Date: 2003-04-05
From: Icewater Spring Shelter

To: Tri-Corner Knob Shelter
Miles today: 12.6
Weather: moderate rain

Day 23 A Different Kind of DayWeather: Kind of fascinating. Cold rain in the morning caused us to start late...9 a.m. Sky turned blue, temperature in low 70's.We all woke up at day break and it was still raining fairly steady. Everyone was kind of waiting it out. I don't think I mentioned yesterday that when we stopped at Newfound Gap, Mule threw out the idea that we all go to the Cherokee casino for a zero. Goldberry killed that suggestion. Well, this morning we joked about how with the bad weather we could have been whooping it up gambling, eating and drinking instead of sitting here watching it rain. David and his Mom pulled out first cause they had to be somewhere by afternoon. Radio Shack said the forecast called for clearing and warm. It did start to clear and everyone packed up and moved on.Mule, Driver and I pulled out about 9. Goldberry took off earlier as she wanted to hike by herself for awhile (and be ahead of me.) Our pace was different and we separated for a couple of hours. When I said the weather was fascinating it was along the ridge lines. To the west was clear to partly cloudy skies while the east was so foggy you couldn't see 30 feet in front of you. During the day the sun stayed on the Trail and the views were great. At about 12:30 we reached the side trail to the first shelter. I was changing into my shorts as the guide pants were just too uncomfortable. I like to hike in shorts and t-shirt in the sun. Goldberry joined us and we hiked together the rest of the day until we reached Tri-Corner Shelter at 3:20. Not a bad hike except for some rocky section with run off from the storm.We chatted for awhile. Golberry is a big "Lord of the Rings" fan. Of course I had to tell her my opinion of the best movie ever made, "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolfe?" It really surprised me when neither Mule or Goldberry had seen my second favorite movie of all times, "Midnight Cowboy." I can get more into this on days when I don't have much Trail news and you can get to know me better. Anyway, one thing Goldberry and I found we had in common was we both were fans of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show." We both like Meatloaf (the singer) who made his 1st appearance in RHPS. Goldberry is already talking about doing 15 - 20 mile days. She will probably disappear soon.When we got to the shelter Neely, Tunnel Vision, Charlie and 2 others were already here. After us, Tom and Gator mosied in. It is an old shelter with stagnant water laying on the mud floor. It is covered with a chain link fence and the back and corners are buried half way into the side of a hill. The water source looks good.Well,by 5 almost everyone had eaten and I started to cook. I was preparing some kind of freeze dried chicken rice dish when Driver noticed how little water I was boiling in my pot. He said it didn't look like 2 cups. I insisted it was 2 cups and showed him this plastic bottle that I had cut the end off at home and marked the different amounts..1 cup, etc. Well it turns out I was using a "dry baking" cup as opposed to a liquid cup which is 8 ounces. So the last 3+ weeks I haven't been using enough water in my meals! Anyway, everyone had a good laugh.Thought for the Day: Stupid is as stupid does. Day 23 First day we didn't get off to a good start.Weather; Strong thunderstorms overnight and early morning.