Date: 2008-01-17
From: Cloud 9 Hostel

To: Cloud 9 Hostel
Miles today: 0.0

mi. 0sleep hosteldest Cloud9 hostel day 188 Well didn't got anywhere today as you can use. Originally the weather forcast was for an appacolytic snow/freezing rain/rain mix. well that never came. It snowed last night, but nothing during the day. It was actually descent hiking weather. But we still didn't go anywhere. I had another night where I woke up and could not sleep for awhile. But I watched a VHS copy of Lethel Weapon, so it's all good. After that and the 5am movie finish time, I didn't get up anytime early. I got up to Meat, missinglink, and john fixing breakfest. I got to eating and talking. Before I knew it, it was noon and I knew we were not going anywhere. Laura and Frank the hostel owners last night told us they would help us out and let us do a work for stay, which we still did not do anything for. We got back too late yesterday to do any of it. Missinglink and john hiked south today. They did not slack yesterday. We probibly will not run into them again. Crazy enough is she lives close to where I am going to end up in Hotlanta, so I will probibly run into them again. We were sitting there talking when another hiker rolled in. A northbounder named John. It is still crazy to think that I am seeing northbounders again. I am starting and finishing by passing northbounders. As usual I got to talking and didn't make a fast progress at doing anything. Sometime around 2pm I got started. My task was to sweep out the basement and wipe down the ping pong table. I did manage to get that done before Crutch came down and started talking. Well after sometime of chatting with Crutch and John, I went over to see if Meat had anything going on to do. At that time Frank came over and asked us if we wanted to help him caught some fish for soruck. It is a hiker festival this weekend. I was thinking about going, but decided not too. It would be camping out in the cold and not getting me anywhere. I would rather be hiking anyways. Well this is by far the best work for stay I have ever done. They are taking some trout for everyone to eat. Meat and I's task was to caught the fish. Most of the fish we caught using bait. It was more of caughting that fishing. Throwing a a baited hook into a small pond full or large fish. We caught a bunch that way and decided to go to fly fishing. I have a long way to go, but I'm slowly getting the hang of it. Now I just need to get my own rod and cast a few thousand times. I didn't catch anopther 8 pounder, but I did get a couple 3 or 4 pounders. My next task was cleaning the fish. Luckily he didn't want to faleah them. My last time I did that I left half the meat on the fish. He only wanted them gutted. I don't mind doing that sort of thing. Now I know how to do that for all the backpacking fishing trips in my future. I wasn't thinking too much ahead when I was doing that. After I was done I smelled like fish, a lot. Not wanting to become bear food on my last little bit, it was laundry again. Earlier today I washed out my down jacket for the same reason. I was wearing it when I was holding the fish the other day. The smell was pretty bad. I am glad the northbounder came here to stay. It gave me the chance to help out someone the way people helped me out when I needed it. Meat and I both repacked our foodbags. I got a maildrop here thinking I would need 5 days of food to the end. Now I only need 2 to 3 max. We gave him our extras. He also did not have a guide. Crutch gave him an old data book. I ripped out the pages in my guide for the AT south of here and gave him the rest of the book. I have been using it as a fire starter, but I still have everything through SNP in northern VA. That should be a good start for him. I will have to say I had a great time here. It is definitly a place everyone should stop at. I had a great time talking with everyone. Crutch, Frank, and Laura are really cool and helpful. The plan for tomorrow is to do 20 to Neel's gap. The go as far as we can opn Saturday, and finish up on sunday.