Date: 2008-04-27
From: Zero Day in Irwin

To: Slackpacking Day
Miles today: 19.0

Well, as planned, today was the first time I tried slackpacking. A 19 miles day starting at Iron Mt Gap, north of Irwin, hiking back south to Irwin. A lot of interesting events today.First, we were shuttled up to the Gap and got on to the trail about 8:10. It was a great start, nice and sunny. I had a day pack, borrowed from the hostel, with lunch, snacks, first aid, water bottle, ipod, and rain jacket. It was like nothing on my back compared to my regular pack of about 35#. The sun was out in the beginning. I was very different in hiking south vs. north for the past month as the sun was to my left today(east) vs. right hiking north. I hung out on the trail most of the day with Ravon, nice lady from Aspen, hiking together at times, and then just meeting up at various places along the trail at times.First event on the trail was a bit of trail magic. A young family (Brian, Toerin, kids Ben and Clara) had set up a table trail side and was fixing pancakes for passing hikers. Pretty neat to run into this stuff on the trail. We call them "angels". I had a couple cups of coffee and a small pancake, took a picture and was on my way. I saw them drive off an hour or so down the trail at a road crossing where I was taking a lunch and boots-off break.Next, I had previously mentioned the fire dept or forestry folks were planning and doing some controlled burns to reduce ground cover. Passed quite a few of these areas today, blackened and charred sections of varrying sizes of the forest floor. It seemed very controlled as the burned areas butted up right against the trail but didn't cross over it to the other side. I scrapped the char here and there and the burn was very superficial, just on top and didn't seem to get much of the ground cover, foliage at all. We've seen the smoke from these fires the last few days. The ground cover is extremely thick from years of dry leaves. In fact, it is difficult to see rocks and roots that can be potential hazards.Next, as I crossed over Unaka Mt at 4,580, I passed through a wooded summit. It was a thick, thick pine forest with pine needles on the ground and very soft footing. It was as though walking into the night, it was so dark. Kind of reminded me once of "The Big Fish" movie and the dark forest, but no giant critters to deal with. I was a neat thing to see, like looking into the night just before entering.Then the rain (and it continued all that night and the next day which I will write about tomorrow). Rained the second half of the day. When the trees were barren, no leaves, the rain jacket came out but at lower elevation when the canopy is somewhat developed, didn't use a jacket and didn't get to wet except for socks and boots. To understand, while walking and hiking, you're usually warm (at least) and sweating. The rain jacket also is a wind stopper so there is no place for the heat to escape (or wind to enter) unless keeping the jacket unzipped or it may have pit zips to help with the wicking/venting process. A short sleeve shirt under the rain jacket is not a good combination as the arms get wet, and there is no place for the sweat to evaportate as the sleeves of the rain jacket are not permeable. So that was a bit uncomfortable but the jacket is a valuable piece of gear as it keeps out cold wind too. Fortunately, it was not a cold rain.Well, I walked the 19 miles but the last 5 were tough as my calves had tightened up on me and I had to stop often to stretch Them out. Just before getting back to the hostel, Ravon was ahead of me and waited for me to catch up as she came across a colorful land turtle highlighted with orange in the designs on its shell. Pretty cool, it lumbered off into the leafy underbrush as we moved on.The walk took me 9 hours, 10 minutes. I stopped often to rest and had lunch plus the trail magic. Others had returned over an hour before me, that's ok, I'm doing my own hike. I've hiked 16 hrs before with a full pack, wore me out for sure but I hadn't ever felt the tightness in my legs. Sometime we have a target for the day and get there and stay. Other times we get to a point and evaluate going on or not, depending on campsites and shelters that are reachable (for me anyway) by an hour before dark.Cramping in my legs went away, visited the Colonel for dinner, talked to some family, and called it a day with intentions to head out the next morning which was not to be.Long entry, have the time today, Monday to do it.More later.