Date: 2003-04-16
From: US19E

To: South of Moreland Gap Shelter
Miles today: 13.5
Weather: scattered clouds

I'm not sure where I am exactly. I mean, I have a rough idea, and am not lost, but I'm not camping at a known, listed campsite so I don't know how far I hiked today. That's a little bit of a bummer, because Hotdog and I think it might be our longest mileage day. I figured we hiked at least 13.2, and he figured approximately 13.5. Either way, we will cross the 400 mile mark within one mile! Yippee! To start the day, we had a decent little climb. Both Hotdog and I were in need of a privy, and before too long, we headed in opposite directions to (ahem) take care of business. Once that was done, we were swift on our feet! Until I got us lost.We were climbing a beautiful hollow, and I led us all the way to the top, where there were four possible directions to go. None had white blazes on them. I walked up one trail, Hotdog walked up one and down another. He went back down into the hollow and came back up. I went down, packless, backtracking until I came to a white blaze. There on the post was the blaze, and the important thing I missed... an arrow pointing right. Darn! I walked back up to the top of the hollow, yelled to Hotdog, who was out scouting the other routes, shouldered my pack, and we headed back down to the trail. It kinda ticked me off because I should've seen it, but having a single blaze, I saw it from afar and was looking farther uphill when I went past it. For sharp turns or trail intersections, usually there are double blazes and I look around for the next one. This time, the trail maintainers fooled me by putting an arrow. It wasn't the only time I lost the trail. I thought I saw double blazes with the top one offset to the right, which means the trail turns right. Just before we headed that way I asked Hotdog "That was a double blaze to the right, wasn't it?" He said yes, but took a few steps back to make sure. "Uh... no. Just double blazes." Then he saw the blazes on the fence to the left. I gotta watch what I'm doing, or at least where I'm going!Part of the trail was recently relocated, so we didn't have profile data (showing trail elevation changes), or other detailed trail information. I knew how far it was to the end of the relocation, but in between, our distance guages were off. That seemed to make for a longer day. Plus both of us are still feeling sick, with sore throat, stuffiness, fever, etc. And, it was warm today. The little ups and downs seemed to hit us harder today because of all of those factors.However, we saw a beautiful waterfall, Jones Waterfall, and ate lunch by it. It was awesome! The water jumped off the rocks high above, then cascaded down slanted rocks. Just awesome. Later in the day, we passed much smaller falls, called Mountaineer Falls, but after seeing the Big One earlier in the day, we were happy to look at these falls as we hiked by.At the end of the relocation, we came to a gravel road, and sat down, having hiked 10.2 miles so far. It was around 3pm. There was a truck parked nearby, and soon we heard voices coming south on the AT. It was Bob Peoples, owner of Kincora Hostel, and some trail maintainers including current thruhikers out doing trail work. He came over and offered us a ride to his hostel tonight and shuttle back to the trail in the morning. We both said we'd go ahead and hike a bit tonight, then into Kincora tomorrow. He offered to take any of our belongings ahead too, to lighten our loads. We both refused, knowing we'd be tenting tonight, and needing most of our gear. It was cool to meet Mr. Peoples and I can't wait to stay there tomorrow night! Actually, it's the shower I really want!Hotdog and I are tented... somewhere. We were looking for a specific campsite, but missed it, and, when we got tired enough to stop, we stopped.The forecast for tonight is 40% chance of rain, and 60% chance tomorrow. I'm hoping it holds off until after we're packed up. If not, I try my hand at packing up in the rain. I THINK I can fully pack my pack without getting out of my tent. Well, except for my food bag, which is hanging on a tree nearby. We usually bear bag our food, but decided to cheat, and we just pulled down a smaller tree, hung our bags from a branch, and let the tree up. Bears can surely reach the food, but hopefully none come around, and it's enough to keep other critters out of it too. If not, it's only about 10 miles to Kincora.I've been wearing a short sleeved shirt lately, since it's been much warmer. Plus, I've been wearing shorts. Now my "farmer's tan" is really weird. I already had one from softball, and now my sockline is a little bit higher. Since I was wearing a long sleeved shirt, my forearms are tan, and my uper arms are red. I have a bright white ring around my left wrist where my watch is, and a fainter white band across the back of each hand where the straps from my hiking poles sit. All in all, I'm sure I look nothing less than silly. I got a new blister today, on the back of my right heel. Now it matches the one on my left heel. All of my other blisters are healed up. I think. I hope. Blisters are annoying me. I'm wondering about getting Superfeet insoles, or new boots or shoes. For now, it's duct tape 'em and hike. It's gotten me this far, and I think that's pretty darned good!