Date: 2007-04-04
From: Locust Cove Gap, NC

To: Cable Gap Shelter, NC
Miles today: 11.6
Weather: overcast clouds

WOW!! Last nite was awesome!!! About midnite, a huge thunderstorm hit. Lightning, loud thunder, downpour, wind! It is currently 7:30 a.m., and I havebeen laying here listening to at least 2 of the 5 tenters (who are up andpacking up) discuss how they had streams running through their tents, a 3rd guydescribed how he had to stay awake and hold part of his tent out to preventgetting wet and make the water drain away. And I totally know I sound like a brat here (what else is new?), but guess whowas totally high and dry all nite long, including all gear that was hanginginside the JRB pack cover\gear hammock, which was hanging from the suspension ofmy hammock under my tarp? Can ya guess, can ya guess, huh, huh, huh? ME!!! LOL God, I LOVE my hammock.   I kept feeling my bag, and the bug netting of myhammock for possible drops of rain, nothing. Last nite, it was really windy, and even though one corner of my tarp wasalready staked directly to the ground, the other (on the windy side) had about 3inches of a gap (I am on a sloping hill again). That was still enough to allowair movement over me, so before the storm hit, I got out and built up leavesagain to fill the gap. Also, I went ahead and pitched the non-windy side of the tarp really close tothe ground as well. As I lay in my hammock, there is about 1-3 inches betwen meand my tarp sides, and about 18" from my ridgeline to the ridgeline of my tarp. There's drops of rain all over my tarp still, but absolutely zero water got onme and my gear. I was also really hot for awhile, and I'm told this was a coldfront that went through, but it is currently 55 degrees inside. I haven't beenoutside yet.I will say, however, that Nicole, in her Big Agnes Tent also stayed totally dry. I get daily mocking from her when I talk about my hammock to others, so I wantedto make sure I give her tent some credit too! LOL My sleep wasn't as sound as usual, because my legs and feet were hurting prettybad. I couldn't wake up enough to realize that I needed to take some vitamin I. It was about 4:30 a.m. before I came to enough. I went ahead and got up,watered the leaves and just stood there in the wet, foggy darkness. I looked upat the trees swaying above me, and into the woods. It was really cool, andreminded me of a scene they might show on some scary movie about vampires orsomething. I of course looked around for bears or bigfoot, but neitherappeared.   I heard this cold front was supposed to make the high's in the 40's and lows inthe 20's. I'll let you know if that is really the case. We should be inFontana Dam in 2 days, and then I will face my only part of this trail that Ifear a bit. The Smokys and their potential for very cold weather.It was slow going today, and we didn't leave camp till about 10:20 a.m. We wereonly planing for an 8.4 mile day, but things change, they always do.My legs were still pretty tired from yesterday's long hike. Just beforestarting the descent into Stechoa Gap, I saw some Buddihst prayer flags thatsomeone left on a tree. Pretty cool.Then we headed into Stechoa Gap to find some INCREDIBLE trail magic by Bare Bearand Jellybean! They are staying in this location for 3 weeks and doing trailmagic everyday! It was perfect timing for lunch, and they made several of us hamburgers withbaked beans, three bean salad. I also had a cup of coffee, soda, nutrigrainbar, and a huge plate of spaghetti! I was starving, and this hit the spot. With Nicole and I were Logan, Sherlock, Circuit Rider, Hemlock, Rio, andDriftwwod. Wonder showed up later.We could see Clingmans Dome, the highest mountain on the entire AT, which isnestled in the Smokys.We thanked our Trail Angels for the wonderful magic, and left around 2:30. We"thought" we only had about 5 more miles to go. It was at this point, my day went from pretty good to being the hardest day I'vehad yet. It was really windy and the temps were in the 50's. The sun was out atleast, but the wind had to have been blowing 15 mph, which makes it cold.I don't know what happened, but I went through every emotion in the spectrumthis afternoon, and had a "systems malfunction" both emotionally and gear wise.I was also experiencing some pain due to chaffing. Weird place to happen, butit was at the bikini line on my rigt leg, and was excrutiatingly painful. Ithink the seam of my spandex had been rubbing without me realizing it. So now Iam tired, cold(er), have this annoying pain when I walk, and I just want to getto camp and be done.We were headed to Cody Gap, which has a campsite, but when we got there at 6:30p.m., the wind was whipping up and over the gap and it was miserable. Not agood pace to hang and be warm, or set up a tent. Now what?We decided that even though we were exhausted, I was in pain, and neither of usfelt like hiking anymore, that we'd push on another 3.3 miles to the nextshelter, and take our chances it would be less windy.By this time, I had already been happy, frustrated and angry (due to the pain). But now, it was just despair and sadness. All I could think about was how muchI missed Rachael and how much fun this wasn't right now. I was overcome andfelt like crying, so guess what, I did just that (while hiking...not suggested). I don't remember the last time I just cried, and it felt good. I am sharingthis because I think potential thru hikers need to understand that this is avery tough emotional journey as well, and the things that surface might surpriseyou at the most unexpected moment. So here I am, crying, hiking, walking funny due to caffing, and it is gettingdark! What a site huh? LOLWe made it to a road and knew we only had .9 miles left. We zoomed, and managedto make it to th shelter at 8:20 p.m. What a relief. I had a very hard day. Iam currently exhausted in every way you can be. It is really cold right now, didn't find the best site to hang, so hopefully Iwon't be too miserable. Tomorrow is another day, and we will be going intoFontana Dam.Nicole's fiancee, Eric, is coming to hike part of the Smokys with her. We'llzero, get supplies and head out again on the 7th. I was going to stay at theshelter, but after today, I am in dire need of some alone time in a warm space. I need to recenter myself and get back to a positive and peaceful state of mindfor the Smokys.I am proud though, that we did 2 double digit days in a row, which is a first. Today was our longest day yet and it was totally unplanned.   I am so surprised at how much mental energy hiking takes. ~Certain