Date: 2004-05-06
From: Hot Springs

To: Little Laurel Shelter
Miles today: 19.6
Weather: scattered clouds

First let me say the miles listed for today is not accurate. That is calculated from actually being in Hot Springs. Since I hiked out last night it's off a little. I'm guessing about a 1/2 mile so I guess I hiked about 19 today. Yes, I had my pack the whole time today. I'm trying to catch Ladybug and Bear, which is the reason for the high miles.The trail today had a constant grade to it for the most part and it was up. It's always up out of town, that's just the way it is on the AT.I got out of the tent about 6:30. Ah, nice and cool, yet a bit humid. Oh, the camping spot by the river last night was pretty damn noisey. And it still didn't drown out the sound of the freight train rolling through at 2AM.The hike up and out of Hot Springs wasn't too bad, but as I mentioned it was fairly cool. I saw where Caveman got bit by a rattlesnake the day before. Glad it was early and cool!In fact the whole morning seemed to fly by. I arrived at Spring Mtn Shelter just before noon and had lunch. The chemical purification is working well. The only issue I'm having is that I only have one quart bottle. Major mistake!! I did look in town for a 2nd, but all they had were 20 and 24 ounce bottles. The Aquimira is designed for a quart.The afternoon was a different story. There was no water between Spring Mtn Shelter and this one. So the climb up was rough with very little water.I did; however, take an hour nap at Allen Gap. That was so nice, except for the semi-trucks that would go by occasionally and wake me.Upon arriving at the shelter, the first chore was to get water. I sucked down a quart as soon as possible. Much needed relief. I made the mistake of tossing down some nuts while waiting for the chemical purification process to complete. That was like chewing on a sponge since I was dehydrated a bit.Believe it or not, but I actually thought about moving on to the next shelter. But by the time I would have rehydrated, ate and repacked it would have been really late when I got there.There was a group of kids here when I arrived. They were heading southbound and was asking me some questions about water and campsites south of here. When I said I had thought about moving on they gave me a horror story about the trail between here and the next shelter. I thought it was about another mile up with terrain similar to what I did to get here (not too bad excluding the H2O). Turns out they are just for a week and are hiking shelter to shelter (6-10 miles/day). It took them all day to get here from the shelter I was going to move on to. So I don't put much trust in their horror stories.They were able to give me some intel on Ladybug and Bear. They were 2 shelters ahead on Tuesday (2 nights ago). So by my calculations they should roll into Erwin tomorrow (Friday). I did some planning and the best I could do is pull in late on Sat, but more like Sunday and that is still a 22, a 20 and a 6 into town. That group did say that it sounded like Ladybug and Bear are planning a zero day in Erwin. But that has them leaving town Sunday and I'll get in sometime around noon. Guess it'll be a bit longer to catch them. They did get a 3 day jump on me so go figure.Ok, time to get ready for bed.