Date: 2008-11-24
To: Storm's a-brewin'
Miles today: 0.0

      At 4am, Andrew and Cooper sat up in their sleeping bags and started talking with one another! I couldn¢t understand why they would be doing this at such an hour. I thought they might be waking for an extremely early start and that perhaps we would have the shelter to ourselves when we got up, but that wasn¢t the case. Erik thought the sounds were coming from me, signaling that I was distressed and in need of help. ¢Wendy, what¢s going on?¢ he called out. I was perfectly fine, but his question seemed to have made Andrew and Cooper aware that they were keeping us up. Eventually, everyone went back to sleep, and we all got up around 8. I had survived my first night in 20 degree weather!         We made an oatmeal breakfast while Cooper remained in his sleeping bag, eating cold cereal. Gradually, we packed up. It was raining out and I thought it would be better to head north for a bit and then return to see the ponies when it was sunnier out. Andrew and Cooper weren¢t hiking on the AT, but they planned to stay at Old Orchard shelter the following night. Cooper was worried about the impending storm. He feared their car would not make it down the mountain. They wandered around the area for quite awhile, looking for their trail, while we relaxed, waiting for the freezing rain to let up.        Since there wasn¢t a water source around Wise shelter, we started walking, knowing we would find something along the way. We quickly came to a bridge over a stream, and climbed down the bank to fill our water bottles. I had a tough time filling my collapsible Platypus bottles. The water would just not go in! And the water that did make it in was brownish. We had brought my new Steripen, but could not get it to work, so we ended up mixing Aqua mira drops together in the freezing rain. It wasn¢t the most uplifting moment. I wanted to make it to Hurricane shelter that night, which was 11 miles away, and it was now 10:30 am. I was getting worried.        We made our way through more rhododendron tunnels and through some woods, and then came to a clearing that reminded me of a Civil War battlefield. It was Stone Mountain. We saw a hunter ahead of us. It hadn¢t even occurred to me that we had to be wary of hunters until I saw Andrew and Cooper put on their bright orange vests. I certainly didn¢t know that it was legal to hunt right on the AT!         We descended toward the Scales, and saw two gentlemen looking at a map on the trail. One was hiking with a dog that looked like it was part beagle, and who got overly excited when it saw us. It repeatedly jumped up to both of us. I don¢t know what happened, but the next thing I knew, it was flying and twisting through the air after jumping on Erik, and after it landed, walked off and sat with his back to us, perusing the view. It started to get impatient with its master and whined. I decided to take a picture of the dog, but it only gave me attitude in return.         The owner of the dog warned us that snow was expected that night. He told us that he had been hiking with a southbounder for a few days the week before and that they had been caught in a horrible storm, which they had to wait out in a shelter. The girl¢s fingers had become frostbitten and she had to end her thru-hike early.         The next person that I spotted was a southbounder. He was definitely from the south, with a very calm and relaxed demeanor. He was tired of the trail, but still trying to enjoy it. He also had not expected the weather to be so cold and snowy this soon.        We reached Old Orchard shelter by 1:30 pm and enjoyed a lunch protected from the wind and rain. Erik was inclined to stay there for the night, but I had read in the Wise shelter registry that this shelter was horribly infested with mice and there were not even any mouse-proof hangers for food bags! This hiker urged northbounders to continue to Hurricane shelter if possible. I also felt that it was too early in the day to stop, that we hadn¢t hiked enough miles, and I also wanted to see more of the terrain. So, I convinced Erik to give it a shot. He had to pack up three separate times, in order to get his clothing needs met. One of the reasons why he did not want to continue hiking, was that he had no rain gear and no cover for his pack. Since I brought an umbrella with me, as well as my rain jacket and pack cover, I had enough protection for the both of us. I couldn¢t get my umbrella to stay upright with only my pack straps holding it, so I ended up holding it with one hand. Since Erik had asked to borrow one of my hiking poles, the situation worked out fine. His pack was so heavy that it was pulling him backwards as he tried to climb and he greatly appreciated the use of a pole.         We crossed over Fox creek and then up an embankment. Even though the inclines on this segment were not very steep, we really felt them! We zigzagged down some switchbacks and then saw a sign for water to our right and Hurricane shelter up a hill to our left. We arrived at 4:30pm. Perfect! My hands were so red and raw, that fetching water in a cold stream was the last thing I wanted to do. I think if I had been alone, I probably would have eaten a power bar and crawled into my sleeping bag. But Erik didn¢t mind collecting water for us. I lit my alcohol stove for some heat, but it really didn¢t do anything to warm my hands. We changed clothes, set up our tents in the shelter, and prepared dinner. I had chili-mac, which was quite good. Then we cleaned up, draped our wet socks and clothes on top of our tents, and I read through the uneaten pages of the trail registry. It seems the mice liked the pages with ink on them the best! Erik saw their nest in the rafters with curly pieces of ink-filled paper streaming down. I turned off my headlamp and looked at my watch. It was 6:15 pm! I started laughing. Who goes to bed that early? It was going to be another long, cold night. My mind was filled with worries about our socks blowing away, and mice chewing through our gear. At one point, Erik thought a mouse was in his hair! He got out of his tent and looked around, but saw nothing. Later on, I heard the mice jumping onto my tent!        It had been raining, but I felt the air change. The wind sounded like a freight train charging through the valley. The precipitation had turned to snow and I could feel it blowing into the shelter. ¢Erik, it¢s snowing in here!¢