Date: 2008-05-28
From: US 19E

To: Carver Gap
Miles today: 15.0

I am so tired!We got up this morning, packed up and studied the maps for a plan for the day. Our perfect mileage for today would take us to the shelter on top of Roan Mountain. But since Roan Mountain is known for being the coldest spot on the southern portion of the AT we thought maybe we didn't want to sleep there. We decided to stop at 11 miles at Stan Murray shelter.With the packs packed and a plan in place we headed up the hill to the house for another of Mary's fantastic breakfasts. Fresh fruit, French toast, monkey bread, eggs, bacon and sausage. Very good. As we were chatting with Mary she mentioned something about Terry picking some folks up from a slackpack. I didn't really pay attention, but it caught Tigger's ear.Back down at the barn we all began the final prep to leave. I was ready to go, sitting on the couch when Tigger plopped down next to me with a grin on her face. She said "We could get a slackpack if we could do another four miles." Ah, she's become a mastermind of the slackpack. We decided to go for it if Terry was available.Tigger ran up to the house and chatted with Mary. She came back and gave us a thumbs up. We were off on another slackpack after a quick regrouping of gear and packs.The weather wasn't great. It had rained throughout the night and was threatening to continue. A check of the weather channel assured us it would taper off to occasional showers... yeah, right.We began with a dreaded six-mile up hill up Hump mountain. It wasn't raining at that point, but the humidity was so high we felt like we were swimming up the mountain.The whole day was a wardrobe challenge. First it was too humid to wear a raincoat, then it was too cold not to, then too warm, then....it ended with cold and everything was soaking wet anyway.After walking six miles through a rain forest we broke out onto the top of a bald. We'd heard that these balds had beautiful views, we had fog and drizzle.Somewhere around the middle of the day Tigger said "six and a half miles, almost half done" and I thought "oh no". I was feeling the effects of the first day back after being sick. My energy was real low. I kept thinking I just needed to sit down and rest a bit, but I was afraid to stop moving and get chilled.We finally came to Overmountain shelter. We'd heard a lot about this shelter and thought it might be a good rest stop. But it was .2 of a mile off the trail. We hesitated, but started down the trail. When the trail took a steep turn down we said no, we're not doing this. Not on a day like today. We stayed on trail. Eventually we came to Stan Murray shelter... right on the trail, and stopped for a breather and a bite to eat.Just over three miles to go. Should be no problem. We started getting warnings from northbound hikers about the upcoming mud at the trail rerouting. But nothing could have really prepared us for the mess ahead.We came up to a section, I don't know how long it was but it seemed to go on and on, where the trail was a mud slick...several inches thick with mud. And we were hiking uphill in this. I'm not sure we were really hiking, it was more like mud skating. We were just trying not to fall.Roo LOVED it. She had had a blast all day. Splashing around on a wet and muddy trail...like a little boy in his element. She was a mess. When we came to the mud part she got real excited. Tigger was a ways ahead of me and she would run back and forth between us...slipping and sliding as much as she could. It was funny, but a little scary when she was heading straight for me.It was a relief to finally top Jane Bald and get out of the mud. After that was Round Bald and the trail changed considerably. As we crossed the bald and headed down the other side we commented that it almost seemed like a tourist trail...way too nice for the AT. As we headed down we passed through a deep, dark pine forest. It was a complete change from the rest of the day.Finally we came around a turn and saw the road. Terry was there waiting for us with his truck. What a welcome sight! Just as we were loading up into his truck the skies opened up into a full downpour. We were sooo thrilled to be heading back to the B&B to a warm shower and dry bed.Most interesting thing along the trail today were the worms. There were these two-foot long earthworms laying all along the way on the trail. Tigger had heard that they are endangered. I'd think they'd be less in danger if they wouldn't lay on the trail looking like sticks to be stepped on. We also saw the orange salamanders we had seen on the trail a few weeks ago. They are really curious looking creatures. We're going to have to find out more about them.So now we are back at the B&B, showered, ordered pizza and watching a movie. And happy to not be wet, cold and sleeping outside. God is good.Rabbit, Owl and RooJoshua 1:9