Date: 2019-03-26
From: Stover Creek shelter

To: Hawk Mountain shelter
Miles today: 5.3
Weather: overcast clouds

March 26 (Day 3): We slept in the Stover Creek Shelter and there were some real snorers! David did not have a good night again. I'm really worried about him. He said his lungs hurt. We may need to leave the trail and find a doctor.David had a couple of his butterrum Lifesavers left and set them on the shelf near where we were sleeping. I found them on the ground the next morning. Somewhere nearby is a very sugared up mouse!The fog this morning was unbelievable! It was milky white and visibility was really low.We didn't get up and moving until about 8. I packed up while he made breakfast. First thing he made was a cup of Folger's instant coffee. He said it was the best tasting coffee he'd had. Being a coffee snob, that was a shock to hear.  :) He also made a combination of plain oatmeal and maple sugar oatmeal. I finally had an appetite today for the first time since we left. I had oatmeal and made up a snack bag of my strawberry Instant Breakfast w/ powdered milk. That tasted awesome!! David is feeling better. Must have been the coffee.We said our goodbyes and finally headed out about 11:45am. We are only going to the Hawk Mountain Shelter (5.3 miles) so it shouldn't take long. It is supposed to rain again so we want to make sure we get to the shelter in time to grab a spot. After today we are supposed to have nice weather with sun. Yay! Not supposed to have more rain until Sunday. That will give us time to get to the Mountain Crossing resupply store to get a repair kit for the rain tarp.After leaving Stover Creek we had to cross over a number of cool bridges. Some were planks, but the first one out was just a really long log. It was a little slick because of the rain but fun to cross.Farther along we came to a path with a sign to Long Creek Falls. They were beautiful! It would have been a nice place to stop for lunch but it was really wet.On the walk we met Lexie and Fireweed. They were sitting by the creek soaking their feet. Fireweed did a thru-hike in 2012 and said that she washes her feet every day! Keeping your feet clean is very important she said. We got to the shelter and met a nice lady and a father/son team. The lady, Renee, retired last year after 26 years on the police force. She also served 2 tours in Iraq. When the guys heard that they said ¢Oh there's your trail name - Police¢. She said ¢No, no. I want a name that's nice and cuddly so people aren't afraid of me.¢ So her trail name became Cuddles. She had a sweatshirt on that said "Just another half mile or so". Love it!Lexie and Fireweed strolled in later. Fireweed is big on hammock camping. She has 7 tents! The one she has with her is called a Hummingbird. She gave a Hammock 101 class. She set her hammock up in 2 minutes! It was really neat. I might like to try hammocking.Fireweed also gives talks on hiking the AT. I told her that I had read alot about getting your ¢hiker's legs¢ but I had never heard anything about hiker's lungs. I told her that it worries me how much I suck wind hiking uphill. She said week 3, about 100 miles, you will be amazed how ¢hiker tough¢ you become. Hiking uphill will become much easier. I look forward to that!We have a full shelter tonight because of the rain. A lot of folks are still camping out. The rain just seems relentless. It's also gotten really cold. Tyler gave us a prepackaged backpacker's dinner of red beans and rice. David cooked that up for dinner. It was fabulous!! It tasted gourmet to us! We went to bed about 7:30.About 8 pm or so a hiker we had met hiking to the Southern Terminus our first day, came into camp. His name is Phil and he is recovering from a stroke and is doing a thru-hike! What an inspiring guy. He set his tent up in the rain and slept in it.Another hiker, Ephraim, who hails from Israel, came in later. The shelter was packy with hikers but he just threw his stuff on the floor and slept there.Before falling asleep we could hear helicopters overhead and, at one point, machine gun fire. The Army Rangers were training nearby. They are supposed to stay off the trail and away from the shelter. One of the hikers said that they were told that if they ran into a Ranger they were to ignore them and not ask questions or start a conversation. Like I'm going to force a conversation on a person holding a machine gun!