Date: 2007-03-19
From: Muskrat Creek Shelter

To: Carter Gap Shelter
Miles today: 12.5
Weather: broken clouds

We started out from the shelter at 9 this morning and got into this shelter at 4:30pm. Pilot was the first to leave this morning and has hiked on past this shelter to probably Betty Creek Gap where there is a campsite. Also, Charles and Nancy got an early start today, are fast hikers, and are most likely at Betty Gap also. From there it is about 12 miles to Winding Stair Gap where they were getting off to go into Franklin. The rest of the hikers that were at Muskrat Creek are here tonight along with Many Names. He came all the way from Plumborchard Shelter today--20 miles!! I decided to rate the difficulty of the climbs as I was hiking today. Thinking of the first 2 in NC I decided they would be a 10 (most difficult). None were that difficult today. The climb to Standing Indian Mtn. was not so steep but it was long and had many rocks and roots along the wider than usual trail. I rated it a 6 or 7. Toto called it a 3, Dog's Life 6 or 7, Buckles called it more of a five. So everyone would differ depending on what kind of condition they are in. After we finish our hike we most likely come back to those same 2 climbs and rate them still pretty high but maybe not a 10. The level of conditioning of the hikers varies a great deal. Most everyone today thought that NC did a nice job with the trail today. Had it been any rougher we would not have made it this far. Bucket is also here tonight. She had stayed at Bly Gap and so walked over 15 miles today. She really did well.At Deep Gap today we received wonderful trail magic from 2 young men, Pedro and Geezer, that thruhiked in 2006. Cold drinks, packages of delicious cookies, chips, and packs of trail mix. That was our lunch. Some hikers that we ran into today that were hiking south said we will hit some trail magic just before Albert Mountain. The cuisine is supposed to be hamburgers and hotdogs. In '05 there was trail magic at that same spot. So another lunch that doesn't come from our packs tomorrow!The weather was slightly cool today whenever we would stop. It was partly cloudy so we did see some sun. Still a beautiful day. It's not supposed to be as cold tonight. Last night a hiker said his thermometer in his tent read 28 degrees. Ice formed in water bottles and containers that were left out of tents. My fingers got very cold when I filtered our water from the stream at the shelter. Toto boiled water for coffee before we left camp and it did a lot toward warming us up. We are staying in the shelter tonight because the shelter is situated such that the wind is not coming into it. We should be able to get up and get started a little earlier tomorow. We will most likely go only 12 miles to the next shelter tomorrow but if we feel good enough we may go 16 miles to the road and go into Franklin. Toto has a hot spot on one heel that he has been putting moleskin on today and could probably use a day off from hiking.We are doing good on our miles--pushing ourselves a little bit more everyday.We feel good except for the aches and pains of walking every day. Definitely we need to listen to our bodies and rest when we feel we need to.