Date: 2007-05-05
From: Green Corner Road - Standing Bear Farms

To: Walnut Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 20.3
Weather: light rain

Today's 20 mile hike was much better than the first, though there was some serious knee pain the last mile. It seems my day is not complete without at least 1 mile of intense pain. Overall, though, this was one of the most interesting and happy days on the trail. I hiked with Tatonka, Corker (gradually being renamed Deuce) and Ranger Jan. For a while I joined up with a precocious section hiker named Swiss Roll from Huntsville, who plans to hike the AT when he retires. He had no trouble keeping up with me for a long time in spite of my "training" advantage. It rained almost all day, which was actually refreshing. The fog came in too, and create some surreal/beautiful images sort of like horror movies except it wasn't scary, it was just neat. We crossed Max Patch, a bald known for some spectacular views, and the fog/clouds/rain made that less beautiful but more interesting. One view actually took my breath away - we looked down on a valley surrounded by 3 mountains maybe 3-4 miles away, and cumulus clouds had settled in on the valley. Unfortunately, I was unable to take a photo quickly enough to capture this vivid memory, but Ranger Jan(who is videotaping the trip to make a documentary of the AT experience) asked me hike past that view and talk about it as part of his video. With any luck, maybe I can get a still shot of some of that - he hopes to have his video ready in about a year.   Another interesting experience - I have said that the younger hikers take the uphills much faster than I. Today, they got away from me on an uphill but at the bottom of the hill I was surprised to turn a corner and find I had just caught up to them. So this old fart still has delusions of being able to keep up with the young bucks.It seems the AT has become a very crowded place. Which is good because the camaraderie is strong (I especially like the fact that I am very friendly with peole very different from me - younger, free-thinking), but the down side it that things are crowded - shelters are full, hostels are sold out. On this night, once again the shelter was full and I was forced to camp out in threatening weather.   Ranger Jan started a fire, and I just started cooking my own dinner because I wanted to be done cooking before the rain hit. WE did luck out - a bit of rain did spit on us during dinner, but not enough to really get in the way or get us and our gear soaking wet. Deuce came up and joined us after dinner. The fire had a strong impact on making a wet cool night more comfortable - a valuable lesson for when I get further north. Ranger Jan enlightened me on another issue as well - I was quite upset a few nights earlier when I camped out in the rain, only to find water falling on me and my sleeping bag. RJ informed me that all all single fly tents get condensation inside during the rain, and I need to wipe down the fly with a towel to keep things dry. I think I will cover critical items things in my tent with my raincoat as well. My tent was supposedly designed to minimize condensate, but during a rain perhaps this is impossible. I'll ask the company (Tarptent) during Trail Days in Damascus.   2 women in a nearby tent site (Aqua and Rock-a-Mimi) had not been so fortunate as RJ, Deuce and I about staying dry. Everything they had was soaked, including damaging their cell phones. They were not "happy campers". Fortunately this was to be their last night on the trail, since they were section hikers whose destination was Hot Springs, the next town. This hike was intended to be a practice run for them for a thru hike next year. Interestingly, for all their misery, they assured me they will be back to finish what they had started. It seems "The Happy Side of Misery" is an apt description of AT travel. Also met Scottie(with his dog Max), Tortuga, and Scofield at the shelter.