Date: 2007-12-21
From: Hot Springs

To: Roaring Fork Shelter
Miles today: 18.8
Weather: overcast clouds

We got away from Elmer's at 7:00am heading for Roaring Fork Shelter 18.8 miles away and with lots of climbing. We are going to Standing Bear Hostel tomorrow night so are carrying only one night's food. 1787 meters of climbing, as it turned out to be, was enough of a challenge with a one-day pack (997m down). I suppose the fact that we have winter weight packs is pretty significant. It would be a lot easier with a summer weight pack. I had a stomach ache and after arriving at the shelter spent some time checking out the privy. Hope tomorrow is a better day, stomach-wise. Anything like that saps your energy and I have a bit of concern that it might be a nasty requiring medication. But I'm not going to jump the gun, just wait and see if it settles down.Torque wandered nonchalantly in at about 4.30 looking fresh and rested. He is, like us, looking forward to his Christmas break. His family is coming to get him at Davenport Gap and I'm not sure when he plans to get back on the trail for the final push to Springer.Temperatures ranged from 6 degrees C to 12 (42.8 - 53.6o F) and it was windy and cold on Bluff Mountain. We stopped for lunch at Walnut Mountain Shelter and it was a mistake. The "shelter" is right on the ridge in the wind (whichever way the wind blows) and its water source is a small muddy puddle. At least it has one! We look back on some of the water sources we drank out of and wonder that we are still going. Of course we treat or boil. This water source we felt was unnecessary to use since there have been a lot of lovely streams along the way. We thought the shelter would have been much better placed at one of these. It was the coldest worst place to have lunch. The shelter is one of the small ones, obviously quite old, and the wind whistles through the chinks in the log walls and up through the gaps in the floor. There is probably a group of people who prize it as "historic" and resist any idea of replacement. Just after leaving there we came across a lovely sheltered spot with a beautiful stream where lunch would have very pleasant indeed. There was no wind most of the time, except on Bluff Mountain and at Walnut Mountain Shelter. Oh well! Two men we met were going to that shelter for the night and said to us they had heard from people ahead of us that Walnut Mountain shelter was a good one to avoid. I'd agree wholeheartedly with that. I was interested that the younger of the two remarked that he thought he'd see more Americans out hiking if the shelters were better. I wondered if this could be true. At present, staying in shelters can result in having to make a lot more town visits due to not being able to keep clean and dry while on the trail. This might in fact be contrary to any public policy ideas of encouraging Americans into the outdoors to combat increasing isolation from nature.The Roaring Fork Shelter where we currently are is a new one so presumably encapsulates the current theories of shelter building. It has log walls with natural gaps intact and the wind whistles through them and up through the gaps between the boards of the sleeping platform. Sound familiar? Some things have changed, however, as this shelter is a lot larger and is located much more favorably beside a lovely stream and amongst a grove of rhododendrons which cut the wind. It has an overhang in front sufficient to keep out most weather. There is also a privy, luckily!Dave said today that for the first time he thought we might have a chance of finishing the trail! This is a huge concession from him as we still have the Smokies to go through and anything could happen there. We could still be stopped by a major storm or other things you can't control like injury etc. Still, our chances improve with every mile of progress further south.I forgot to mention the trail magic we found in Spring Mountain Shelter. Allgood found an unopened bottle of Kentucky Bourbon that someone had left there (inadvertently??). We were impressed that by the time we arrived, both Allgood and Torque had spent a night there and the bottle was still almost full! We got there in the morning, not the best time for a tipple, so were forced to carry some so we could have our tipple at a more appropriate time. We are finishing it off at present. Purely medicinal of course. The stuff is horrible. I understand some people are actually willing to pay for it!Marta Clark Photo - Spring Mtn. ShelterRoaring Fork Shelter photo by Marta Clark (Five Leaf)Bridge into Hot Springs - Photo by BOO-BOO