Date: 2003-05-06
From: Indian Grave Gap

To: Clyde Smith Shelter
Miles today: 16.8
Weather: moderate rain

start Indian Grave Gapdestination Clyde Smith Shelter Have you ever woke up and before you even got out of your bed,you knew,youjust knew it was going to be one of those days?I knew it this morning when thephone in my motel room rang with my wake up call at 6:30 am.I looked outside andall I saw was a grey rainy sky.And I had to leavea nice dry motel room and getout in that rain and hike.My ride was picking me up at 7:30.She got there at8:45.There were three of us goingout,and two of them needed to go to the postoffice first.The shuttle driver's regular car was having stater problems ,so shewas in a tiny Suv.I think it was made by some Japanese company to store sardinesin,and they passed it off as a vehicle.We had to hold our packs on our lap,whichmeant we could not see where we were going.That probably was a good thing onthose winding mountain roads.We dropped one hiker off and picked upanother.Finally,it is our turn and we are dropped off again at Standing IndianGap.I head north this time. All morning it either rained or the left over drops from above fell on me.Thetrail was slippery with mud.I named the trail Rocky Roots Trail.It was reallyhard hiking on the rocks and roots mixed with leaves and rain.At one point rainwas streaming down my face dripping off my eyelashes.It was at this point that Iwas further convinced that the day was going to be a kicker.I probably shouldnot tell this on myself,but I will.I know someone reading this will need a goodlaugh.Kleenex out here is a premium,and in the pouring rain,it is pretty muchuseless for blowing your nose.So that said,I needed to blow my nose,so I didwhat I saw old farmers do.I put both my poles in one hand and with my free handblocked off one side of my nose and blew.I would like to say with the precisionof a specially trained Navy pilot I hit my target.But that is not whathappened.I sent one flying alright,and it landed not on the ground,but on theinside loop on my hiking handle.Not on the outsid! e mind you,but on the inside of the loop.I stared at it in amazement anddismay.I could not beleive what had just happened.I just stood ther and stared indisbelief.I could not do that againin a hundred years.Then I did what any wellbred mother does when her child's nose needs wiping and she has no kleenex.Icleaned it off on my rain pants.You would have to see my pants to understandthat move.The snot,excuse me,the phelm was the cleanest thing on them at thattime.In fact,I have never in my life been as muddy as I am right now.The rainhas made a mud trail that is sometimes six inches deep,and you have to walkthrough it.It is the black,sticky thick kind of mud.The kind that would makeperfect mudpies. Around this time,I also noticed that even though I had my homemade gaiterson,and my rainpants,that my feet were geting pretty wet.I chaulked it up to allthe rain,and didn't give it another thought. It was lunch on the run again,as I fought against the rain.It was however oneof the prettiest places on the trail.Short needle pines so heavy that theyalmost blockd out the rain.I reached a shelter at 2:00 and joined several othersopping wet hikers.I spread a bagel with a package of cream cheese I had gottenfrom the continental breakfast at the motel this morning.Boy,did it tastegood!Suddenly we all noticed that the rain had stopped.Whopee!! The rest of the day,the sun continued to peek out from behind clouds,makinghiking a little more fun.Of course,I have already learned several very valuablelessons about rain gear.Rainproof does not mean it will keep things dry underneath it.And rain resistant does not mean anything at all.It is just a marketingploy.Nothing I have found yet will keep my pack or my body dry in the rain.Outon the trail the word dry is relative.I do however have a new set of FrogToggraingear waiting in Damascus for me.They guarantee their rain gear to keep youdry in the rain.Yeah,right,I must have gotten a defective set. By the time I get to the shelter,most of what I am wearing isdry,again,relative.I set my tent up and get my water supply before it getsdark.Today was the longest day I have hiked.I am pretty tired.I pull out mybaked potato I cooked at the motel this morning.It is still somewhat warm,and Isprinkle it with salt and chow done.I finish dinner off with a hot cup ofcocoa.I have gave up trying to restrict what I drink at night.It doesn'tmatter,I still have to get up in the middle of the night and hunt a tree towater. There is a nice fire going,so I sit by it and get ready to massage my feetwith foot cream.I cannot beleive my eyes when I take my shoe off.My sock and myfoot is almost black.I examine my boot,and find that the sole is coming loosefrom the shoe.This is great,I am on the verge of a blowout,fifty miles from thenearest phone,and several hundred miles from my other hiking boots at home.Ihave duct tape though,and if I have to I will tape the sole to the shoe until Iget into town.But my socks and liners will be ruined from themud and grime bythen.Also,my feet will stay wet.One shoeis worse than theother,so both myfeetare really nasty.I tryand wash as much of the dirt off as I can with as lttlewater as possible,and rub them down.The balm turns into more of a mudpack than arub.I hold them up to the fire to dry them and warm them.My socks and shoes arealready drying close to the fire.But not as close as last week,when I was tryingto dry a brand new pair of smart wool(rea! d expensive)socks close to the fire and scorched one of them so bad I had tothrow it away.It was a brand new pair I had never worn.They were in a sidepocket of my pack,that the rain cover did not cover,and they got soaked.Don'tget me started on my raincover not fitting my pack.One would think,if onedesigns a pack,that hikers wold probably attach stuff to the outside of thepack,and that a cover for that pack would need to be big enough to cover thingsattached to the outside.I have yet to see a hiker with nothing hanging on theoutside of their pack.Quite the opposite,in fact,most of them have more stuffhanging on the outside than they have on the inside of the pack.Now where was Ibefore I chased that rabbit?Who knows where I was .I know I am tired so I headto bed and call it a day.bumpkin   total miles 16.8