Date: 2005-04-13
From: Derrick Knob shelter

To: Newfound Gap (Asheville, NC)
Miles today: 18.0
Weather: light rain

Today was the most challenging day of the trail so far, I was a most unhappy camper all day long. Various coyotes howled a blood curdling shreak the night before from no more than 20 feet away. I had never heard a coyote howl before and this was like nothing I'd ever heard.Waking up, I was glad to see Tom and Mateo, who have been hiking solid 20s and therefore caught up to me. I thought it would be no sweat to hike the 18 miles to Newfound Gap by 6:00 to meet Dan. Boy, was I wrong. My leg was bothering me a great deal as I hobbled along. It began to rain, and then pour. Then slush and hail started to fall from the sky in thr 35-40 degree day. I was freezing but kept on walking.I stopped at the Silers Bald shelter, then at the Double Spring Gap shelter. I thougt there was no way I would make it to Newfound Gap by 6:00 to meet Dan "Jes Feeblin Along" Raber, who I wasn't even sure would be able to make it. The weather, mud-soaked trail, and my leg were slowing me down too much and I was walking at half my normal pace.By the time I got to Clingman's Dome, I had lost a lot of hope that I would be able to make it to Newfound Gap in time. I'd like to come back and climb the observatory deck at Clingman's Dome another day, but today was not the day since there was nothing to see!Somewhere heading up to Clingman's Dome, I had the urge to cry. Screw it, I thought, there was no one here and I'm always holding back my tears and sadness. I started crying as I was climbing that mountain. Then I started sobbing, I mean really sobbing. So much was coming down on me, it felt like. I don't like to admit this, but what triggered it all of a sudden was being on the mountain and thinking of the trees and all the trees and plants we had destroyed, they are alive too, I thought, and there is so much destruction that I am a part of. I can judge this as stupid and oversensitive tree hugger crap looking back on it, but at the moment this struck me as the saddest thing. Then I started thinking about the people I cared about that I hadn't treated as well as they deserved and that got me sobbing more, in the pouring rain and falling slush, walking up the face of the highest point on the whole Appalachian Trail. Crying is good, I've decided, and I hope to do more of it while I'm hiking. And I'm stronger for it.By some amazing force, I got to the side trail to Mt. Collin's shelter at 4:18. I thought it would have been much later that I arrived and was amazed at the timing. I was feeling freezing, like I would need to warm up soon or face the onslaught of hypothermia as my whole body was continually being soaked by the downpour in the 35 degree weather. I thought to myself that if I walked as quickly as I could, I could make it the 4.5 miles to Newfound Gap by 6:00 and that hopefully if I were a few minutes late, Dan would understand that it was due to the weather and wait.I walked with a burst of energy to Newfound Gap, rain pouring down on me. The trail maintainers had positioned tree stumps on the trail to step on in this particularly wet and muddy section. Passing Indian Gap, I took a moment to read the sign about how the Indian Gap road used to be the only passing through the Smokies for commerce. 1.7 miles more, 5:23, I can do this!I hurried along, reaching the Newfound Gap parking lot at exactly 6:00 according to my watch. At first I wasn't sure if Dan was there, and then I heard my name being called and turned around. I think I startled Dan with how glad I was to see him. "You're a lifesaver!" I was yelling at him in the rain. The most generous Dan Raber had missed his choir practice to drive the 80 miles from Asheville to pick me up.We went out to eat at Granny's Buffet, and I ate less than I thought I would. I am most grateful to Dan for taking me in when I needed it most. Dan is a 2000 Miler who did the trail with his son over 25 years. Some sections he's done 3 or 4 times. He told me a story about the Derrick Knob shelter, where I stayed last night. He was spending the night at the shelter some years back with a group of folks in the shelter. Someone shouted "Bear!" during the night and sure enough, a bear was outside the shelter. Everyone went to look but Dan had to pee so bad, he didn't much care. The bear had fallen asleep right outside the shelter fence, making it impossible to get out. "So I pissed right on that bear!" Dan told me.As for my leg, I am hoping it's just a pulled muscle and a day of rest and some stretching before each day of hiking will eradicate the problem. Tomorrow will be my first real zero day on the AT. I'm so grateful to have a good meal, clean, dry clothes, a shower, and good company.