Date: 2004-04-14
From: Plumorchard Gap Shelter

To: Standing Indian Shelter
Miles today: 12.2
Weather: overcast clouds

As usual I didn't sleep very well. Kept waking up during the night, and everytime I did I tried to look outside but I couldn't see anything. It was so dark that I couldn't even see my hand infront of my face. I can feel the cold wind blowing in the shelter though and the dampness of it against my face. When the night slowing relinquishes to the dawn, everyone wakes up to find the nice white surprise of snow! Not just a light coating but ankle deep. Even backpacks and gear left to close to the edge of the shelter is covered, tents are sagging badly, the ones you can see anyway. Some tents literally just blend into the landscape with the snow cover. It is simply amazing, and beautiful, for you see it is the first snow I have seen in 30 years, having lived in Florida since 1974. I feel like a kid again at Christmas time, it even crunches under your feet. My thermometer says 32 degrees but it doesn't seem as cold as it did last night at 40 degrees. Being the first one to find out that the privy is also covered with snow, I find myself fully awake now and after a hot chocolate and poptarts I am out hiking in the snow. There are drifts of snow over the trail that get up over my calves, but most of the time it is only ankle deep. Just a few hours later I am crossing into North Carolina! One state down and only 13 to go! Reaching Muskrat Shelter by lunch time I find it full of cold older hikers, who I learn have already been there for two nights and are planning on saying there a third nihgt! What a bunch of inconsiderate hikers! Sure glad I didn't hike on last night I would have gotten here to find the shelter already full, full of people that should have moved on. There are all here complaining about the cold, to cold to get up. Kind of a catch 22 situation, too cold to get up, but they need to get up and hike to get warm. I eat a quick lunch of nutella and a snickers bar (I learn to live on these candy bars) and I get out of there before the depression rubs off on me. I finish off another 4.9 miles in the snow and arrive at Standing Indian Shelter by 3:00. That would be a total of 12.2 miles for the day in the snow, not bad for someone who hasn't seen snow since he was 14. I eat a real lunch of tuna fish and crackers while those I stayed with last night start rolling in.Even Thumper shows up after staying an extra day in Hiawasse, which means she had to have hiked 16 miles through the snow to get here. No bear cables here to hang our food bags so we all have to bear bag. Sure makes you appreciate cables, hanging a food bag so a bear can't reach it can be a real pain. Sometimes it goes real well other times it is a pain in the ass. Travis,Kip and Clay build a fire that we all enjoy and hang around. All of us bitch about that group of cold old bastards at Muskrat Creek Shelter, and we don't know it yet but they ended up staying there for 4 nights! Most the snow has melted by sunset when it starts to get cold and windy again. I choose to sleep in the shelter again for I want to get an early start tomorrow, want to go almost 15 miles.