Date: 2017-03-11
From: Spring Mountain Shelter

To: Jerry's Cabin Shelter
Miles today: 15.9

Today was both pleasant and disappointing. Pleasant, because I woke up and got on trail before 8:00, which, for me (on this trip at least), is quite impressive. Unfortunately, however, I did not make the miles that I had been hoping to make. I had to stop at 15.9 (Hogback Ridge Shelter) because I didn't hit IT until 7:30, and I was NOT looking to walk another 6.7 in the dark. So I stopped here for the night. Part of the reason I didn't quite make the miles I was hoping to hit is that I spent 2 hours walking to and being at Hemlock Hollow Hostel. They are fairly small, and it has a new owner, so they're still working things out, but still. Anyway, I paid them $15 to slackpack all of 6 miles, something which I do NOT plan on repeating. If I slackpack again, it'll be for an entire day, and I will spend the night in the hostel on either side (both nights, with the slackpacking day in the middle). I had to slow down my pace a good deal to not get there ridiculously before them (I still waited 15 minutes). I was able to have them bring me a couple of pizzas and a can of Coke, so that I wouldn't have to make my lunch. It cost me $6 all told. I also discovered today that my pack cover barely does - I have to stretch it a little more than I am comfortable with to get it to fit over all my stuff. Fortunately, this one does, once stretched, ACTUALLY covers my pack, unlike the Outdoor Products one I got at Walmart in Gatlinburg (Pigeon Forge) with Nana and Papa. That one doesn't actually have the right contours for my pack (or most any pack with a hip belt).Also, have I mentioned how much I *#$&% HATE *%&$*# NIGHT HIKING? No? Well, I do! When I got to the 6 person shelter tonight, I had to ask one of the 3 guys in the shelter to scootch over so I could even have enough room for my sleeping bag. Also, my pace drops significantly (by at least 1/3, guaranteed, usually by 1/2 or more). For instance, I covered the 5.7 miles this morning, before the hostel, in about 2 hours, so I was feeling pretty good. They next 2 hours I completely wasted, and it took me almost 3 hours to hike 6 miles with no pack. Then, once I got going again, about an hour after they gave me my pack and food again, it took me about an hour to go 3 miles, which isn't bad, but then it took me a full hour (or more) to go 1.5 miles, because it was, to quote AWOL, "very rocky and strenuous." Wrong. Rocky and strenuous is a class 3 climb. In several places, the climbs were AT LEAST a 4, and in 2 places, there were some 5.1, 5.2 climbs. On a HIKING trail. Where 40# (with food and water) is desirable and even LIGHT for a pack. That's just ridiculous. I took some pictures. Each of them was taken with the phone COMPLETELY LEVEL (at eye level) on the x, y, AND z axes, but it looks like the camera is on the ground and leaning away from the frame. At one point, the trail came up (at a 4 again) and passed through a narrow gap in the rocks. As in, so narrow my pack almost didn't even FIT through the gap. It was a crazy mile and a half. Anyway, the sun set about 25 minutes after I made it out of that (made it out ~ 6:15, sun set ~ 6:40), so it was dark by 7:00. When I got out of the rocks, I had 2.5 miles to go, so I was hoping to make it before dark. Well, I only made it 1.5 miles (largely because I was messing with my music), in about 40 minutes, so I hiked the last mile in actual darkness. The lights from the city (I believe Greeneville) were pretty, though, so seeing them was nice.I think that's about it for the night, so I'm going to hit - no, wait. I forgot. Since I couldn't make the miles I needed to today, I need to make them up tomorrow - I only brought enough food for 3 days, so I'm already pushing it. If I can make the 25 miles tomorrow, I'll be exactly back on track. Unfortunately, there's not a shelter between 15 and 25 miles, and with the snow, that's supposed to come later tonight, I think the shelter will be the only DRY place to sleep tomorrow. We shall see. If I make the 15 mile shelter before 3:00, I'll push on; otherwise, I'm going to stay the night and make Nature Valley bars my "meals" until Erwin, which will be another 25 miles from that point. That's no fun. I like to arrive in towns BEFORE everything closes, so making 25 miles would be unfortunate, though so would having to have Nature Valley bars be my "meals" for a full day. Anyway, we'll see how it goes. If I can't get up moving in the morning, I won't make the 25 miles anyway, and since it's 10:32, I'd best get to sleep now so I CAN wake up with my alarm at 5:30 am. It's "Separate Ways/Worlds Apart" by Journey, which is probably my favorite song, especially for waking up and/or getting motivated, so that helps. Anyway, I said I would be getting to bed almost 5 minutes ago, but I'm still writing. Go figure.Signing off.