Date: 2003-03-30
From: Hogback Ridge Shelter

To: Spivey Gap
Miles today: 15.8
Weather: light snow

We woke up this morning to snow, and not just to a sprinkling, but about five to six inches. From the shelter it didn¢t look too awful. It looked quite serene. Subman, who now lives in Florida, was ecstatic to see it. Deborah, Donkey, Java, and I, who are all from the North, were rather dismayed since we thought we left all that weather behind us. Either way, we were all surprised by how much there was. It was darn cold as we started getting our stuff together and we shoved off to warm up. Deborah, Donkey, and Subman left ahead of us and broke the trail, which was a huge help. The first couple miles down to Sam¢s Gap were beautiful but very deceiving. Java and I were na ve and decided that we could push on and do a 16 mile day since the hike didn¢t appear all that difficult. We knew Deb and Donkey were pushing on as well and so crossed the highway, picked up the trail, and began our 8 mile ascent to Big Bald. God knows why we thought the hike would be OK with such a climb and summit ahead of us, but onward we pushed. Despite the fact that Deb and Donkey were making tracks, there were several areas were the drifting snow was so intense that the footprints were covered. Many times we were searching through the snow for the trail but luckily never lost it. It was so frigid that when we stopped for only five minutes to take a Snickers break, our fingers froze and felt like blocks of ice, taking about fifteen minutes to warm back up after hiking on.The hike up Big Bald was quite precarious. The snow drifts reached our thighs making for very slow hiking and we couldn¢t tell what was under the snow causing many falls. Luck was not on Java¢s side as he lost his glasses after taking them off b/c they were fogging up and then one of his trekking poles broke. We got up to Big Bald and I swear it was like summitting Everest! How ironic that I began to read ¢Into Thin Air¢ just last night. The wind was wicked and whipped our faces so much that we came back with rosy cheeks from windburn.After hiking out on the bald for a mile or so, we reunited with Deb and Donkey at Bald Mtn Shelter for lunch around 1:30p.m. Deb had a thermometer and informed us that the temp was a mere 22 degrees. We quickly finished lunch and decided to get the heck off the mountain and attempt to get into Erwin via Spivey Gap, only 5.6 miles away. The rest of the hike was much easier, with only a couple ascents and the rest descending. We made it down to the gap to find an empty road. That was my biggest worry, to get down to the road and not see a single car, being over 20 miles from Erwin. We grouped together and began to walk towards Erwin to stay warm. The first car we saw zoomed right by us. What the heck! Hello! We¢re four people hiking down the road in a freakin¢ snow storm for crying out loud! He didn¢t even pause. The second car came along about ten minutes later coming from the opposite direction and the guy offered to call the hostel for a shuttle from his house which was just up a ways. ¢Sweet,¢ we thought. We continued hiking and ran into two guys in a pickup heading in the opposite direction. The driver rolled down his window and asked us which way to South Carolina. We all just kind of stood there dumbfounded. We told him we didn¢t know, we came from Georgia. Then he asked us which way Georgia was. We responded that we had walked from there and then he rolled up his window and went on his way. Amazing. We kept on walking and stopped at a house to use the phone when the same pickup came by again and offered us a hitch. We all piled in and made it safely to Miss Janet¢s house in a roundabout way. All the hikers came out of the mountains in throngs so Miss Janet¢s was full by the time we got there. The four of us hung out for a while, I ate Baltimore Jack¢s delicious lasagna dinner, and then headed to the Super 8 Motel. What a day! Let me tell you, I was scared out there. After having my clothes stolen in Hot Springs, I had few cold weather clothes and the possibility of not getting a hitch into town was all too real. But, things turned out wonderfully and I¢m warm and safe. Funny how veteran thru-hikers kept warning us that we¢d hit some bad weather and none of us really believed it b/c of all the good weather we¢ve been getting. The Trail is awesome for sure. :)