Date: 2010-02-16
From: Big Spring Shelter

To: Wallace Gap
Miles today: 5.8

And there sat Sam, looking cool and calm, in the heart of the furnace roar;And he wore a smile you could see a mile, and he said: ¢Please close that door.It¢s fine in here, but I greatly fear you¢ll let in the cold and storm¢ Since I left Plumtree, down in Tennessee, it¢s the first time I¢ve been warm.¢                               - The Cremation of Sam McGee                                 by Robert ServiceIt was a rough, cold night. Even with a good down bag, a silk liner, a hot water bottle and hand warmers. I assumed that I was just getting worn down and tired enough that I was starting to have trouble.Just 6 miles would bring me to Wallace Gap, close enough to Franklin, NC that I thought I could get a shuttle to Haven's Budget Inn and *warmth*. The elevation profile on the map showed that the trail would be more downhill than up. It didn't look too bad on paper. I had been somewhat worried since the turn in the weather on Sunday, but had kept going. I was worried because I know how quickly I can chill down. I had had a brush with hypothermia on a canoeing trip to Quetico in May of 1981 and knew I never wanted to go through that again.Actually, I'd been fairly pleased with how things had been working out, even if I was worried and somewhat scared. Way outside my comfort zone, but not, evidently, outside my safety zone.However, this not being able to warm up had me more worried. I decided that I really needed to make it out today.So I got ready as quickly as I could. I put on my next-to-last pair of dry socks. The final pair was safely tucked away inside my sleeping bag - not to be worn for hiking. The previous pair of socks had been soaked through and were now as hard and stiff as a board. These frozen wool socks made a wonderful, deep sound as I whacked the floor of the shelter with them.However, when I pulled my boots from their plastic bag inside my sleeping bag, I found that one of them had frozen on one side. That made it very difficult and painful to get it on, but pull and strain and wiggle and stamp I did until I was able to force that foot into the boot.Once again I had some sunshine as I pushed along the trail. The shadows cast by the trees made a nice contrast against the snow. It was clear that the animals were out moving again. There were tracks all along the way. I can't identify most tracks, but some of these were tiny bird prints, barely dented the snow, starting and ending suddenly in an otherwise blank patch of snow, sometimes tracing crazy spirals and loops. Small tracks would start near the bases of trees, run along or across the trail the stop at the bases of other trees - squirrels? Larger, deeper tracks looked like big animals had charged across the trail - deer? I thought I recognized rabbit tracks. There was one kind of track that was only single file, like it was made by a pogo stick, but with a clear track - pads, but no claw prints, set deep enough in the snow that the animal had to have been somewhat heavy - print 1 1/2 - 2 inches in diameter. Any guesses, anyone?The tracks were interesting, and I tried to distract myself and think about them. But by now all I could think of was how cold I already was and how cold I would be if I had to spend another night out. My head and spirits were drooping, I can tell you. Desparation was setting in. Other than the snow, which I was still plowing through, the trail seemed fairly easy. I called to inquire about a room and a shuttle. Someone would pick me up at Wallace Gap about 2PM. I arrived at appointed place at 1:50. My feet were so wet and cold that I was starting to worry about them. So I paced and stomped up and down. I called to make sure that I was in the right spot - nothing like waiting in the *wrong* spot, wondering why the pickup doesn't come! - and was assured that I was - my shuttle would be there shortly. Five minutes later I finally decided I would dig out the dry socks so I could get out of the wet, cold boots.As I opened the buckles on the pack to dig through the contents, I wondered if this wouldn't be the action to cause my ride to appear. And, of course, it was. Before I could get my food bag unbuckled from the top of the load, a white van appeared. Why hadn't I thought of this earlier. If I'd opened the pack 15 minutes ago, my ride would have been here that much earlier!It turned out that it was Ron Haven picking me up. I was pleased to meet this man about whom I'd read so many good things. He graciously drove me to Haven's Budget Inn, chatting all the while. I checked in and hurried to my room. At this point I was getting deparate to get warmed up. I dropped pack and readied to take a shower. What was this? No water? It turned out that a new hot water heater was being installed, so all the water was off. I was told it would be 5 minutes. Turned out to be somewhat longer. I turned the heat in the room on full blast and huddled against the heater, teeth chattering. I had a bit of water left in my water bottle, so I heated that in the microwave in the room and drank that down. I jumped, pranced and danced around the room. I was shaking and my teeth were chattering in a way they hadn't the whole time on the trail.Eventually, the gurgle from the tub let me know the water was back on. Not long after I was standing in a stream of very hot water, trying and trying to warm up. I bundled up and crawled into bed where I continued to shiver for quite a while. All evening and night I still felt very cold, even though the room was warm. I don't know what happened to cause such a strong reaction - whether I'd just finally reached the limit of cold that I could take - or finally relaxed in the warmth where I'd been fighting the cold before - or?I couldn't face the idea of going out into the cold air to find food, so I ordered delivery from Vito's, a pizza place in town. I went with the Chicken Parmigiana and salad instead of the pizza which had come highly recommended. It was ok, but next time I'll try the pizza.I talked to Robin to let her know I was in. She told me that she guessed, based on temperatures lower down, that I might have had temps as low as zero the night before. Brrr. No wonder I was cold and my boot frozen, even in my sleeping bag!Happy to *finally* be someplace warm, I added my down bag to the covers and snuggled down to warm up. Since I'd left Plumorchard Gap, down in Georgia, it was the first time I'd been getting warm.