Date: 2009-04-13
From: Overmountain Shelter

To: US 18E - Mountain Harbor B&B
Miles today: 9.2

It's funny how my absolute best day on the trail can be followed by one of my worst. We didn't expect it to rain overnight because the weather was perfect as we were going to bed. It started to rain really early in the morning and the wind was howling, blowing all the rain right onto us as we slept. We awoke with drenched sleeping bags (I had wrapped myself in my tent fly during the night which helped a little bit) and the wind was whipping so hard that it was impossible to do anything. I took my weight off my sleeping pad for a split second and it took off and ended up in a mud puddle. My butt seat (a small portion of a z-rest) flew up into the rafters and got stuck. Rocket's sleeping bag stuff sack disappeared and Pogo found it deep in the woods an hour later. I couldn't even change into my hiking clothes because it was windy that I ended up hiking in my camp clothes since I knew we were doing laundry later today. I had a really hard time treating my water because eveything I put down would blow away. SUCH a frusterating morning, Ugh! I was sure the day couldn't get any worse, oh but it did!Ducky had been really sick all night long and into the morning but thought maybe it would be best to split up the contents of her pack and hike the 9 miles to the hostel to rest in a warm place and possibly see a doctor. Rocket, Egg, and I started off first and Ducky, Madison, Storm, and Grommet followed. We had an immediate climb up a semi-exposed bald and I got blown off the trail into some pricker bushes. The 3 of us got to the top and the others were nowhere to be seen. Some thru-hikers relayed the message to us that Ducky was going to the hospital (she was too weak to hike) and Storm and Grommet were staying with her until the medics picked her up off the trail.After much debate as to whether we'd move on or go back to the shelter, we decided to press on since we had already gone a mile in the crazy wind. The climbs up and down both Little Hump Mountain and Hump Mountain were totally exposed with 80 mph winds, the most intense hiking I've ever done. I got blown off the trail probably 100 times and my ankles were killing me as I tried to remain upright. Good thing the 3 of us were hiking together because it was absolute chaos on top of those balds! The wind was blowing me so hard to the left that I had to lean with all my weight to the right in order to be able to walk straight. And when I was walking directly into the wind I was getting pushed backwards. Lots of screaming and cursing at the wind today! As we finally got down into the trees after miles of exposed trail, the 3 of us stopped for a rest, snack, and to unwind from what had just happend. A couple more thru-hikers passed us and said that Ducky had gotten picked up from the paramedics and that Storm, Grommet, and Ducky's dog Madison were on their way. Phew! We were relieved to hear they weren't too far behind us but were a little nervous about them hiking with the dog in that wind.The 3 of us cruised down the trail for the next 5 miles to US19, which is the turn off to the hostel. To put the icing on the cake, we saw a cat on the side of the road that had been hit by a car Very sad. We road walked the 0.3-mile to the hostel and checked in. We had planned to tent here instead of staying in the hostel because of all the germs around. The Tag Team was staying in the B&B and saw us starting to set up our tents just as it was starting to rain. Tagalong came running down to us and objected to us tenting after the crazy night and day we just had. She said she and Tagless would cover the costs of us staying in the hostel and it would ease their minds if we were indoors for the night. We couldn't really object to that so we took down our tents and headed inside. As we were doing that, Grommet, Storm, and Madison arrived...YAY! We were all safe and sound after a crazy day to say the least. This hostel is amazing, one of my favorites on the trail so far! It is very clean and cozy and the owners (Mary and Terry) are so friendly. We've been watching movies all evening and just relaxing and lounging around the hostel. I picked up my maildrop and an Easter box from my parents which was very nice! Lots of yummy treats to munch on for the next couple days. Also some rubber insects and spiders that I've been hiding in everyone's shoes I'm glad this day is almost over, and I REALLY hope I don't get the stomach bug! So far so good...