Date: 2008-01-09
From: Sassafras Gap Shelter

To: Wesser Bald Shelter
Miles today: 12.6
Weather: clear sky

mi. 12.6sleep shelterdest. Wesser Bald Shelter day 180 So the thunder storms never came. I was hoping. I talked to my friend in Hotlanta and was told it thundered and lightning ther. I just missed out. Didn't except the weather to be nicer in the mountains. The part of the trail I am on now I was told has the most elevation change of the whole trail. Prefect way to fully test and iffy ankle. The problem for me wasn't the ups, just the steep downs. The corridor here is really small. I could see a lot of national forest boundary markers. So there really isn't to many options. It follows the ridge pretty close. I think this is around where all the northbounders get the PUDS term stuck in their minds. It stands for pointless ups and downs. They kind of are, but not really. It is nothing that isn't seem in other places, just more here. I think most of it has to do with it is early in their hike. In Maine it is a little different. There is the mountain, and you are going to go straight up then down it. I think that is why southbounders don't complain about the climbs so much. The trail goes up and down, you are going to go where ever it goes reguardless. So just enjoy it and go with it. But anyways. I was going to go longer than 13 today, but I decided to keep it easy for now. That ment more time for screwing around. I forgot how much fun and how much I enjoyed screwing around during the day. First stop was the Natahola Outdoor Center (NOC). It is a big rafting place the AT goes right through. They have a hostel, but I figured I didn't need it this soon. I did do a little resupply. I figured why not I walk right past the store. I picked up a few snacks, bag of Doritos, mac and chz, and a juice box of wine. They sell beer and wine there too. Couldn't pass up packing out a 1 liter juice box of red wine. I only set around there for a little while. But I did talk to a hiker there who now works there. He said that I could easily get a job being a rafting guide there in the spring. They hire a lot of guides each year who have never rafted before. So if I don't have anything going by then, I have another option. I made it all of .8 to the first shelter up from the road before long break 2 happened. It was only around 1pm and I was only headed 5 or 6 more to the shelter, so I was not in a hurry. But get this I find in it the FEB 08 copy of National Geographic Adventure Magizine. That is by far the single best magazine out there. It is full of supper cool trips you can take. Some are kind of out there, but most are not. I now know there is a cheap yurt system you can cross country ski to in Idaho, a marathom in the desert of Arizona in the cooler months, and an ice climbing festival on lake Supier in the winter. How cool is that. I set there for an hour and a half reading it. Then carried up to the shelter to finish reading. I got to the shelter with perfect timing. Just enough time to walk the .1 south on the AT to the water source and get a good pile of firewood before dark. I had a good fire and sat around looking at the stairs for quite awhile. I decided to try and wake up before light and hike up to an old firetower that is .8 north of here for the sunrise. I also got just enough cell phone service here. So of course i called a few people to rub in how much fun I was having. It was also nice and warm today, so I had to rub that in too. It's supposed to get cold this weekend, so all in good time. I have been spending a lot of time thinking about what my next trip will be. I was dead set for awhile on doing a lot of long hikes. Now I'm not so sure. I really love long distance hiking. But there is so much else out there to do. I think if I do another long hike soon it will be more of a route than a trail. Something that isn't following the blazes. Where I have more options and planning and can go where ever. I also decided that this fall I will do a trip out of the Adventurer magazine. Probibly only a couple weeks, maybe somewhere nice and warm.