Date: 2015-03-28
From: Jerrys Cabin Shelter

To: Hogback Ridge Shelter
Miles today: 13.8
Weather: overcast clouds

Today started off with freezing conditions. The temperature was 12 F. I don't know what that is in Celsius, but I know it's extremely, unbelievably cold. Anyone who knows me will know how much I hate being even a little bit cold, so this is a real test of my endurance.Everything was frozen. The condensation on my sleeping bag was ice, The straps and zippers on my pack were frozen. My camelbak, even though I emptied it, was frozen. It was so cold that it took me 10 minutes to put my boots on, since they were absolutely rock solid. It was quite painful to jam my blisters in and spend so long shoving and pushing and cramming my feet in. Brightside and Voltron went the alternative route and wore their crocs instead, despite the snow still on the ground. Brightside managed to walk all 13.8 miles in her crocs today, and was still faster than me. She said that it was very comfortable, though she fell down about a million times. As I was walking today, my buff around my face froze, and my earphone wires also got covered in a layer of ice. It took just under an hour of mostly uphill walking for my feet to unthaw. My camelbak wasn't usable until about noon, and even then the leaking part made a lump of ice on my pack. I'm a little worried about the other hikers, I know there are plenty of people who are not prepared for this kind of weather. I also know that some hikers, including the Rhode Island Express, sent home their winter gear in Hot Springs. I really hope that everyone is staying dry and not cold (warm is a bit much to ask for at the moment). Although it was freezing, the sun was shining, so I got both sunburnt and felt very cold for most of the day. The majority of the day seemed to be uphill, with one leg winding uphill for 3 miles. It took even longer today to do less miles than yesterday, possibly because of the late start today (due to the freezing conditions). It seems much harder at the moment to do shorter mileage than we were doing in the Smokies. But I'm very, very glad that we are not experiencing this weather in the Smokies.We were fortunate enough to get some trail magic today. A man called Yonder and his wife, who had thru hiked in 2007, were on the trail and giving out food. They gave me an apple fritter, a banana, and root beer. They reached me a bit before the big climb of the day, so it gave me some motivation to keep going. It was a very welcome surprise. It was 3pm by the time I reached the shelter, where Frodo and Chef already had a fire going. It was really necessary, because it was still so cold despite the sun almost all day. Most of the snow has melted already, though we're predicted another record low temperature tonight. The good thing is that my sleeping bag is keeping me warm enough, and I'm staying warm and dry when I'm hiking too. Staying in shelters also helps to stay warm, so I'm appreciating those a lot too. Even though they only have 3 sides, the shelters still have more protection and hold warmth better than most tents. Though, of course there are mice... Since we have stopped a bit early today, tomorrow we will have to hike 20.8 miles- there is no other option. The weather is expected to be clear and maybe 10 degrees warmer than today. We're not due to have proper warm weather until mid week. I don't especially want it to be hot, I just want to be warm. Even just not cold would be great. I really hope that my boots aren't frozen in the morning, and I really hope the sun is shining tomorrow.