Date: 2017-04-07
From: Iron Mountain shelter, TN

To: Abingdon Gap Shelter, TN
Miles today: 15.9
Weather: scattered clouds

4/7/17 Abingdon Gap Shelter, TNMiles hiked: 458.8, Miles to go:1731.0(Sorry for the delay in posting this account. I heard from four people wondering where my post was. I had the entire thing written last night and when I went to post it when I got signal this morning, my frozen fingers hit the wrong button and deleted the whole thing. I will try to recreate it to the best of my ability now.) First of all, people let's get one thing straight. Many people asked me if I was still wearing my kilt with the return of winter weather. If you will recall, the one day I did not wear my kilt on this entire trip was the worst hiking day I have had. So, from now on, just assume that I am wearing my kilt, irregardless of weather. We awoke to winter weather once again. There was only about an inch of snow on the ground; but, high winds and temperatures in the 20s made for a pretty cold night. We had snow blowing into the shelter on us all night. Actually, I stayed pretty warm; but, 1st Sgt said he got pretty cold. Even though we had spent 15 hours in our sleeping bags, no one appeared to be in a hurry to get up. Finally, Capernicus and Glass Legs, two of the guys we met when we arrived at the shelter, got up, packed up, and headed out. Bo, 1st Sgt, and I quickly followed suit. Gentle Ben, the third hiker, was still in his sleeping bag when we left. The worst part was that our boots had frozen during the night and were almost impossible to get on. It took several miles of walking before we warmed up and our hands and feet, not to mention our boots, thawed out. It had quit snowing during the night; however, we continued to have high winds and overcast skies all morning. Luckily, we were undulating along a ridge and having interesting conversation, so the 7.6 mile hike to Double Springs Shelter passed quickly. It was strange to look down in the valleys and see green fields and blooming trees. Winter appeared to only be up on the ridge tops where we were. We stopped for lunch at the shelter and shared it with a southbound section hiker from Mt Storm, WV, named Bluecoat. We all ate quickly and headed back out before we got too chilled. During the afternoon hike, the sun finally made an appearance and the temperatures rose into the 40s, causing the snow to melt. The high winds also finally gave out and it turned into a fairly pleasant afternoon. Bo, 1st Sgt, and I make a pretty good team. I somehow always end up in front, setting the pace, and the other guys always come up with interesting topics to keep the conversation as lively as our hike. At one point in the afternoon, Courtney passed us. She had resumed her hike at the point where she had been dropped off for her southbound slack pack yesterday. She was planning to push all the way to Damascus tonight and quickly left us behind. We continued to plod along at our regular old guy pace. When we arrived at Abingdon Gap Shelter, we discovered that our two companions from last night that had headed out before us were not at the shelter, as we expected. It appears that they also had decided to hike on into Damascus. So, the three of us had the shelter to ourselves. The funny thing was that all three of us decided to set up our tents since the snow had melted and this shelter had plenty of good tent sites around it. After setting up our tents, we went to get water. The spring was a LONG way down the hill from the shelter. When you are at home, you take for granted how easy it is to turn on the faucet and get either hot or cold water. Out here, any time we want hot water, we have to take time to walk to a water source, filter the water, walk back to the shelter, set up our stove, and heat the water. The thing is, as inconvenient as it is, we are doing this out of choice. There are millions and millions of people who have to work much harder than this to get clean water every day. We sometimes forget how good we have it. Tonight is Bo's last night on the trail. He only planned to do the a section hike from Springer to Damascus and is meeting his wife tomorrow. We decided to build a fire in honor of his last night. We had an enjoyable evening of easy conversation - three old friends sitting around a campfire. It's amazing how quickly friendships form out here. Bo and 1st Sgt are now in asleep in their tents and I am finishing my blog next to the dying embers of our campfire. Tomorrow we will hike 9.9 miles into Damascus where I have not one, not two, but THREE packages waiting for me. Town Day! Yay.