Date: 2015-08-26
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

Wednesday, Aug.26My sleeping bag was nice and toasty (15 degree bag) and roomy (semi-rectangular) so I wasn¢t claustrophobic at all last night. The pad was wide enough (25¢) to allow for comfortable side sleeping and curling up, but yet I didn¢t feel like I slept much. Everything was just so different. But no matter, I was up about 7 am, just getting light out, and started packing up. Wild Thang was up as well and we got our food bags down and started breakfast. I had warned them that I like a more leisurely morning as I like to linger over my cup of tea and think about the day ahead. To prevent me from lingering all day, we had decided on a time to leave camp. Good thing, because I sure was enjoying just sitting there, sipping my tea, enjoying being in the woods as the sun was coming up. So peaceful compared to last night!! Soon we were ready to hit the trail. Our destination today was Carter Gap Shelter, 7.6 miles. I had never walked that far before, much less carrying a pack, but thought, what the heck, one step at a time. The challenge of the day was climbing Standing Indian mountain (@5300¢ elevation), and then we rolled downwards, with a few blips on the elevation chart, to our destination. I discovered that I much prefer going uphill, as my knees complained about the downhill. Besides my knees complaining, my lungs had their own issues going on. They found the air to be much thinner at 5000 feet that it is where I live. In Florida, we eat our air with a spoon, as it is so heavy with humidity! Nonetheless, I was enjoying every minute of the hike. We filled our water containers at various springs. I used chemical treatment for the first time ever and hardly noticed any change in taste.Our hiking paces were remarkably similar and we moved well together, rolling into camp in the late afternoon. Carter Gap shelter area is very big, with lots of tent spots. Given Shutterbug¢s issues with mice last night (her tent was closest to the shelter) we stayed well away from the shelter area. Wild Thang and I went off to find the water source. What a disappointment. After all the wonderful, clear springs we had used during the day, this one was a brown mess. But it was flowing, and we were in need, so we gathered what we could. I gave it the usual chemical treatment, but wished I had a filter, as there was a lot of floating particles in it. Oh well, just more fiber in the diet! Set up again went quickly and dinner preparations started. As we were finishing up, a little mouse joined us and was nibbling on something Shutterbug had dropped. I figured he would be happy with that, but nooooo! After polishing that off, he start going toward Wild Thang¢s food bag and got shooed away. Then he headed for mine. Pretty soon the three of us were hopping up and down, grabbing our bags trying to get away from this tiny insistent creature. That brought dinner to an abrupt close and we went and hung our food bags on the one and only branch in the woods! How can that be, all these trees and no suitable branches? Time for bed, and I couldn¢t wait to lie down and rest my weary body. I did a little stretching, as my legs were really feeling the mileage. I was hoping for a good night¢s sleep, but it was not to be. Not long after getting comfy in my bag, I started shivering. Then the leg cramps started. Not just those annoying calf cramps that plague you once in a while, but vise like cramps in the big muscles of my upper legs (quads, hamstrings). Ow, ow, ow. If I held real still, I was ok. If I moved, bang-shiver, cramp, ow, ow, ow. So there I was, in the middle of nowhere, my body revolting by shivering uncontrollably and spasmodic cramping. It occurred to me, as I was going through this process, that perhaps I should alert my companions to the necessity of them having to carry my body out of the woods tomorrow. I crawled out of my tent, causing even more cramping, and hobbled over to Wild Thang¢s hammock/tarp, timidly announcing myself (so she wouldn¢t think it was a sniveling, crying bear!) asking her if she was awake. (In my experience the surest way to wake someone up, is to ask them if they are awake!!) She asked what was wrong, and I told her I wasn¢t feeling quite well. I have never seen anyone move so fast. She was out of her hammock in a flash and took stock of the situation. Fortunately for me she had been a paramedic at some point in her career! She walked me over to the tree where the food bags were hung and got them down. I ate two protein bars and then downed an electrolyte drink she had in her bag. Soon I could feel the tension in my body easing. We made up another weaker solution for me to sip on during the night and after re-hanging the bags, retreated back to bed. The shivering and cramping lessened during what was left of the night and soon it was time to get up and make breakfast. Was I ready for another day?