Date: 2007-04-07
From: Winding Stair Gap/Franklin

To: Winding Stair Gap/Franklin
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: scattered clouds

HOLY CRAP!!!!awoke this morning (saturday i think)...looked out the window of our warm palace here inside unit 25 of the sapphire inn...and holy shit!!!!...snow everywhere....what a great decision to get off the mountain yesterday...even tho it was a killer 16 mile day...cujo went down to fetch coffee, and the folks in the office estimated in the mountains where we just were had 3 to 4 inches and 10 degrees colder (13 degrees)...we are watching the weather channel and see atlanta is chilly also...brrrri had some problems with my "good" knee yesterday...i have been noticing pain when going down mtns...but yesterday it got pretty bad...bad enough that cujo had to wait on me ....(she always leads on the down side of the mtn)...hoping the rest will do it good...pizza hut provided dinner for us last night in out hiker special $34 per night room...and miller brewing supplied the liquid nourishment...hangman and sneakertramp are here also....and the motel folks are expecting it to get much busier with the weather...hangman and tramp went out last night to ayce...we declined and rested the knee....and drank...it was cold out there, and we have to walk everywhere here....today is laundry day..a 5 block walk...we will strip down to only our rain wear while we wash....everything is dirty!!!!the challenges of this hike are large yet simple...fuel (food)..shelter (tent)..eliminating spent fuel (you guessed it)....maintaing a good machine (mental..physical...emotional..fighting cold/heat/rain...and working thru the most current and prevalent pain)... planning where to spend each night (usually in a gap)...but understand all shelters do not provide level camping spaces...and above all water procurement and management...(yesterday our water pump was frozen....so i had to hike for 2 hours with it inside my jacket...next to my body to thaw it)...decision time for us is usually around threeish...hangman sneaker cujo and i see where we are.....look ahead at potential camp sites (if any!)...and we usually get a second wind and put in the most milage of the day....(failing to make our objective is NOT an option....it would mean spending the night without shelter) we are in good spirits...getting good at foot taping (it is hard to beat duct tape)...realizing liner and sock management is important..106 miles!!!!! we are proud!!!!..old people CAN do more than they think!!!..if they just try....course there is no way i could do this without cujo...yesterday mt albert was AWESOME...the most precarious climb yet....on our approach we found ourselves hanging onto the 2 ft trail as it wrapped around the mtn going up...any glance to the right found a sheer dropoff to a forest abyss....hell!!!...i thought the trail was difficult....not bloody life riskingly dangerous...cujo is not fond of heights....oh well..and the water from the mtn springs drenched the trail....making the rocks and trail muddy, icy, and butt puckering....and this was only the approach...there was an option of going around the climb to the summit (we soon found out why)...we went straight up...to the top....crawling...scrapping..using hands and knees....never looking down.....over rocks with footholds NOT meant for cujo's shorter-than-average legs...poles were useless....all straight up!!!!!again and again...when we made it to the top and the fire tower, the perspiration was mostly from nerves....cujo was unstoppable....she rocks!!..she said when at the top "EXHILLARATING!!!!...i could tell you about the view...but words are useless...a "u-had-to-be-there" view.....as most are here...we have done the trail right....with respect and awe...it is a teacher of what you are, and what you can do....