Date: 2006-03-12
From: Hawk Mt. Shelter

To: Woody Gap (The Hiker Hostel)
Miles today: 12.3
Weather: scattered clouds

3-12-06Hawk Mt. Shelter to Woody Gap (The Hiker Hostel)12.3 milesThe second day:If you read the last journal entry you would understand if I was a bit exhausted today, however, I did not have to rub too much sleep from my eyes, walking wakes you up better than a shot of espresso and a slap to the face, especially when you are just starting out with it. I greeted the world today with smile on my face: hell, this was the AT, nothing could bring my down! My long anticipated journey into the wilderness was a reality, a physical entity which I was experiencing each and every moment! Commenced with morning ritual: heat up water, hot breakfast, pack up, throw the Beast on my back, and begin walking. Simple yet satisfying, this pancake breakfast of a hike.Our morning walk was a series of ups and downs, and the weather was cloudy and cool, some light breezes floating around to keep us sane. Walking on the east side of some mountains we heard a sporadic rat-a-tat-tat of automatic weapons fire coming from down in the valleys, spicing up the day. Had I not known there was an Army Ranger training facility in the area I might have been worried.Six miles passed under our feet before we took our lunchtime rest, sitting on logs right by a large stream, named Justus Creek. We had chatted with Matthew, a well-bearded younger fellow from Ann Harbor, Michigan, just before our rest. He was having his noonzies on top of the Justus Mountain, a well-deserved one at that, as he mentioned his pack weighed 70 pounds! He was a skinny guy, and I doubted if he even weighed twice that.While sitting by the creek, munching on my foodstuffs, a grand total of ten more people came to join us on the scattered logs. I snacked on cheese, peanut butter, crackers, sun dried tomatoes, beef jerky, Girl Scouts cookies, gorp, and whatever I could rummage out of my food bag. I don't think I was even that hungry, just was trying to maintain energy levels, recharge those hiking batteries. Uncle John and I chatted with Cindy, Jen, Scott, and John for a bit, and then headed off, being of an ambitious spirit.Our next six miles started off well enough, until out brutal last three and a half (I will soon learn that three is the most evilest of numbers on the trail: three miles left to hike is NEVER three miles when you actually hike it) going to Woody Gap. They did not feel like 3.5 miles, more like five or six miles. As celebration for pounding out those three miles in our dust-covered boots, we opted to catch a ride with everybody else (John, Matthew, Jen, Cindy, Scott) to a hostel. Yes, I felt like a bit of a putz, the second night on the trail and already I was enjoying the luxury of a hostel.One of our hosts, Leigh, picked us up in a large van, into which we managed to stuff everyone and their packs in like a tin of sardines. When we arrived at this hostel, named "The Hiker Hostel," I was floored. It was a beautiful new hostel owned by a very pleasant couple, Joshua and Leigh Saint. Accommodations including a spot in a bunk bed, a lounging/TV area, a shower, a loft with a computer with internet access, and a breakfast(which will be revealed in amazing detail in the next journal entry), all for $15. Our bunkroom was occupied by Uncle John, thru-hiker John, a section-hiker named Michelle, and myself. Michelle was a very nice, motivated individual who had just finished section-hiking a portion of the AT with her boyfriend, and was returning to manage her ambulance service business near Marquette, Michigan. She is hoping the hospital in the area will buy them out in a couple of years for a few million dollars so she will be set for life.Uncle John and I, along with a few other hikers, ordered ourselves a feast- the local Domino's had themselves a special that was every thru-hiker's wet dream: a medium pizza, unlimited toppings. Enough said. Needless to say, I finished the whole thing, more for the challenge than for hunger reasons. Weighed myself for a semi-pre-hike weight check: 215 pounds. Getting sleepy now, going to hop in bed.Yet another amusing event that happened the same day but occurred after I had finished with my journal. I had just put away my journal and had hopped into my bunk, right above where Michelle was sleeping. Everyone was talking for a bit, and then Michelle left to go take a shower. So there I was, lying on my fresh sheets, feeling the need to get out of my dirty hiker clothes and sleep a la nude. Mind you, it is a four-person bunkroom, but I was on the top bunk with a sheet over me so no one would have known I was naked. Clothes off and stuffed in a cubby-hole above my head, all except for my shorts, which lay beside my for easy access purposed in caser I needed to get up during the night. This was all well and grand until I turned on my side to get my eyes away from the light. My body pushed into my dirty shorts which lay beside me, which then vanished. Much to my dismay, my shorts had fallen between an unnoticed crack between the bed and the wall and onto Michelle's bed below me. Fortunately, since she was taking a shower at the time, I was spared the misfortunate of the shorts actually falling directly onto her. However, I was in a bit of a predicament; being on the top bunk, I was quite naked, and had no access to any other clothing besides my shirt. Also, the light was still on, with all its bright and shining glory, and I only had a white sheet to wrap myself in, toga-style, if I was to attempt my plan for a descent for retrieval. Or I could wait it out and embarrass myself by asking Michelle to hand me my scuzball shorts. I chose the latter plan and lay in bed for ten minutes in sweat-beading anticipation until she exited the bathroom. Keeping my voice low so John and John would not hear, I kindly asked her if she could please hand me my shorts that had fallen on the bed. All this would have gone unnoticed until Uncle John, with his hawk-like attention, boomed across the room "What did you ask her for, Moss?" to which I had to give an explanation to. Thankfully, the obliging Michelle just smiled and handed my shorts, which I gratefully received and placed securely in the cubby hole. I slept like a rock that night.