Date: 2005-07-13
From: Velvet Rocks Shelter

To: Trapper John Shelter
Miles today: 16.9
Weather: broken clouds

Miles hiked today : 16.915.2 AT miles + 0.5 mile of side trail + 1.2 roadwalk milesI woke up this morning at 6:10 a.m. and felt very tired. I would have liked to sleep in longer, though I'd seen the weather forecast for the week and knew it was going to be hot later this afternoon, so I wanted to get on the trail as soon as possible. I packed up and hiked out with Opa at 6:55 a.m.The trail this morning was well graded, though a bit muddy in spots. Lately, there have been 2 types of mud, thick, squishy mud and deep, soupy mud, the latter of which I avoid like the plague.Opa wanted to go into Etna to resupply, so when we reached the Etna-Hanover Center Road at 8:45 a.m., we road walked to a general store, arriving at 9:00 a.m. I purchased a 1/2 gallon of orange juice, a liter of cola, two cups of blueberry yogurt, a fresh blueberry muffin, and some homemade oatmeal raisin cookies. I ate the yogurt and muffin and drank most of the orange juice, then packed the rest out, leaving at 9:35 a.m.I was back at the trail at 9:55 a.m., but stoppd to answer the call of nature before hiking on at 10:00 a.m. I immediately began the first big climb of the day, which was 1,420 feet up to the south peak of Moose Mountain over 4.3 miles. 1.0 mile into the climb, I reached the 80% completion point of the AT and at 11:00 a.m., I reached Mink Brook and stopped for a 10 minute rest break and drank the rest of my orange juice. I wasn't necessarily tired, though it was quite hot out and I was sweating profusely. Moving on, I encountered a sign at 11:45 a.m. that I'd been waiting awhile to see. It read "Absolutely No Unicycles Or Else!" with a slashed circle around a picture of a unicycle. At 12:00 p.m., I reached the south peak of Moose Mountain and 15 minutes later, I arrived at Moose Mountain Shelter.Although it was lunchtime, I was still full from breakfast, so I laid back and closed my eyes while chatting with the other hikers present. After awhile, I ate some peanut butter tortilla wraps and hiked on at 2:05 p.m. I was out of water, though the water source near the shelter was a stagnant muckhole. I'd recently consumed a liter of water, so I wasn't overly concerned about being out of water, especially considering that the next 3.2 miles of trail were over a downhill trend.At 3:15 p.m., I caught up with Tomcat, Cocoa Bean, Skittles, and Shades of Blue, who were gathering water from a stream just before Goose Pond Road. I stopped for 10 minutes to gather and treat 2 liters of water, joking that my pack wasn't heavy enough and that I needed to add 4 pounds of water for the upcoming climb up to Holts Ledge.The climb was quite a bear, especially as the temperature was in the low 80s and the trail was steep with 1,150 feet of elevation gain over 2.0 miles. I was one of the last hikers to leave the stream and quickly powered up the hill, passing several hikers as I went, with Opa closely behind. At 3:55 p.m., I stopped for 5 minutes to catch my breath and drank a liter of water. I was passed by 3 hikers, though I soon caught up to them and left them behind, despite the fact that I was sucking wind as I hurried up the hill. As a general rule, I don't like to compete for speed or distance with other hikers, though when a couple of them teased me about taking a rest break during the climb up to Holts Ledge, I kicked my pace up a notch and was proud to be the first to reach the summit of Holts Ledge at 4:45 p.m. Opa kept up with me during the entire climb and had passed the same hikers. I pointed out to him that every hiker he'd passed had been less than half his age, though he! didn't seem impressed. I was impressed for him, since he often describes himself as slow, though that really isn't the case, as we regularly maintain a 2.0 ~ 2.5 m.p.h. pace while hiking together.The view from Holts Ledge was phenomenal and the data book had mentioned a peregrine falcon rookery, though I didn't see any evidence of one. It may have been down an unmarked side trail that I bypassed as I descended to Trapper John Shelter, arriving at 5:00 p.m. Upon arriving, I set up my tent and sleeping gear and cooked dinner while chatting with the other hikers that arrived soon after me. A few of the hikers I'd seen earlier in the day decided to push on to the next shelter, though I didn't want to face the upcoming 2,340 foot climb tonight.After dinner, I journaled before settling into my tent to read. The temperature tonight is somewhat cool, so I may actually use my sleeping bag, unlike the last 2 nights. Tomorrow may be an easy day at around 12 miles or difficult at around 20 miles. It all depends on the terrain and difficulty of the climbs.Bedtime at 9:15 p.m.