Date: 2008-03-22
From: hogback ridge shelter

To: bald mountain shelter
Miles today: 10.1
Weather: clear sky

Nice day today. Didn't sleep well last night; there were some guys in the shelter that snored. A lot. They also went to bed at 5 so they woke up a bunch and moved around and talked. Pretty much the reason to start tenting it when there are a few people at a shelter.Got going pretty early, which meant for an exceptionally leisurely day. I'm doing small miles today and tomorrow so I arrive in Erwin for resupply on Monday and not Easter. Probably wouldn't be the best idea in the south.Got to Sam's Gap where the trail crossed US 23 and I-26. On the way down there was a bottle of ice cold spring water. Cool, I grabbed it since water wasn't that great at the shelter. Interestingly enough, this "natural spring water" tasted nothing like the natural spring water I've been drinking for the last month or so. Mine even tastes better with the Iodine. Oh well.Got to the other side of the gap and saw a hiker's best friend: a garbage can. Can always lose some useless weight at one of those. There was also some Cadbury Easter eggs left out for hikers. Very yummy. Thanks whoever left the treats.Did some climbing and descending and arrived at the base of Big Bald. Let me tell you something, that is about the best name possible for it. I could see it looming in the distance, and all I could think was "&%#$, I have to climb that?" It was only 1500 feet, but this time I knew which hill I was going up and it was staring me down. I took a big lunch because I was doing good on food to fuel up and headed up.The climb wasn't too bad and was shorter than I expected. It was still a little harsh though, but in the end I got to the completely bald top at 5516 feet. Let me tell you, this was probably the second most incredible view the entire trip. I was pretty high and had a complete 360 degree view of the surrounding mountains. Only a few clouds too. I can't even begin to describe it, so I won't really try here. Just something you have to see.There were some guys on top so I actually got a picture of me with the mountains. I also did a video of the panorama, though low res so don't know how it came out.The wind was really blowing, probably between 25 and 45 mph most of the time. I was being moved by the wind, no joke. Even with the wind though, I found it hard to leave, and I spent around 2 hours up there, just staring into space, listening to the wind howl, and taking it all in. Light siesta too.Eventually, regrettably I decided that I would be moving on. The shelter was only a mile on, so no big deal.The shelter is pretty high and it will probably be a little chilly tonight. It is in a solid beech forest, pretty cool.I took stock of my food supply and took advantage of it tonight. I made an immense pot of dinner: a Lipton rice, a third pound of spaghetti, olive oil, garlic, and 5oz of chicken. That was a full liter of food, which is a little difficult to make in a 1 liter pot I discovered. It was absolutely delicious, one of my better meals on the trail. Also an amazing thing happened. I was going to town on it, and then I started slowing down. I was flabbergasted. What is going on? I struggled with the last few bites and put down the spoon. I was FULL. Amazing. I couldn't eat anything else if I wanted to. This has only happened one other time the entire time I've been out here. I probably put down 3000 calories today. Pretty good.Still full as I type this, well relatively at least. An amazing end to an amazing day.