Date: 2010-04-20
From: Campsite on Watauga Lake

To: Iron Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 14.9
Weather: broken clouds

Highs and lows.My day started great, fizzled down to me feeling pretty crummy, and then came back up to neutral, where I am now. We'll rewind to this morning. Actually, we'll go back a little further to last night. As Braids and I were leaving Pizza Plus, we noticed a vending machine of fake mustaches for fifty cents. I joked about getting them and wearing them into the shelter (at the time, we both planned to go to Watauga Lake Shelter). As soon as I said it, Braids' eyes lit up, and I knew we had to do it. Soon we each had a tiny fake mustache in our hands and plans to put them on just before arriving at the shelter. When we decided to camp with Dirt Stew and Dormouse instead, the plan was forgotten. Realizing this a bit later, we agreed to put them on before leaving our tents this morning and give D.S. and D.M. an early morning laugh.Fast forward to this morning - Braids and I were up first and collapsed into giggles for a good 10 minutes over our new mustached selves. She also informed me early this morning that she had decided to forego the big miles she usually does and hike with D.S., D.M., and me at least through Damascus. This made me incredibly happy! We made the others laugh and continued to have a blast with "Mustache Day" until well into the afternoon. There was also a morning photo session that resulted in some pretty hilarious shots.We were all fairly lazy this morning (I didn't leave camp until 9:30!) and had hiked just under 5 miles when we came upon Bob Peoples and several others doing trail work just before noon. Thanks to Dirt Stew, we joined them for a bit. I'm SO glad we did! It was hard work, but I had a blast. I helped mostly by climbing the steep hill off-trail and pulling out big rocks to line the soon-to-be-backfilled new trail. We'd unearth them and then carefully slide the bigger ones down the slope. After we worked for a while (30 minutes, an hour?), we decided we better hit the trail for our 10 remaining miles. Bob went to his pack and pulled out special patches that are given to any hiker who stops to help out. It says, "Hiker-Trail Volunteer, Tennessee Eastman Hiking Club." None of us felt like we really did enough to deserve a patch, but I absolutely love it. I'm going to sew it on my pack the first chance I get. How cool! This makes me even more excited for Hard Core! As a bonus, I think D.S. and D.M. are much more excited about Trail Days and Hard Core and it's sounding like they'll come. I really hope Braids will, too! We make such a fun little group! So I also mentioned lows today. Looking back on the day, this wasn't a big deal at all. Basically, after our trail work, I started dragging hard. I guess I was in the morning some, too, but my mood made up for it. I continued to bomb, despite trying to pack in calories whenever possible, and I basically dragged myself to the shelter, coming in long after everyone else. It was (and still is) also raining, which I'm sure didn't help. After getting really awesome warm food (Mountain House lasagna - what a treat!) in my belly, I quickly started to rebound. Now I am cozy and dry in my hammock, and all is just fine and dandy. I'm about to snuggle in for a good night's sleep, and hopefully my energy levels will be back to normal tomorrow. Postscript, April 20, 2011: Happy Mustache Day, everyone!!!