Date: 2008-04-24
From: Flint Mountain shelter

To: Bald Mountain shelter
Miles today: 19.1
Weather: scattered clouds

biscuits... hot, buttery, flaky biscuits. and lots of them...and a milkshake... thick, cold, delicious milkshakes... mmmmmmmmmm...Today's thoughts were of food... especially those two items. I have been craving bread products recently... i saw a lady at a shelter a few days back, and she was eating a muffin... it took all my willpower not to run over and attempt to snatch it away from her. hee hee..definitely going to load up on the carbs when i am in Erwin this weekend. mmmmm.... bread.. oh, a loaf, fresh out of the oven, when it's still warm and soft.... okay, so getting to the hike...Got started at 7am and had a quick and easy first couple of miles down into the next road crossings... that was fun. I had tuned into a local radio station and was listening to their morning show... Then i got smacked with a monster climb out of that gap... not too steep, but it seemed to last forever. It was interesting though because the trail went past ruined farm houses and remnants of fences and some old gravestones... then i spent time hiking along the ridge past old fences, which used to hold ???... it was all woods, so i'm not sure what the fences were supposed to contain.Stopped for lunch at Hogback Ridge shelter and massaged my poor feet for a while, but i didn't tank up water because it was a quarter mile away, and the maps said there were tons of other water sources along the way... which turned out to not be so good... until one 4 miles after the lunch shelter. I was a bit worried, because i sweat so much, and i was getting pretty thirsty. But it was all good.. i got water, and then 5 minutes later, came across trail magic of water and cookies....mmmmmm... oatmeal cookies....Anyway, after lunch, the hike to the next highway crossing was a breeze, but climbing out of that up to Big Bald was long and hard. Mostly, i made it hard on myself by not getting water at lunch, but it wasn't an easy climb.   But.... once i got to the top of the bald, it was worth all the effort! wow....I felt like i was on top of the world... I had 360 degree views that went on forever. And I was at the crest of the mountain, so i could see without obstructions. I celebrated by eating a snack at the top.The walk from there to the shelter was short and uneventful... i met a nice guy named bill along the way. He hiked to the shelter to give out beer and oatmeal creme pies. Thanks for the pie bill!The only other people here are scooby, who will finish his thru hike tomorrow at Erwin (missed a section due to injury in 2005, and he is making that up now) and cohiba and wife, who are just out for the weekend, although he thru hiked in 2003(?). I might have the year wrong... I have to look him up in trailjournals. He has retired for the evening....So two of us in the shelter tonight. Feels empty. I have the bottom level, and scooby is on the top level.A good day of hiking, but a long one. The balls of my feet are hurting because of all the miles. I will be glad to let them rest up this weekend. I am super-psyched, because my wife is coming down to meet me for the weekend, so I'll take two days as zeros to spend time with her.Yay!It's uh... Thursday night now, so i'll do an entry for tomorrow, but then not again till monday, when i get back on the trail.Time for sleep.