Date: 2015-05-05
From: Standing Bear Hostel 

To: Groundhog Creek Shelter
Miles today: 6.9
Weather: broken clouds

I laid in the bunk last night and read all of your messages. Thank you so so much for all of your kind words and encouragement. It is so great to hear from you. I love to feel connected to home and I love to hear from strangers and people I've just met. I just love you all. It sounds sort of silly but I just couldn't do this without you. Thank you all for everything I am not sure who but someone asked about sending things... my friend Mary Ann has been doing a great job of getting my resupply boxes out and would be happy to help you get anything you'd like to send to wherever I'll be. She has all the info. You can send her an email at maryann.organ8@gmail.com I was slow getting out of bed this morning. Im a sucker for a warm blanket and cool breeze. Both doors of the bunkhouse were evidently opened prior to 6:30 when I first woke up so there was a cool morning breeze blowing through. There was a rooster at the farm that yelled a couple times an hour every hour it seemed from 4am forward. Today was a hard day. Not even one day after the smokies and the trail was back to its old tricks. I climbed Snowbird Mountain today, almost 2500 feet of elevation gain over 4.4 miles. It was a long slow hot hours long climb, 4 miles all uphill. I was thinking back it's been awhile since I climbed a mountain proper. The bugs were out in full force today. Flying in my eyes, up my nose, in my mouth, they even tried flying into my ears. I always keep my buff over my ears because that's the part I'm most neurotic about. I hear them knocking but they can't get in I killed one in my eye trying to get him out and then had little bug body parts in my eye for the next hour. Swarms of little jerks. I couldn't think about anything else all day. Devastating for morale. I couldn't stop to catch my breath, couldn't stop to drink water or filter water, hordes of horrible horrible tiny buzzing nightmares. I thought about it today and decided I'd rather have a bunch of bats flying around my head because at least the bats would eat the bugs. I think they bite my head through my buff. Sometimes I had to stop and just cover my face with my hands and let them bite me everywhere else. It was all I could do to hold onto my sanity. I even swatted and killed a couple in my weaker moments. I know, I'm ashamed The chipmunks were also out today, I must have seen 15. As I was walking - the forest was erupting and crashing around me, I think they thought they were discretely getting into hiding (they were not) I was standing and admiring a delicate dainty little purple flower when I saw a bumble, the fattest fuzziest kind, heading straight for it. I hoped for the best. The buzzer landed on the flower and brought the whole thing down like a purple bumble umbrella, I wish I could have taken a picture. There are lots of new flowers out and also lots of poison ivy. Thats only a matter of time When I got to the first shelter I immediately set up my tent. I ate a quick dinner and then mixed up some chocolate mocha dessert which I had been saving for just this type of day. I climbed in my tent and ate my mocha mousse. I can count 26 of them buzzing under my rain fly. Jerks. I also decided today that miles are not at all representative of how tough a day's hike is. These 7 miles were definitely tough. I had a couple more in me but there's a service road 2 miles from here and a parking lot 2 miles from there. I steer clear of camping by any road or parking lot. It kind of makes me mad that boys don't really need to worry about that but I do. Tomorrow I'll try for 13.1. Max Patch is tomorrow so hopefully this weather clears out for good views. I miss the flat spots of terrain already. I keep meaning to tell you Joe and Anna - Congratulations! I wish you both happiness!