Date: 2004-10-28
From: Sam's Gap

To: Jerry Cabin Shelter
Miles today: 17.1
Weather: light rain

We say good bye to the friendliest staff at the Holiday Inn and thank them for their their hospitality toward hikers and for our wonderful stay. No wonder this place is the top HI in TN! Just before 8 am. Miss Janet picks us up and we make a quick stop for breakfast food. I purchase some dog treats for Leo....he'll love me for them! As expected, Leo goes wild when we see him. He got up on his hind legs and planted his big paws right on my chest. We love this dog! He is so cute and smart. Voice said he only acts this way around us and also said he had a nightmare that Leo left him and went hiking with us. While Tink, Voice and KD (King Daivid) were getting things around for their slack/hike, I raked up some leaves for Miss Janet. We don't have leaves like this in Florida. In two minutes I had a huge pile of leaves! Breakfast was great and while eating everyone present had to introduce themseves and tell something interesting (about themselves.) Miss Janet, Boo Boo, KD, Voice, Tink, Preacher and his wife, me and Flounder. Then we all had to sing a some clips from some earworms (songs that get stuck in your head while hiking). It was fun. Of course my songs were "skina-ma-rink-a-dink-a-dink....." and a Jimmy Buffet, "growing older but not up......" Voice sang a beautiful song written by a friend and KD sang a song in french. Tink topped things off with a recorder (flute) solo and a sound track from a movie she saw while in Damascus...."America %*&$# yeah"! Miss Janet and her hostel is a hoot!The precher and his wife (section hikers) are there doing some handyman jobs for Miss Janet while some injuries heal. Boo Boo will be heading back to Clewiston today. KD will just continue on the trail while Tink and Voice plan to slack a 14 mile section. We all plan to hook back up near the end and summit Springer Mtn. on the 22nd of Nov. Its still a ways off but we all want to be home for Thanksgiving. Flounder and I had planned to be on the trail by 10 am. but, because of all the good times and the goodbyes we don't get started 'til 1:00 pm! Oh well, it was fun and we'll make up the miles somehow! We have made arrangements for my parents to pick us up (for their anniversary cruise) at Newfound Gap on Nov. 2nd. so unfortunately, we are somewhat on a schedule now. Not a bad day hiking. A little rain and not many views but some pretty nice trail. Just past Flint Gap we come across a hound dog (bear dog) with a radio collar. It immediately starts to follow us. I should say the dog makes it nearly impossible to hike a steady pace because it keeps cutting between and stopping in front of us. We tried everything to get rid of it.....even yelling at it and pushing it away but the damn thing seemed to love any attention it could get. We felt sorry for it and I gave it some of my water. The dog smelled like it rolled around in "you know what" and when we tried to sit down to rest it climbed all over us and slobbered all over everything. We were truly annoyed. As we passed over a little bald at dusk/dark the dog got side tracked a bit and we ran down the mountain... lossing it. We felt triumphant! A ways down the trail we heard a sorrowful howling from up on top, Again we felt bad for leaving it but we needed some peace and could not imagine being in the shelter with such an ignorant beast! I'm sure the poor creature never gets any attention (unless it's abuse) and spends the majority of it's life in a small cage/kennel. Anyway, a half-hour into our night hike we could not hear the howling any more and life was good!At Jerry Cabin Shelter (not a cabin), we meet Chris. He is down from Illinois doing a small section nobo. We just stopped in for a "sit down break" and planned to go another 7 miles to the next shelter (wanting to get to Hot Springs tomorrow) but..... It was dark, drizzling, and extremely foggy. Hiking in the fog at nite is tough. You can't hike with your headlamp on your head because it lights up all the particles right infront of your eyes making it impossible to see. Sort of like a putting your car headlights on high beam in the fog....only to the next level! Therefore, you have to hold the light down near your waste to get anywhere at all. Chris told us the trail ahead is quite rough too so we decide to stay. He is nice company. Just as we are crawling into our bags and I'm finishing up this entry that damn dog shows up! I guess it's been bred to track and apparently we carry a scent! Luckily, it didn't try to climb in the shelter but just snorted and grunted around like a hog. Apparently triumphant in tracking us down! Finally, I put in my ear plugs (a "must have" on the trail) and close the journal and try to sleep.