Date: 2003-07-09
From: Brown Mtn Creek Shelter

To: Hog Camp Gap
Miles today: 8.1
Weather: few clouds

We woke to the idyllic sounds of the creek this morning. Unfortunately,that was later replaced with cries of pain from one of the young men campingwith us. He fell and dislocated his knee, thus ending his week on thetrail. We all felt so horrible for him! First of all, it is so scary to beinjured out here, away from doctors and hospitals. Secondly, we allunderstood how disapointed he was. He was loving being out here, and tohave it end like this is so painful. The adults with his group providedwhat first aid they could and before long, the young man was on his feetready to make a try for the road. Two miles and 600 feet elevationincrease....I didn't think he could walk that far. But, the joke was onme!! He made it to the road and when I next saw him, he was laying backagainst his pack with a smile on his face. His friends immediatley dubbedhim the "two-mile wonder" and another trail name was born! :)   That was just the beginning of a hard day! We started the day with a2500 foot climb. Now, I know you are probably tired of hearing about howhard these climbs are, but I can't help it!! They are HARD!! And 2500feet...well, I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy! Luckily, it was cloudyand a little rainy, otherwise, I would have really struggled with the climb.Had it been 90 degrees, I would still be up there!! As it was, a constantecho of far away thunder accompianied me up the mountain.   After coming down off of that lovely climb, I tried to eat a fast lunchon the trail with two of the kids from this mornings group. My quick lunchbecame even quicker as the sky turned dark and the wind started to whip thetrees into a frenzy. We all packed up quickly, and hit the trail as thestorm bore down on us.   I knew that next we had a 1000 foot climb, and as I followed the kids upthe mountain, I began to get really concerned. It was lightening, the treeswere doubled over by the force of the wind and the temperature was droppingfast. I wanted to catch the young group and tell them that this was not agood idea, but those young folks were too fast for me! I was comforted byreminding myself that they were with adults and that they were in goodhands.   As the storm played itself out, I was left feeling like a worn outsponge! I was cold, wet, sore, tired...........but then came Cold Mountain.   I want you to close your eyes and imagine that you are walking throughthe woods and that you step out onto a mountaintop that is made up ofrolling hills covered with waist high grass. As you follow the narrow pathup the incline, the wind tears at your rain jacket and tendrils of mist gofloating by. When you reach the top, you look out to see that the valley onyour left is almost completely shrouded in clouds with the occasional townpeeking through.   As you look to the right, the mountains fall away from you in layersthat are crystal clear and a dozen shades of dark gray. The mountains aresmoking in a hundred places as a result of the storm and look dark andmysterious. As you come over the last rise, you look out to see that the fields ofgrass are full of purple flowers. The landscape has become a dark Monetpainting with streaks of lavender. It is raining gently, and you can literaly hear the land drinking. Youknow that you should put your hood up, but you want to hear the wind andrain.   No one but you can see this.....thirty minutes before you arrived it wasdifferent, and thirty minutes after you leave, it will be different. It isfor you, and you alone.   This is what Cold Mountain was for me. I have never worked so hard toget somewhere in my whole life....and it was worth every drop of sweat,every beat of my heart, and every ragged breath.   A few miles down the trail, I found our young frinds setting up camp withBumpkin. We spent a nice evening talking around the fire. I feel like theyhave become part of my trail family and I will miss them when they are gone! The temperture has dropped and I am curled up in my bag. I can't help butwonder what tomorow will bring....Love, Anna aka Mud ButtPS- To get an idea of how different Cold Mountain was for Bumpkin, check outher journal entry for today.www.trailjournals.com------------------------------Local access to PocketMail mobilee-mail now available in Europe, NorthAmerica & Australia http://www.pocketmail.com