Date: 2019-05-01
From: Flint Mountain Shelter

To: Hogback Ridge Shelter
Miles today: 8.8
Weather: overcast clouds

Today I got another pack shakedown! Prometheus should do these as a job lol he loves to give shakedowns. He emptied my toiletries and took a lot of random stuff out and then emptied my wallet. I¢m a receipt hoarder because I worry about losing receipts and not being able to return things if needed. He threw them all in a trash bag and I sucked it up because I knew I probably didn¢t need them anyway. It took a little while to complete the shakedown, but he removed a solid 2 pounds worth of weight and put it in a ziplock bag for me to send home later. We got packed up and headed out. It was later than he wanted and I knew that, but he also chose to give me a shakedown and that was his decision. We hiked down to a road and there was a hostel there. I had once thought of staying here and having a package sent here, but changed my mind when I talked to Hot Sauce and Prometheus about Erwin, TN. The hostel was pretty small, but it had some soda and frozen pizzas and a microwave. There was no one there, but there was a sign that said ¢if no one is here, we¢ll be back soon¢. We took a frozen pizza and heated it up and planned to keep a tab for when the owner got back. We each got a soda and an ice cream bar too. There was a doggie running around and we were both excited by her. A man drove in and said his wife was a hiker, so he grabbed a soda for her and left money in a little container on the table. The dog was going crazy at the car and a man walked over to settle the dog. I guess he was the owner. It was a little weird honestly. He was kinda ¢off¢. I put money in the container, but kinda wanted to get out of there. We got our packs on and left to get back on the AT. I did weigh my pack because there was a scale there, and it was 38 pounds! Still heavy, but much better than before! Getting there!As with any gap or road crossing, guess what we got to do?! A little louder for the people in the back. CLIMB! We climbed for a bit and arrived at a waterfall. It was really pretty. Prometheus spotted a good photo opportunity and went and climbed this ridiculous log suspended in front of the waterfall. He set up his camera for the shot and I took it for him. He took my picture too. I filled my water bottles here and we kept going. We finally got to the end of the up, but we still hadn¢t gotten that far. We were both tired. Prometheus had gotten an email from Subaru saying they wanted to feature him in a magazine, but he didn¢t have the picture and was upset. He was reaching out to people at home who might have it and we sat down in the middle of the trail to wait for it, as he only had until tonight to get the photo and he didn¢t want to miss the opportunity. We saw some folks headed to the shelter for the night after a 16-mile day. We were about a mile from the shelter. We got up and started to discuss plans. It was getting stormy and we wanted to avoid the rain and get to town, but we were both tired and wanted to stay in the shelter. We thought it all out, but decided with pen and paper at the shelter we could really nail it down. We got there and it was actually a really nice setup. The privy was nice and there were a million tent spots. The only sucky thing was the water; it was two million miles away. That was truly the farthest water source I¢ve ever been to. We sketched out the plan and decided to hike tomorrow to Spivey Gap and get off trail and out of the rain, and then slackpack the rest the next day. It was a good plan. We called the hostel to book a room and shuttle for tomorrow. We then walked down across the globe to the water source and washed our feet in the ice cold water and filtered our water. On the way back up, Prometheus tried to take a shortcut, but I still beat him. There was no shortcut to this ridiculously far source. We started to make dinner. I only had chicken teriyaki left. Ugh. The worst. Especially with my sensitive tummy, it was not happening. I ate maybe three bites and was chowing down on saltine crackers to get it all down. Prometheus finished it for me and admitted that he thought it was a bit heavy. He gave me one of his rice sides to have for dinner instead. I couldn¢t simmer it, so I just let it boil a while, but it stuck to the inside of my stove pot. I ate most of it, but even rice was hard to get down. We were all setup in the shelter, but then I looked up and saw a mouse. I told everyone and they looked up too and sure enough, this little guy was running all over the log walls of the shelter. Prometheus wanted to kill it and we all were cool with that. Mice can ruin gear and they can also crawl on you while you sleep. I wasn¢t letting a mouse chew my thousands of dollars worth of gear, and I didn¢t want them crawling on me. There are stories of a woman who wore lip balm and a mouse eating her lips, and a woman who woke up with one in her stove, and another with one in her hair as she was having a dream about a haircut. And then of course the one that chewed Hot Sauce¢s pocket. They¢re unpleasant and I¢m not a fan. I¢ve seen some traps for them, but there weren¢t any here. Prometheus found the nest inside the logs and was ready to go, but soon found the entire family of mice and they all scattered out of the nest. Yeah no. He couldn¢t take out the whole fam, so it was the humans that ended up leaving. Stupid mice. Prometheus set up his tent and I helped move everything in there. I cleaned my stove and buried the rice leftovers. I got into the tent and actually managed to sleep well this time. We didn¢t stay up talking, so I actually got a good sleep. Progress! And no mice! Looking forward to our town adventure tomorrow! Little Debbie