Date: 2004-04-02
From: Moreland Gap Shelter, TN

To: Day 27: Watauga Lake Shelter, TN
Miles today: 16.5
Weather: light rain

As described above, starting out on AT Day 27 was quite an experience, but one of the most surprising things was that I came upon the elusive Moreland Gap Shelter within the first 10-15 minutes ¢ it was simply at the bottom of the hill on which I camped. Oh well, setting up camp in a snow storm was a life-first experience that I would have been sorry to have missed ¢ at least that is what I told myself looking at the completely empty and dry shelter. The snow was at least 6-8 inches deep, much deeper in the adjacent drifts and trail borders, all this meant that I was once again forced to go slow and watch my step. Despite all of these precautions, going down one of the many snow-covered hills my left foot slipped and I went down hard with my left leg severely bent behind me. Trust me this really hurt and I uttered the appropriate expletive response. Worse than the pain, I was now worried that I may have done some real damage to my knee that might end my AT hopes, or at least make the next few days hike painful and even slower. Since I couldn¢t just sit there in the snow, I had to get up and push on, being even more careful than before, since I was now having to favor my left knee.As was the case yesterday, it was interesting how the local deer and other animals really use the AT for their own travels. By the time I had descended to Dennis Cove the snow was practically all gone leaving a muddy trail to Laurel Falls. Climbing down to these lovely falls presented a new challenge, steep and deep and unrelenting rock steps, the problem being that this put a lot of heavy pack enhanced stress on my already injured left leg and by the time I got to the falls, my knee had really started to stiffen up and hurt with each step. As you might expect I was now getting very concerned and the challenging scramble around the Laurel River cliffs before climbing back to the mountaintop was really not very pleasant. To make matters worse, on the way up I slipped again, this time landing on my right shin ¢ but luckily the weight landed on the muscle and not the bone, but it still hurt. On the narrow cliff path exiting Laurel Falls I ran into two of my new AT through hiker friends, Tell It Like It Is and Lulu, both of whom were slackpacking (carrying a day pack instead of their full pack since someone else had driven them ahead so they could hike and retrieve their full pack) this section going south.After leaving the Laurel Falls area the AT throws in one of its signature steep climbs, this time up to Pond Flats and then down again, all the while on a trail buried in the often slippery snow. When I finished this section and descended out of the snow to the small picnic grounds on the banks of the Watauga Lake just outside of Hampton, TN, I decided to call my wife, Hot Chocolate, to see if she could come pick me up before my knee got any worse. Unfortunately, all I got was voice mail since even though I had transmission, she didn¢t. I waited about 10 minutes in the cold and occasional drizzle and then called again to tell her that I had to go on since it was already after 4:30 p.m. and I had about two miles to go to get to the next shelter. Unfortunately, my wife didn¢t get these two messages until the next day, and once again I inadvertently caused her to have to run all around the countryside trying to find me to see if I really needed help. Luckily the AT through hiker network is very effective and other hikers told her where I was, that I was doing OK, and where she could pick me up.When I got to the Watauga Lake Shelter, after a total hike for today of 16.5 miles, I found the hiker Willy from Florida that I last saw at the Clyde Smith Shelter where he was preparing to hike South after crossing Roan Mountain. As before, Willy was a fount of useful information about the upcoming trail as he has hiked the entire AT in pieces several times before. The night in the shelter was pleasant, not only because of the company, but because I was able to dry out my sleeping bag ¢ a practice that I was soon to find out was by no means a guarantee with shelter camping. Willy gave me his sage advice on how to pace my next three days, even if he wasn¢t sure he was going to leave the shelter to climb back up into the snow like he knew I had to do.