Date: 2017-09-27
From: Campsite South of Street Gap

To: Little Laurel Shelter
Miles today: 27.0
Weather: few clouds

I got up at 5 a.m. broke camp, took down the bear bags Sauce and I had put up last night, & took my pack and our bags over to her tent site. After letting her know I was there so she would not be surprised, I started making breakfast and coffee. The sky started to lighten about 6:10 and what I would call sunrise began sometime after 6:30 a.m. After breakfast and coffee I watched the sunrise and took pictures. Sauce got up about 6:45, when I told her it was really getting light, as she had asked me to do. We chatted for a little while and discussed today's hiking strategies. Her intent was to stop at Jerry's Cabin shelter today, about 20 miles, and then to stop about 6 miles short of Hot Springs tomorrow. That way she would nero in Hot Springs on Friday. I told her that I would see how I felt, and what time it was, when I got to Jerry's Cabin and that if I had the energy for it I might keep hiking so that I could be in a position to do less than 20 tomorrow and reach Hot Springs tomorrow night. That way I would zero there on Friday. Of course my backup plan would be to do it the same way that she had described. The only real differences would be I would have to pay for two nights at a hostel in order to zero, & I would have a few more hours Friday morning for resupply, relaxation and rest.While I'm thinking about it, I want to document the fact that I changed my water treatment method a few weeks ago. My friend and hiking buddy Opie had recommended this. So, when my aquamira water treatment was running low in Damascus, I started using this household bleach method instead. The hostel owner in Damascus let me take a few ounces of Clorox, which I put into my empty aquamira bottles. Filling both aquamira bottles, I can treat 4 times as much water now as with the same amount of the two-part aquamira solution. Additionally the cost of aquamarine is about $15, and I think you can buy a whole gallon of Clorox for as little as $3. The URL below has mixing and treatment instructionshttp://modernsurvivalblog.com/...That website says to use two drops of bleach per quart. I've been using 3 drops per liter. I shake it, loosen the cap and let a few drops leak out in order to clean the cap and the threads of the bottle, and then I let it sit for 30 minutes before consuming it. That is probably a lot longer then I really need to let it sit, but I just want to be safe.Anyway, I left camp to hike south starting just before 7:15 a.m. I reached Sams Gap and the Interstate 26 crossing at about 7:45 a.m. (Picture) When I looked back at the highway from the far side, I noticed that on the bridge there was a sign saying, "Welcome to Madison County." So I guess it is one of the "Bridge's of Madison County."  Haha. (Clint Eastwood movie)Just before 8:45 a.m. I reached the peak of the day's first climb, a place called High Rock, via a short side trail to a viewpoint. (Picture) Just before 9 o'clock, I reached the Hug Back Mountain shelter. There I ran into an interesting character. He had long grey hair tied in a ponytail, wore jeans and a light blue Patagonia puffy jacket. He had a small day pack and miscellaneous items spread out on the picnic table. I casually asked him where he was coming from and going to? His reply was, "No place in particular" and his tone indicated he had no desire to converse and possibly he was depressed. He did not make direct eye contact, but continued packing up his things and took a hairbrush and went behind the shelter to brush his hair. After I finished signing the logbook I left and went back to the trail. Sauce was arriving just as I was leaving, and she asked about the shelter. She at least wanted to get water, she said. I thought it prudent to tell her about the guy there and that I personally would not trust him with my backpack unattended. Sauce headed toward the shelter, & I headed south, both of us saying, "Be safe."Just before 11 a.m., I reached a small fenced in area after a descent. When I looked closer, I noticed that there were two head stones: one for Joe Riddle dated May 16th, 1877 to July 9th, 1967; and the other for Dorothy Hensley, dated May 8th, 1865 to April 30th, 1965. I don't know who these people were, but he was 90, and she was over 100 years old.I got to the Flint Mountain shelter about 12:30 p.m. There was a water source, a pipe spring, about a hundred yards prior to the shelter itself. Inside I signed the shelter logbook and sat at the picnic table for lunch. As I was finishing up, a hiker arrived and I recognized him. I had passed him earlier on the trail this morning, and saw him rinsing some clothing at a stream. I had assumed he was northbound, but now it was clear that he was southbound. We talked for awhile. His trail name was Scout, because he was an Eagle Scout and his friend from FEMA who normally hikes with him had named him that. He said he was going to the Jerry's Cabin shelter tonight and that would be 12 miles for him. Scout also said the name of the grey-haired guy wearing jeans that I had seen at the previous shelter was Drifter and Scout said he was a nice guy.  He had some kind of work-for-stay arrangement with the Carolina Mountain Club maintainers, and he basically wandered back and forth between several shelters in this area. After some more conversation, we said farewell, & I continued south.My next stop would be Jerry's Cabin shelter, a little over 6 and a half miles from the Flint Mountain shelter. That section of the hike starts with a long climb up a mountain called Big Butt, no kidding! On the way up, sometime around 2:15 p.m. I passed a sign for Shelton Graves. This was a Memorial for two Union soldiers killed on the spot while visiting family members in the Confederacy during the Civil War. (Screenshot picture)I crossed the summit of Big Butt about 3 p.m. I know it's juvenile, but in my head, I keep hearing the song lyrics, "I like big butts..."I reached the Jerry's Cabin shelter about 3:45 p.m. I signed the log book and took a short break. I researched hostels in Hot Springs, but I didn't have a good enough signal to call them. So I added several to my contacts so I could make some calls more easily later this afternoon. I checked the water situation for the remaining 7 miles to the Little Laurel shelter, and decided to carry two liters of water from here and get more water at my destination. I got back on the trail just after 4:00 p.m.Shortly before 5 p.m., I saw a sign indicating that the trail splits. The white blazed AT went to the left over an exposed ridgeline. A bad weather bypass was available to the right. (Picture. I followed the white blazes.