Date: 2009-05-19
From: Overmountain Shelter

To: Mountaineer Shelter
Miles today: 18.0
Weather: clear sky

Last night could have quite possibly been the coldest of nights out on the trail. It was the first time where I actually had to put layers on my body, while being inside my sleeping bag. The wind was howling inside the barn and I was in the area that was clear in the open, allowing for the wind to have free reign in the double-floored shelter. We positioned our bodies in that we would have an early glimpse at the sunrise coming up over the mountain. When it did finally emerge, it immediately warmed the morning air and provided all of us with a sense of relief. The view of the valley was absolutely stunning and we took some time to really appreciate it. Yosemite Valley in Tennessee; are you serious? In the distance, you could see a grassy area that was still shaded and had ice all over it. Scavenger and I were the first to leave the shelter and we immediately saw other signs of ice and frost on the grassy plants that were still shaded from the sun. It was the middle of May and temperatures had been in the 80¢s already, so we were very surprised to see such frost. Walking up the first few ballads was a bit of a cat and mouse game, in which I had to completely layer up to protect my body from the piercing wind and cold. But, just another 12 mile up, I had to take off my layers (gloves and hat) as I was beginning to overheat. In short, there was no happy medium as to the temperature of my body ¢ kind of like my mother operating the air conditioning in our family vehicle. Sometimes too hot, sometimes too cold, and rarely just right.I have to say that today was probably my favorite day out on the trail, which is why this journal entry will most likely turn out to be one of the longest. Little Hump and Big Hump turned out to be phenomenal. Both of these are grassy balds that, again, resemble the Scottish Highlands with their green luscious grass intermixed with grey rocks and boulders all covered with these gross-looking green-coloured lichens. In-between balds, Scavenger and I descended to a low area that was completely filled with water. Scavenger had hiked ahead, so I shouted to him: ¢How the hell do you cross this thing?¢ His reply was simple: ¢You just have to go. My feet are completely soaked!¢ So, I proceeded to scamper through the water and I felt the cold water penetrating my trail runners into my socks, and onto my skin. So much for dry socks today. We met some section hikers on top of the bald and we took our jolly ol¢ time to enjoy the magnificent vistas in all directions. I can¢t remember seeing a spot that was so beautiful! From there, we hiked on down to 19E, where we easily caught a hitch in the back of a pick-up truck that took us to the Times Square Diner, roughly four miles down the road. We were in absolute heaven. Today¢s special was a huge helping of chicken pot pie, pinto beans, and an All You Can Eat salad buffet that included fruits and damn good vegetables ¢ all for $5.45. I must have gone up to the salad bar for four different plates. As a matter of fact, I was so stuffed that I had to make two pit stops to the restroom just to make room in my stomach for more helpings. Gross, but true. As Scavenger was heading to the restroom when we had initially sat down, a guy stopped him and offered us a ride back to the trail, whenever we were ready. We packed up our belongings, filled up our water bottles, and collected our various electronic charges, we climbed into the man¢s station wagon and rode his generosity back to the trailhead. Turns out that this guy is British, from a town called Oldham, which is right outside of Manchester in England. Being a Man Utd. Fan, I asked him which team he supported, replying in no uncertain terms: ¢Why, Oldham United of course!¢ When he left England to come to the States in 1980, Oldham were in the second division and performing horribly, so he suspects that they are probably bottom dwellers in the third division by now. He explained to me that the best thing ever to come out of Manchester was George Best, even though he was actually from Belfast, Northern Ireland, but he did happen to produce some unbelievable football in the 70¢s. As he dropped us off at the trailhead, I asked him: ¢What the hell is an Englishman doing in Elk Mountain, Tennessee?¢ He said that he came over to teach people how to scuba dive down in Florida in 1980 and has never left the States since. Scavenger and I thanked him for his generosity and then headed up the mountain. I felt as if the trail was badly maintained from this point forward. We constantly had to jump over one side of the trail to the other in order to avoid the mud. Most of the time, I would balance by placing my trekking poles down in the middle and jumping the 5-6 feet over the mud pit to avoid it completely. Because I was sweating so much earlier on in the day and then sat down to eat lunch, my shorts had completely dried out, thereby creating some really uncomfortable chafing between my buttcrack. Not that any of you reading this really care, but I¢m just trying to provide a sense of experience out on the Appalachian Trail. Chafing is one thing that I certainly would not want to leave out! Anyway, it was the first bad day of this ailment, but after some heavy gold bond application, I was all set to go. I, again, managed to get lost on the not-so-well-maintained trail. I had to go in two different directions ¢ one climb up a steep hill and the other walking down a horse path ¢ before I backtracked and found the AT had made a sharp curve to the right. Finally back on the trail and ascending the mountain, I turned around to see such a beautiful vista. Everything was alive and you could see essentially every colour of green. Directly in front of me was this light-coloured grass, then it was a backdrop of thick trees of dark and light colours, and then beyond this was a final backdrop of a rolling mountainside completely covered with bushy trees. It was truly spectacular. We even ran into Warren Doyle, one of the legends out on the trail, who has hiked over 30,000 miles and has completed the trail 13 times. He and his wife, Terry, actually led the contra-dance at Trail Days in Damascus and we were very grateful for his teachings. Next, we descended to 2,500 feet and walked through a meadow directly along a racing river. It was nice to have everything: meadows, mountains, water, streams, clouds, sunshine, blue sky, different shades of golden sunshine. I couldn¢t help but feeling that I was very fortunate to be out on the trail at that spot at that moment. I climbed and I climbed and I climbed and I finally caught back up to Scavenger and then I jumped ahead. In my mind, I kept telling myself: ¢Today would be the best day on the trail if there was a waterfall.¢ Unexpectedly, a few miles up the trail, we came across a large waterfall, shooting out tons of fresh, mountain spring water. We even stopped to film it and take pictures and I declared it my sacred spot. We filled up our containers with water and then walked the .2 miles to the shelter that was directly above. Both of us were on a complete high. Originally, we were planning on pushing it and doing a 25-mile day, but Scavenger¢s blisters were really flaring up and decided against it. At the shelter, we found Dangle and Collins, the two funny guys from Lancaster that enjoy smoking tons of pot and just really enjoy life. We talked for a while and exchanged stories about life on the AT. I don¢t know if it was induced by the pot or if it was an idea that Dangle had had originally, but he came up with the idea of doing the AT in rollerblades. We all just pictured someone trying to do the AT on rollerblades, climbing mountains, fording rivers, and walking across balds. The image was just too hysterical, so we all partook in a good bit of laughter. Tomorrow, we¢ll probably go another 17 miles or so, but I¢m really looking forward to checking out the Kincora Hostel with Bob Peoples, who is a legend and one of the friendliest chaps on the trail. My friends from Duke, Candy and Jay, were thinking about visiting me in Damascus on Saturday. This means that we¢ll have to pull two 25-milers back to back in order to make it there on time. It would be great to see some familiar faces again. Hopefully, they, too, will be able to take some time out of their busy schedules to drive 3.5 hours from Durham. Good night to all and sleep tight!