Date: 2017-05-02
From: Hogback Ridge shelter

To: Bald Mountain shelter
Miles today: 10.1
Weather: clear sky

From Fatboy:The day dawned beautiful but cold.  We both slept well but cold.  Our sleeping bag is rated for 15 degrees plus we use bag liners and we sleep in a double bag but it was still cold.  Getting out of bed in long johns to use the privy when it's this cold isn't a lot of fun but this privy was the luxury spot of the trail.  The privy faced east and there wasn't a door so I got to admire the sunrise as an added bonus.  Ginger brought me coffee so my day began better than anyone else's I've ever met.  My skin started to blister yesterday from the KT Tape so today I'll be hiking without any support for my plantar fasciitis in my right foot.  Our first road crossing was in about 3 miles so I'll know by then if I can continue or if I need to rest and heal.  The trail was beautiful and we enjoyed the scenery and we admired the flowers and small bugs that were active all day.  My foot didn't turn out to be as big an issue as I feared.  It hurts, but then it hurts even when I'm not hiking.  I refuse to let this stop me from enjoying my life and my time with my wife on this adventure. The trail crossed a big bald and we paused to admire the views and take a few photos.  It's funny how you can be hiking and see something on another mountain and then find yourself in the middle of what you were admiring a couple of hours later.  We ended our day after ~10 miles just past Big Bald  to spend another night in a shelter.  We had amazing goo again for dinner.  I'm really getting tired of Knorr side dishes mixed with instant mashed potatoes or ramen noodles.  It fills you up and it is filled with calories but the textures and appearance are starting to get really boring.  We have some instant meals arriving from Amazon at our next resupply spot and I'm looking forward to increasing the variety in our meals.  I also ordered some smaller zip-off hiker pants, some support socks, and a new shirt for Ginger.  It'll be just like Christmas! Ginger arranged for our pick up tomorrow at 1500 at a gap that's less than 6 miles away.  Our next cabin is at Cantarrosa Farm and I'm excited.  This place has been highly recommended and they have an apiary too!  I'm really looking forward to biscuits or pancakes with local honey.There was something of interest during our evening meal.  I set up our stove on the picnic table in front of the shelter and boiled a liter of water to make coffee and rehydrate our goo as usual.  I mixed the goo and wrapped the pot in my fleece jacket to allow more "cooking" time while leaving the wrapped pot on the table.  There was another hiker sitting on the opposite side of the table when I stood up.  The table flipped on its side, dumping the hiker on his back and launching our fleece wrapped food pot away from the table.  The hiker was ok and our food never spilled a drop!  No one got up from that table again without warning everyone. From Ginger:Remember how I said last night's final stretch of 1.2 miles felt like an eternity over 500+ feet? Today, over 3 miles and DOWN 735 feet felt like the easiest and fastest stretch yet. I would have sworn it was just 20 minutes that we were on the trail, and we were already to Sams Gap! There we enjoyed a pit stop from trail angels who brought fresh fruit with other snacks, and we got to wish Spike and Bambi happy trails as they planned to hitch into Erwin ahead of us. For me, today was one of my favorite scenery days. The terrain was extremely varied and had the monstrous, boulderous climb to Big Bald, but I loved it. All the uphills. Big Bald was the only named one, but there should have been others. We had lots of what I call kiss-my-knees climbs. That's how steep it can be. Also walked through a beautiful 10-acre meadow and later laughed at a blue-blaze sign labeled "Nature Trail" -- as if we weren't already on one. Walking across Big Bald with Nathan made me so happy. It was WORK getting there, and again, a place we'd never experience just by driving. I loved sharing it with him. Almost couldn't believe we could do it, but we did!