Date: 2011-04-21
From: Neels Gap

To: Hogpen Gap
Miles today: 7.6
Weather: overcast clouds

Day 4.First day on my own. I hung out at Neels and got a shakedown. They only culled 2 lbs from me and said I did a great job. I didn't leave Neels until after noontime and then I took my time going along. There were some amazing views along the way. A lot of the hiking today was on narrow paths on the side of the mountains. The kind where one wrong placed step would have mad my trip much shorter.I ran into a guy slack packing at the top of *this space left empty due to a brain cramp*. He was a 56 year old guy from PA. I can't remember his trail name but his actual name is John Mullen. I found this out cause he had a necklace with a pendant stamped with the celtic triqueta. I told him I Had his necklace on my back and he said that was interesting because he was admiring my shamrock and turned the pendant over and on the other piece was a celtic shamrock......yeah.At one point today as I was going along the narrow path I looked to my right and an eagle was kettling past me. It was so close, I could have thrown a rock at it if I were a good shot. The squirrels are much more numerous and busy along here, as are the chipmunks. I saw what may have been bear scat, but I didn't see any litter bells in it.I had 2 shelters to aim for Whitney Gap and Low Gap. Whitney was only 6.8 miles from Neels, but it is 1.5 miles off the trail on a steep side trail. After all the epic steepness I dealt with today, I decided to try for Low Gap, even though it was 4 miles further. I am now out of the "active bear activity" area so I knew I would be ok to tent if I didn't make it to the shelter site. There was an easy access to water source by the road so I decided to start re-hydrating some veggies and jerky for my couscous dinner as I went. I took a sandwich ziplock and tucked it into the opening of my camp water jug (it has a wide mouth), then added the veggies and jerky and filled the ziplock with water and put a little more into the jug. Then I screwed the top down over the open ziplock. It ended up working very well! I was kind of impressed! I also figured out an easy way to fill my camelback bladder. (I should take a picture of this one) there are little holes in the camelback at the top, I put one hold kind of clipped into the zipper pull of my fanny pack and the other on the other. If I unzip the fanny pack it kind of locks it into place holding it for me while I fill it!I got to Hogpen Gap as it was starting to get very late (After 7, and the sun goes down at 8). I knew there was no way for me to make it o the shelter so I started looking for trees. When you have to hang a bear bag, the hardest part is finding a tree that will work. I finally saw the perfect tree and then to the right of it was a campsite! I had to work fast! I started my stove to heat and started setting up my tent as it was getting going. I put the veggie jerky water into the pot and was able to finish my tent setup before the water was boiling! I TOTALLY misjudged the amounts I needed and ended up with almost 3/4 of a pot of couscous veggie jerky goodness. I had to eat it all cause there was no place to put it!Time for the bear bag! I have not hung a bear bag since last year, and since then have looked up numerous different techniques. I realized that all of those techniques I learned have all muddled together in my brain. Sooo....wing it! I found some rocks and put them in my little rope bag which I then put onto the carabiner which I had so deftly tied to the end of my rope with the one knot I know...the noose, and went over to the tree I had targeted. I knew I would not be able to throw the bag over this branch, which was about 30 feet in the air (at at least seems so to me) so I swing it back and forth like a pendulum until I felt it was ready to launch. I was very careful to make sure the rope was coiled so it would not snag as it went and held the rope loosely in my left hand so it could smoothly feed through. The moment of truth came as I launched the rock up in a perfect arch, up and over the branch! I was so impressed with the accuracy of my trajectory that in that spit second I failed to notice the rope bunch following obediently up up up until it snagged in a nice neat bunch on the branches of a smaller neighboring tree. The proud joy I momentarily enjoyed quickly turned back into Murphy reality and I went into MacGyver mode in the very quickly failing light. Luckily I have been a Murphy for a quite some time (most of my life, sans a few years where I made the faux pas of taking on my married name) and had planned ahead for the inevitable debacle by donning my head lamp. Irish luck sometimes supersedes Murphy's Law, or at least balances it out, and I was able to locate and appropriate branch for the dislocation job. I was able to snag the rope from its snare and it then tumbled lightly to the ground pretending it had never misbehaved. Somehow all the hours of bear bag research (or just panicking instinct) completed the task in expert fashion resulting in the PERFECT execution of a bear bag hang! (So proud!)As I stood admiring my final result, I heard voices and turned to see head lamps bouncing up the path. The head lamps and voices belonged to a group of two young men and two young women towing along gear which included a full size cooler.*begin sarcastic font*"Oh yay...locals."*end sarcastic font* I had kind of been looking forward to my first night alone on the trek but tat the same time thought "company for when the bears come visiting. I won't be alone "The night ended up being full of trail magic. The four "young'ins" (all in their early to mid twenties) were great kids. The girls (Ruth and Jessica, I think their names were, but I will refer to them as the grasshoppers) were both teachers I believe. Ruth was for sure. I had shown them my camp socks Amy made for me and Jessica lit up and said "Oh! I knit! may I show you mine?" She was in the process of knitting the most ADORABLE and unbelievably small pair of socks for her new niece (or maybe nephew). She compared the techniques of the heel between her's and Amy's and explained them both to me joyfully.Brian (the ant of the group) had brought a hammock as his choice of shelter for the night. All of us were in awe of his set up, especially since the forecast was 100% chance of rain. Doug (the only one with a trail name..."Turkey Gizzard") is, I believe, perhaps a pre-med student maybe. He had gone hunting that morning and shot a turkey. He gave me the turkey feather he had brought with him as a trophy. I felt truly honored and I hope to keep it with me along my entire journey. As I write this I have it tucked through a loop on the "ceiling" of my tent. More trail magic came from the kids in the form of a great Belgian pale ale (I wish I could remember the brewery...something about a dog I think) and s'mores made with cinnamon grahams, marshmallows, and THIN MINTS.... O...M...G! I finally turned in about 11:30 and decided I would try sleeping in my silks. I have not yet done so since they are pretty much see through. I have a silk liner for my sleeping bag, which, in addition to adding warmth, is supposed to help ward off hiker funk from invading my sleeping bag. Since I sleep hot as it is, and like to stick my feet out, I am hoping my silks will do the same. I am amazed at how warm these practically transparent garments are!And...its raining! It is 3:30am and it is POURING rain. Since I am up, I decided I may as well pee...aaaand...since it is raining I needed to actually put into play my "in the tent pee plan!" (Yes, I have been working on this for months.)****All modesty goes out the window while on the trail because it is ALL about survival and comfort. This lack of modesty will be included in this journal and so (like I said to my son David when he came backpacking with me) "If I need to pee, I'm going to pee, if you don't want to see it, don't look." Sensitive Readers please avert your eyes**** (And now back to our story)When I am home sleeping in my own bed, I have to get up to pee at night about 2% of the time. When I am in a tent, I have to get up to pee at night exactly 100% of the time. Hence the "in the tent pee plan." The final process turned out to be the following. Me on my knees on the opposite side of my tent from my sleeping bag (Murphy remember..) using my "standy uppy pee thing" (official name is Freshette FUD, google it as I will spare you any further details) and a one liter collapsible water bottle (yes, used solely for this purpose! Don't worry Mom!) Success! Yay! I did not have to endure going outside in the cold and rain! Woohoo! Thank you women hikers yahoo chat group and Bear Grilles!