Date: 2003-05-23
From: Standing Indian Shelter

To: Rock Gap Shelter (tent)
Miles today: 19.7
Weather: scattered clouds

Today was a GREAT day ¢ the best yet. And what a day it was ¢ so many things to record. Summer left with John and Nichole this morning just about the time I was ready to get up. I was feeling much better about it this morning ¢ those verses last night helped considerably. I was ready to go by 8:30 and headed up Standing Indian Mountain. Seems like the last several days have begun with a climb! This one at least was nice and gradual, much of it through a rhododendron forest. I thought of you, Erney and Steve ¢ it would sure be beautiful in bloom! As it was I only saw one or two blossoms.Georgia was ferns and roller-coaster ups and downs, North Carolina (so far) will be rhododendrons and gradual ascents interspersed with brutal climbs. I was thinking about it more today and I¢m glad I said I only ¢half resent¢ the people who voiced their concerns. In fact, it¢s not the people I resent at all ¢ I¢m glad they could share those with me. It helps me know they care. It¢s just that somehow their concerns turn into my fear ¢ which is still my choice, ultimately, so it¢s not fair to blame them for the fear. I¢m not sure why it turns into fear as opposed to just awareness and caution; maybe I¢ll figure that out while I¢m out here! I find I¢m not afraid at all of hiking alone (although every tree stump becomes a bear, every stick and root across the trail a snake). It¢s the shelters and towns that worry me. And I don¢t know why either; I¢ve done things alone ¢ lived alone, flown alone, taken long road trips, gone new places, etc. ¢ for years; I¢ve lived alone off and on for six years. So it¢s certainly not the solitude. I don¢t know ¢ I¢ll continue to examine that.My pace was much, much better today ¢ I was greatly encouraged. In fact, I made such good time I started to think maybe I¢d do the 20 miles Summer and the Carlsons were doing after all. I planned to stop for lunch, then see how I felt. But I kept going. I passed Carter Gap shelter at 12:30 ¢ way too early to stop. One-thirty, 2:30 ¢ no convenient place. Then it started raining. So I pulled out a granola bar and pushed on, knowing there was a major climb just before the next shelter. Little did I know¢¦I think my favorite part of the hike so far is between Mooney and Bear Pen Gaps. It was raining steadily by the time I got there, but I wasn¢t minding it. The trail creeps along the edge of a mountain, a rocky, rooted mess, and I could see the valley below and more of ¢these high green hills.¢ Blue sky peeked out of big puffy clouds amongst heavy gray menacing ones. Then I came to the big one: Albert Mountain. Just past Bear Pen the trail went straight up. And I mean straight up. And it was pouring. And I hadn¢t eaten since 8 am (it was 3) except for a granola bar. And I kept going. In fact I was on a high. At some points I even had to climb hand over hand.I wish I could capture the exhilaration I felt when I reached the top. I said, ¢Take that!¢ I am hard-core. It stopped raining, wouldn¢t you know, just about the time I reached the top. I still had no view, but I didn¢t even mind. I just headed to the shelter to have lunch and see if I wanted to go on.Well, I don¢t know if it was the adrenaline, the competition, the Old Man, or my overwhelming desire to make it to church in Franklin tomorrow, but I kept going.The sun was shining when I got to the shelter, and an old man, who in fact calls himself the Old Man, was hanging things out to dry. I checked the register and found an entry by Summer and the Carlsons. I wasn¢t sure I wanted to stay there with just the one man, so I came on. And on. And on ¢ 6 more miles. I stopped for a quick lunch at a view point about two miles down and it started to pour. I mean a real deluge. The trail was a creek, but I hiked right through it. I had just begun to dry out from the last downpour, but by this time there was not a dry spot on me.I made the 6 miles in two hours. I got here in kind of a daze, Summer and the Carlsons surprised to see me! We talked over dinner, tented, and got to bed around nine. Just in time too ¢ more rain. So we¢ll go the last 3.8 miles in the morning to the highway and Summer¢s dad is to pick us up at 10:30.To church I go! I sure hope they have potluck tomorrow¢¦