Date: 2005-04-24
From: Groundhog Creek Shelter

To: Walnut Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 13.1
Weather: overcast clouds

Snow! What in the world? I seriously thought that once I was out of the Smoky's I was in the clear. So I awoke to white everywhere this morning. There were at least a couple inches at the shelter. Getting the bear bags down sucked. The rope froze to the tree branches. With a lot of tugging with frozen fingers OC-1 helped me get my bag down. I briefly met OC-1 in NOC when he was taking a week off for some kayaking fun. His son thru-hiked a couple of years ago and now he's out here doing it. He's a very, very nice guy. So I hit the snow and moved on my way. With as much as I was dreading it, hiking in the snow isn't really that bad - granted it's only a couple inches and I have footsteps to follow. I was actually moving rather fast. :-) I have this rule that states "No Christmas songs before July". I figured "Let it Snow" is a winter song and therefore not a holiday song, so I sung it and made up more versus while skipping in the snow. It was a lot of fun eating the snow too. I probably shouldn't eat it, but I can't resist the pure white fluffy crystals. I walked by Africa taking down his tent. Can you imagine tenting in snow? I said hello and moved on my way. After getting a little confused at a road crossing (the footprints seemed to disappear and scatter at the same time) I found a stile that looked like I should cross over it. My first stile! Definition: a construction, usually wooden steps or a ladder, that allows easy passage over a fence or other obstacle. I moved on my way and made it to the infamous Max Patch. A little info on this place: Max Patch is a giant bald with incredible 360-degree views. It is one of the best camping spots on the entire AT. My experience was not quite as picturesque. I followed the trail up the side as far as I could before losing sight of white blazes. I stood in snow up to my crotch with at least 70-80 mph winds, bracing myself with my poles so I didn't blow over. Hurricane force winds; white out conditions. At this point I was cussing, stating out loud "I didn't sign up for this", that this was not on the agenda for hiking the AT. I could barely even see where I had come from down the hill; the air was so thick with whipping snow. Then a figure appeared. It was Africa making his way up. I screamed down the hill yelling "I have no idea where I am!" He yelled something back, but all I heard was the harsh wind. He battled his way up to me and we decided to go all the way to the top. We thought maybe we could see some blazes that way. We climbed out of the massive snowdrifts to the very top where there was just a dusting of snow. The wind was even worse it felt like. We looked around but there was no way of knowing where the other end of the trail was so we headed back down the way we came. Thank God. I was scared to be up there with the wind and snow and not on the trail for all I knew. Intense is the word that comes to mind: intense in all intensity of the word. ;-) Seriously though, it was very comforting to have Africa there with me. When we got back down to the bottom we contemplated setting up our tents and waiting the storm out and then attempting Max Patch. Instead we decided to walk around it and see if we could find the trail on the other side. We picked up some footprints and started walking. After about half a mile or more, we turned around and started walking back. That's when we ran into OC-1 and Mr. Fusion. They did the same thing as us: they got to the top, went back down, walked around, walked up the other side, and back down. I was so ready to get the hell out of there, that Africa and I just followed them to the other side of the trail. There is no telling how close we actually were to being on the trail up there. Frankly, I don't care. It was a little too intense for me. The four of us made it through the woods while accidentally knocking each other with snow from the weighed down rhododendron shrubs. Five miles later we arrived at Roaring Fork Shelter where we found a few guys hanging out. It was a guy named Whore-A and another gentleman. They decided to stay at that shelter because of the weather. I couldn't blame them - shelter, privy, water - what else do you need? The one guy stayed at the site the new shelter was supposed to be at (good thing I didn't move on last night). Africa decided to stay there, too. After being made fun of for trying to squeeze frozen honey onto a bagel, OC-1 and Mr. Fusion moved onto the next shelter. I followed shortly there after. It was only a mile and a half to Walnut Mountain shelter, so not a bad walk. I followed their footsteps and arrived at one of the smallest, ghetto shelters ever. By the way, it was brought to my attention that every shelter we've been to along the NC/TN border, starting with the Smoky's, has had the water to the left and privy to the right. This whole time I've been drinking in Tennessee and shitting in North Carolina. What's up with that? Back to the shelter - it was just the three of us so there was plenty of room.   We were all so cold (at over 4,000 ft) that we cooked in our sleeping bags. It was fun though, because I enjoyed our dinner conversation.