Date: 2013-11-13
From: Hot Springs, NC

To: Roaring Fork Shelter
Miles today: 18.0
Weather: clear sky

Dreading exiting our warm cottage we dragged out the packing too long. Up at 6 am we emerged at 7:44am. We walked down to the local dinner for a yummy homemade breakfast. It is the local gathering place for the older men of the town. The waitress greeted each one with warmth and affection. The men all sat together. They asked us about our hike, surprised we walked so far. They teased the girls that they looked like they just wanted to get back in bed...which was true.Luckily today was sunny though all the puddles in town were frozen solid. A few feet up the first mountain we encountered snow. It only got deeper as we hiked. It was 4 to 6 inches at the top of the mountains. We had mostly uphills today, one being over 4 miles of up and two more at 2 miles and then one final 3 miles that felt almost straight up. Trying not to slip in the snow and ice made the day tough. I did take a tumble much to Cub's delight. In spite of the hardships we were struck by the extreme beauty that surrounded us. The white snow coated tree branches starkly stood out against the clear blue sky. We loved how the snow sparkled. We also ate belly fulls of it, even stopping to make snow cones with our Mio energy drops. We threw snow balls at each other all day. We hit branches over our unsuspecting family members. We laughed and played a lot like usual. We found being in the snow all day to be quite fun in spite of cold feet and aching muscles from breaking the path. No one hiked our way today so we saw many animal prints. Excitingly huge bear claw prints went right down the path with us for a long ways. Luckily they turned off a few miles before the Roaring Fork shelter where we pitched our tent. We reasoned that the boards of the shelter with wind blowing beneath would be colder than sleeping in our tent in the snow. The snow will insulate us, we hope. We are taking a clue from the Inuit dogs we dog sledded with one time in Minnesota. Wish I had those Minnesota boots and clothes. Wildly true, we found two fellow Floridians in the shelter when we got here. How did we all end up so far from the beach?!My feet hurt so bad in the cold I was getting nauseous. Seriously I thought I would vomit. I thought the cold would help but instead my Achilles' tendons pound with pain and then tighten up so I feel like I'm walking on stubs. That's when I start falling down or careening into trees. I guess the pain is going to accompany me every day I'm on the AT. You think I'd get numb to it. I'm so determined to finish I believe I would crawl if I had to. The cold at night is a real challenge. Our feet and hands are so frozen they burn with pain. Then they thaw a bit and feel like someone is slicing them off. Then they warm a bit more and feel like they just got slammed in a car door. Eventually they ache and finally they get warm enough and then it's time to get out of our bags and put our frozen boots back on. We are going to get those hand warmers when we get to the next town. Trip suggested this and I believe it will be a source of comfort. She said to throw them in the sleeping bag and hold one on our chests. We didn't want the weight so we decided to not heed her advice. Now it's all we can think about. Same with the Nalgeen bottles...too much weight. Gatoraid bottles do not take kindly to hot water. We like the Gatoraid, etc types of bottles because they are light and we throw them out often so they don't get contaminated. We also figure that since we don't eat meat out dishes don't get bacteria, etc. that often makes other hikers sick. Knock on wood bit we've been so healthy out here. It's 20 degrees out here. Our water hoses from our water bladders froze so we had to eat snow all day. We think we might try hiking ice cream. The cold allows us to change our menu. Here comes butter, cheeses and anything we couldn't eat during the hot summer months. I just hope we can take these cold nights and get this adventure joyously finished. Thanks for all the prayers and well wishes. We really need them now. We are just some warm blooded Floridians living way outside our comfort zone!