Date: 2015-08-09
From: NH112

To: Us3/93 1815.9
Miles today: 16.0

Today, Sunday, the journal entry is being written by the Iceman's daughter, Sandra. I hiked with the Iceman and another NOBO, 3D. What amazing athletes these men are. I was blown away but the strength and determination of these AT travelers. I'll try to describe a day on the trail with the Iceman for you all.First off the day starts early. Get up and out because it's going to be a long day, 16 miles of mountain climbing. I don't really understand what this means until we are in the thick of it several hours later with many miles to go.The Dwight Yoakam song, "1,000 miles from nowhere" is hounding me much of the day. Where are we! How can I get out of this place! Anyway, I'm getting sidetracked. The trail... The trail was all about pain. It was up, up, up rocks, mud, mostly rocks. The slope so steep that I had to use my upper body to pull myself up much of the way. I found that going up was easier than going down. Down is brutal on the knees. There were steps carved into the rocks and steps of wood attached to the rock face when the slope was too steep to climb.We started at Rt. 112 and hiked up to Mt. Wolf. It was a climb of 1,600 ft. elevation up from the starting point. Then we went down and had to go up again 1,950 ft. elevation to get to S. Kinsman Mountain. The view was astounding. But I must admit that I was way too tired and hurting to really enjoy it. There was a stone throne at the summit. Perfect place to contemplate the meaning of it all, and by IT I mean the meaning of doing this climb!!Anyway, we got up there and next we had to get back down. There were stands of stunted trees at the top. This is a cold place for much of the year but today it was beautiful weather. Just perfect weather for hiking.   We had a bit of rain, nothing to worry about though.We were doing about 1.5 miles an hour and at times slower than that. The Iceman and 3D had to wait up for me many times and I was very sorry to hold them back. We were all concerned about getting out of the trail before nightfall. The Iceman was the only one of the three of us with a lamp. This was not the kind of trail that one could hike in the dark, even with a lamp.We had to cross many streams with slippery rocks. For the most part there were trees along the trail which are very helpful for having something to hang onto when either going up or down.This hike had some really beautiful moments. There were ponds high in the mountains with wildflowers. There were mosses and ferns perfect for forest faeries. We encountered a little grey mouse - so cute - hopping around the forest floor. There was a large woodpecker just ten feet away on the trail.After 12 long hours of hiking a trail of rocks and steep slopes we finally made it out at 7:30pm, just before it got too dark to continue. Thank goodness for the Sherpa. Sherpa saves the day yet again by being at the right place at the right time. Mom was there waiting for us at the end of the trail. Thanks Mom! and thanks Dad and 3D for taking me along for a day. During the day the Sherpa went to WhalesTale waterpark with her grandsons, Walter and Sam and after that Thrillsville for some fun with cables and climbing and zip lining. What a day!