Date: 2004-04-10
From: Icewater Spring Shelter

To: Tricorner Knob Shelter
Miles today: 12.6
Weather: overcast clouds

Thank you Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt for your legacy to the American people and the world. Thank you men and women of the Civilian Conservation Corps for your artful labor. Thank you park rangers, ridge runners, trail maintainers, Appalachian Trail Conference for blessing us with the preservation and maintenance of his holy legacy. Thank you citizens for voting the oil and mining barons out of office this year so that we may save the Alaskan wilderness for future generations.This is a sacred place, a downy comforter of cloud rolls out above jagged blue construction-paper cut-outs of mountain ranges, layering from dark to light blue from here to the horizon. The air drifts the scent of skunkweed and coming rain, and the sound of a hungry bird of prey, junkoes and chickadees. THIS IS SACRED. These iron rocks are sacred. This ridge and this vista are sacred."Occasionally even people who are immersed in mental noise have moments in nature when the noise subsides, and suddenly they are alert and present. Then they get to watch and see and sense the aliveness all around them: the sacredness, the beauty, the harmony that holds everything together. It is wonderful to walk in nature with a mind that has become quiet -- or, rather, with no-mind, but simply in a state of alert presence. Nature can be a great help there. [And if nature isn't available,] You can watch a plant, a flower, a cloud, a sky. Even the sound of water dripping. Anything." -- Eckhart TolleLove this part of the Smokies. Last night Rob brought frozen hamburger patties, cheese and buns up from Gatlinberg and was disappointed that we had already eaten dinner (MRE curried beans ¢ yum!). But he got up this morning and fried up the burgers, so he Rael, Largo and I had cheeseburgers for breakfast. It really fueled me through the morning. The cool overcast day has also helped me along, as has the extra walking stick. I picked up a wooden one on my way down from Clingman¢s Dome the other day and have decided to use it with the Leki ¢ sort of like walking on all fours, with three points of contact.We¢re having a short day today ¢ under 9 miles ¢ to avoid the threatening rain. Tomorrow we have 13. We¢ve been so lucky with the weather through here. Some of the trails would have been treacherous in snow or rain.Trail magic ahead! Granola bars hanging from trees ¢ love the trail angels! The three young guys from UNC-Charlotte at Icewater Shelter last night gave me some oatmeal and cocoa before they left ¢ Stretch, Malament and Firestarter ¢ so I cut out some silver wings from my duct tape for them and taped their silver ¢Trail Angel¢ wings on their shoulders. They were very sweet, and very considerate about keeping the noise down after 8:30 ¢ unusual for day hikers.--------------------It¢s 8:45 p.m. now and we¢ve got John the Ridge Runner (an ATC employee) here, trying to keep us to the ¢Leave No Trace¢ ethos. He has to pack out the trash that people leave behind, including all of the religious reading material that the evangelicals leave in the shelters. He¢s got a tough job!I don¢t know if it was the cool, still day, the exquisite vistas, the ridges -- like flying buttresses and suspension bridges between the peaks -- or Rob¢s cheeseburgers this morning, but it was a great day for me. We did 12.6 miles, starting after 10 a.m., and I got in shortly after 6:30 p.m. -¢ my time and my strength are improving. I don¢t have that lumbering, simian gait going uphill anymore. With the two sticks, it¢s a bit more like a crab scuttling along. I like having the two sticks ¢ makes me feel like I¢m skiing.The shelter tonight still has the chain-link bear fences across it. Icewater Shelter had been renovated, with a porch added for cooking and admiring the view. This shelter¢s two levels are just a few feet apart, it has a low roof, and we are crammed in here like shelved canned goods. The privy is a port-a-potty, within view of the front door, and the water source is halfway between the two, over a mud slide ¢ this is some bad feng shui, dude. Still, it¢s good to be dry, and under a roof. I¢m beginning to prefer shelters to tenting. Who needs privacy when you¢re wearing the same clothes 24 hours a day? (Ah, the simple life!)