Date: 2019-02-25
From: Wine Spring Camp 

To: The NOC
Miles today: 19.1

AT Trail day 919.1 milesZip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay My, oh, my, what a wonderful day Plenty of sunshine headin' my way Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay!¢¦What a difference sunshine makes. I find myself singing little positive songs like this to myself all morning. It will put pep in your step. Last night was the coldest night I¢ve ever spent. The temperature was 23 degrees but the winds were roaring from all directions. The wind-chill must have been in the teens. When you sleep in a tent you need to allow for air flow or the water from your breath will cause water drops to collect inside your tent¢s roof and drop down on your sleeping bag. This is called condensation. If the down feathers get wet they lose their insulating properties. One of my fears is to be stuck in the wilderness with a wet sleeping bag. You can lower the tent to decrease the amount of air coming in. Urgent Cat Hole had his tent buttoned up to keep out the wind. He got lots of condensation but it froze to his roof. I had a choice get a wet bag or deal with cold wind blowing into the tent. I lowered the tent more than normal but some of the cold wind gusts could still get in. The wind goes into your sleeping bag and ruins the warm air that the feathers trapped. I wore all my clothes. On top I had a thermal shirt, hiking shirt, Patagonia R3 fleece, down jacket, wind jacket, rain jacket, ski baklava, beanie and snowboarding gloves. I had similar clothes on the bottom. I kept waking up with slight shivering. Once I woke up I¢d have to go pee because that¢s what cold does to me. The positive part of going outside to pee in frigid temperatures was the beautiful night sky. It was reassuring to discover that my 3 year old ZPacks Duplex can still hold its own in a major windstorm. Around 2:00 in the morning I heard this crackling noise. I tried to ignore it because you hear all sorts of night sounds. Then I got to thinking that a bear was trying to get into my Ursack food bag I had tied to a nearby tree. I fumbled around until I found my headlamp and shined it toward my bag. Luckily no bear. Later on I realized that I was hearing the sound of ice forming inside my water bottle. I had placed my stinky shoes and socks inside the tent with me in the hopes that they wouldn¢t freeze. They did. During breakfast I sat on my shoes and stuffed the socks under my shirt to try and dry them out. The shoes got pliable enough for me to get my feet inside. The socks were still stiff so I used a clean pair. The grass and other low lying vegetation had these beautiful feathery looking ice crystals formations covering them. Most of the trail at high elevations had this. There was one short section where ice covered the trail. Urgent Cat Hole told me that this famous trail angel was going to be serving food at one of the road crossings. While hiking down the mountain I started smelling bacon. I don¢t even eat bacon but I¢d enjoy some pancakes and eggs. I got to the road and nothing. So why was I smelling bacon?  I think the cool fresh air and the forest triggered memories of family camping trips which wouldn¢t be complete without bacon and eggs cooked on a two burner Coleman gas stove Lots of views to enjoy today. There is a very interesting rock tower on Wayah Bald. There was also an observation tower on Wesser Bald. The trail down from Wesser Bald to the NOC had numerous blowdowns blocking the trail. In some cases you had to get down on your hands and knees to crawl under the tree trunk. I got to the NOC outfitter less than 5 minutes before they closed. The staff was very friendly and more than happy to stay open to help a hiker. They even helped me replace my damaged Leiki trekking pole tips. I have to offer a shoutout to ZPacks customer service. I¢ve contacted about at least 3 concerns and they get back to me within 24 hours and offer sound advice. They don¢t try to brush you off or make excuses for a problem that I think I¢m having with my gear. 2 of the 3 concerns were user error on my part. The most recent issue was with my Arc Haul fabric loosening up during 6 days of rain which allowed my middle horizontal support to fall out while I was hiking. They are going to send me a replacement to me up the trail. Tomorrow I leave for Fontana Dam to pick up a resupply box on the 27th. Then I head out in more rain to enjoy the sights and challenges of The Great Smoke Mountain National Park. It¢s supposed to get cold again and might snow! Let the adventure continue. I hope that I¢m up for challenge. Happy hiking, Silver Streak