast all day and ofcourse, the wind was ever so present. It would sprinkle a bit, we'd stop andput our rain gear on, then it would stop 2 min. later, and we'd be hot, so we'dtake the rain gear off. This was repeated a lot today.About .8 miles from the shelter we left was Charlies Bunion, a cool rock thatsticks out of the side of a mountain. We went to see it and I was (and stillam) speechless. I climbed out on this huge rock and felt like I was at thebeginning of human existence. Sheer cliffs on both sides of me, miles and milesof perfect mountains, as far as the eye could see. I felt like I could flyalmost. If you hke this area, do NOT pass by this very short side trail!   It is simply amazing. Honestly, the highlight of my hike so far (besides myhammock that is! LOL) I was sharing the view with a little bird who seemedunphased by my presence. I got a picture of her, from about 2 fet away. We had a hard time leaving but finally pulled oursleves away. We chose today todo a long day because the terrain had a lot of flatter areas. It was actuallypretty easy compared to the beginning of NC. Actually, all of the Smokys havebeen fairly easy compared to the beginning of NC.We ate lunch on Laurel Top around 11:45 a.m. and enjoyed the view while eating. Then, as we were packing back up, something tragic happened...I snapped my ONLYspoon in half! LOL It of course broke right at the head of the spoon. I triedsome triage with duct tape, but don't think it is going to work. I'll be tryingto scoop my food with the stem till I can get another one. Persistent makes fun of my peanut butter too. I scooped a bunch of it into aplastic baggie, and she said it looks like the contents of a baby's diaper! LOL She's right unfortunately...and it is the chunky peanut butter too. LOLThe day (most of it) ended up being a beautiful hiking day. It got into the low50's, stayed overcast, and we were out of the wind a lot. Again, the trailoften went thru pine trees that were so thick on the sides that you wouldn't beable to get a small child thru it. I swear Grizzleys could live here! LOL Alot of the trail was covered in pine needles, making it nice on the feet andknees. It was a pretty hike today.I had to make a declaration to Persistent today though. No more usingWingfoot's book for our water source information! He was wrong...again whichmeant we both hiked the entire way on only 2 liters of water each! Not enough. We knew water was at Pecks Corner Shelter which would have been almost an extramile round trip, but Wingfoot said there was water 1 mile past the shelter, onthe trail, so we opted to do that instead of adding another mile to the day. Well we kept going and going and going, nothing. No water. By this time, we had over 5 miles left to go. Persistent was out of watercompletely, and I told her I'd split what I had with her. We both startedlaughing when we saw had about 8 oz left. I still split it and we figured tinysips to cure the cottonmouth was better than nothing. Hiking dehydrated is notfun.About 3:00, we started hearing rumbles of thunder way off in the distance. Thunder echos forever in the mountains, so it is hard to tell how far away astorm is. I was guessing we'd be at our destintion by 5:00 p.m., so we tried tostrike a deal with Mother Nature. We said, if she could just hold off longenough for us to get camp set up, we didn't mind what she did after. 3:30, 3:45 roll by as does more thunder. It's getting closer, I could tellbecuse the wind suddenly died down. At 4:10 p.m., all hell boke loose. Thunder, lightening, downpouring rain! The good news, we only had 2 miles left,the bad news, we had to climb Mt. Chapman and hike over it in this storm. Theplace you least want to be is on top of a 6,417 ft mountain, but we had nochoice, we had to get to the shelter, it is park policy. Now the rain is dripping on my face, but I can tell my Frogg Togg jacket iskeeping me dry. I wasn't wearing the pants because it was too warm and theyconstrict my movement some, so my hiking pants were getting soaked.We get up and over Mt. Chapman, and know it should only be 1 mile, but we startgoing up again! Persistent described the look on my face as "pissed." LOL Now, it was absolutely pouring, we were back in the gale force winds, and we areassuming we didn't just go over Mt. Chapman, and were now headed up it. MAJORBUMMER! We go up for a bit and then Persistent stops and goes, "There's the signfor the shelter!" YIPPY, we were there afterall!!We get to the shelter and it is raining so hard. We were both freezing coldnow, everything not inside of my trash compactor bag is soaked, and we looked ateach other and immediately knew what the other was thinking. We were NOTsetting up our respective tent\hammock in this situation. They both would havebeen soaked, no doubt in my mind. So yup, to all my hammocking buds, I hated to let ya down, (and don't worry thiswill not be a habit, because I fully expect to hurt tonite on th shelter floor),but this was one of those situations where you had to be there. I once thoughtno situation would prevent me from hanging it, but I was not willing to riskgetting hypothermic for it.I decided if the weather ever broke, I'd hang, but it never has. The might ofmother nature and her rain and wind has me sitting next to a warm fire insidethe shelter tonite. I am dreading going to bed though. I predict a nite ofpain, my punishment for not hanging! LOL It is 8:30 p.m., I am beat. It is cold enough to see your breath in here, evenwith tarps blocking the wind. I am trying to rehydrate, and I pray mice don'tgo chewing on my gear tonite. Well, off to the hard floor..WAH!   ~Certain