Date: 2002-04-25
From: Flint Mountain Shelter

To: Bald Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 18.8

My sleeping bag, Flint Mountain Shelter, 7a--Well, we squoze in last night (Matt camped out). It rained last night, including some good thundering and lightening starting about 1:30a. Never doubt the Weatherman! Yesterday was a 21-plus-mile day, and I'm looking to do about 18 miles today. Everyone else but me is up and about.Bald Mountain Shelter, 4p--What a day! it wasn't raining when I left, but shortly thereafter it did ... and kept raining until about 12:30p. By the time I pulled into Hogback Ridge Shleter I was wet, cold, hungry, and ready to stop for the day. But I put my fleece vest on over my wet wool shirt, put on my wool hat and fixed myself some strong, hot tea and a package of noodle-roni. Yay for carrying an extra day's rations! I also stuck two luna bars in my pockets for 2pm and 4pm snacks (you better believe I was watching my watch like a hungry dog all day, too!). I saw in the log that Chupa was going to hitch into town at Sam's Gap for a meal and groceries. I thought about it, but when I got to the highway I ran into PigChicken (finally, in person, after days of trail anecdotes) who said it wasn't an easy hitch, and that the meals and grocery were spread out, so we kept on (he'd just gotten dropped off). All that food at lunch helped, too. And after the rain stopped my clothes dryed out, which was nice, but all day it was windy, and the wind was cold. The view from Bald Mountain was super, but the wind discouraged lingering. But I kicked some ass on the trail: 18.8 miles in about 8 1/2 hours, and with a lot of climbing, too.So at Flint Mountain Shelter were two stray dogs, hungry and scared of people, but at the same time wanting human companionship. If the Christians are right about things, I hope people that abandon animals get the express elevator to hell. Chupa gave the dogs a mac 'n' cheese dinner and some clean water, and tried to give them some affection. That's A-1 in my book, Chupa.Speaking of Chupa, he's here tonight at Bald Mountain Shelter, which is one swank shelter, lemme say. Definitely worth a stay! Two story, 10-person shelter, very nice, very clean. Good tenting sites, too. Rambling Man, Nick, Rambling Ray, Badger, and PigChicken are here, too. Badger is fixing to move on (with some night hiking) as is PigChicken and possibly Rambling Man. We're going to have a lot of room tonight. So I asked Chupa how it was going into town today, and he said he had a cold 15-minute wait for a ride, but once he got there, shivering, he was okay. The waitress gave him a cup of coffee--Chupa usually doesn't drink the stuff, but he was so cold. He asked the waitress to "just leave the menu; I'll be ordering more." He ate a chicken dinner with green beans, mashed potatoes and potato salad, 3 bottles of juice, a cheeseburger, and a BLT for lunch.Now Nick and Chupa are trying to fix a stuck zipper. They borrowed my pocket knife -- "whoa, Bedouin, that's a serious knife" -- because Nick was ready to just rip the darn thing (it keeps sticking) but Chupa said, no, no, no, I can fix it. And he did. Nick asked me how I feel about pulling off the trail in a couple of days and I said that while I miss Greg I feel like I could pull into Erwin, shower, launder, feed for a night, then head right back out the next day. I am hiking much more strongly this year than last: better footwear (no blisters! even after big days) and better physical shape. I really enjoy keeping up with guys almost 20 years younger than me. 37 and still going strong, baybee.Oh, hey, tincanstove update. I have come around and now like the tincanstove. But, I want to upgrade to the Etowah version (with built-in pot stand) I see people using on the trail. Deluxe, of course, is the Weatherman's setup: he showed me his baking ensemble this morning. Sweet! I hope they have the Etowah stoves at Uncle Johnny's.Speaking of Uncle Johnny, I've got a long day into Erwin tomorrow, but at least it's downhill. I was planning on staying at Uncle Johnny's, and he's giving me a ride to the airport, but word on the trail isn't good. The other possibility is the campground, a couple of motels in town, and Miss Janet's hostel.