Date: 2014-03-25
From: Muskrat Creek Shelter

To: Long Branch Shelter
Miles today: 21.1
Weather: overcast clouds

Last night before bed I decided that if the weather turned bad I would change my trail plan. The original plan had me hiking to Carter Gap Shelter 12.5 miles. When I woke up and opened my tent flap, snow fell into the tent. Overnight an inch of snow had fallen. I hurriedly ate, packed up, and hit the trail at 7:30 AM before anybody was up in camp. It was dark, but this morning I didn't use my headlamp because the snow brightened the trail enough to see. I blazed the trail and it was clear that no one left before me. All that was visible on the trail were many rodent, rabbit, and bird tracks. The trail was very difficult for the first few miles and slippery. My progress was slow but eventually I made it to Standing Indian Shelter, a distance of 4.9 miles. Some hikers had already left that shelter and I followed their footprints for several hours. At about 10:00 AM it started to sleet very hard. The sleet beat against my raingear sounding like snapping rubber bands. The trail became icy and the tree limbs glistened with ice and the rhododendrons sagged low under the weight of the ice. The wind also picked up and the temperature started to fall even more. I stopped for lunch at Carter Gap Shelter and was amazed that I had made such good time. I guess the cold kept me moving nonstop. Three other hikers were huddled in the shelter and said they were going to wait-out the weather. The shelter was frigid as the wind howled directly into it. I wasn't about to stay there because it looked like a good place to freeze to death.   I hiked on as the temperature fell even more and the wind rose to gale force. The trees creaked and moaned. More than once I turned around to see who was yelling. It was the wind and trees sounding like voices hidden in the forest. Then the snow started falling in earnest. Now, my footprints were all that were visible again and I began to feel like Mother Nature had it in for me for hiking today.About 3:00 PM I got to Mount Albert. A terrible uphill rock climb. I tied my trekking poles to my pack and began to climb with my bare hands and frozen boots. Mother Nature or a higher force took pity on me during this torturous climb because the snow, sleet and wind subsided for the moment. I took off my gloves and climbed the icy cold and slippery rocks. As I crested the top I found the wind waiting to ambush me. It hit me as I climbed over the last rock with gale force as if it fully intended to push me backward off the cliff face. I hurried on as the wind picked up and the snow began falling again. The temperature continued to fall.   I had no choice by now but to keep hiking. Even a brief stop to rest quickly caused the sweat to freeze and sent shivers through my body. I finally made my destination, a remarkable 21.1 miles, the most by a long way. It was about 5:00 and already the sky was dark and menacing. The shelter slept 16 on two levels, but only 4 people where there, all on the top level. They had built a wall with ground sheets to try and stop the wind from blowing into the three side building. I figured they knew what they were doing so I joined them on the top level. They were all in their sleeping bags trying to stay warm. I climbed into mine and shivered uncontrollable for a half an hour. My clothes were wet with sweat and snow. I changed my clothes and moved to the lower level and wedged into a corner out of the wind. About then two other hikers joined us. A mid-twenty guy named Mike from Colorado who had great warm equipment. I had camped with Colorado at Tray Mountain and Top of Georgia Hostel. Three nights in a row for the two of us. Later a 19 year old, Ben, from Washington D.C. arrived. I later learned that a twenty-something guy from Cornwall, England, who we called Cornwall, and a thirtyish German from Heidelberg called Germany, were on the upper level. A girl and another guy were also on the upper level. I never saw him come out of his sleeping bag and she only emerged from her bag once to take a pee. The German was warmly dressed, arctic clothes, but still he did calisthenics to keep warm. Cornwall and I ran up and down a hill to keep warm.Only the German ate, everyone else just huddled in their bags afraid of the cold and wind. After a vigorous run I climbed into my bag, without dinner. The hydration tube to my water bladder was frozen solid and my water filter didn't want to work. I took the chance and drank unfiltered water from the stream because I was so dehydrated. My new spot proved to be out of the wind and with dry clothes I was soon very comfortable in the bag. It was only 6:30 PM, but Colorado was sleeping hard and never waked all night. Ben and I talked for a short time but the cold was too much and we just laid there in silence listening to the wind howl and watching the snow pile up on our sleeping bags. The four hikers upstairs didn't move or make a sound.No one took precautions against bear and mice, we were too cold. The cold must have kept the wild animals in their homes because we didn't see one mousetail all night.At 6:30 my thermometer read 20 degrees. I was confident my 12 degree sleeping bag would keep me warm all night. I was wrong.New name for RW: Really Winter.