Date: 2010-04-26
From: Spring Mountain Shelter

To: Jerry Cabin Shelter
Miles today: 15.4
Weather: moderate rain

OK, I'm sure you've all been wondering...did Hollywood and Buzz get wet last night??? NO! The old shelter came through for us even though it rained most of the night. Probably had my best night of sleep in a shelter...nice is was only the two of us...Hollywood said the same. The morning started out sunny and I got out of camp about 8:30. Pretty uneventful hike before lunch...the usual small roller coaster of ups and downs. It did start raining around 10 off and on...originally I didn't put on my rain gear, but then it kept up, so I finally gave in and put the jacket on. The problem with rain gear even with all this new fangled "breathable" fabric and pit zips: it is still a sweat box! I get as wet with the gear on as without it if the temp is over 60. I feel like a wrestler trying to make weight when I have my rain gear on. I reached the next shelter so I could get out of the rain to eat lunch. Right before the shelter, we began a 2,200 ft climb up Camp Creek Bald over the next 4.5 miles...nice to break it up over lunch. Didn't seem like too bad of a climb...could be because you couldn't see what was coming up because we were basically hiking in a cloud most of the day. Really started to come down later in the afternoon...finally even put my rain pants on too! It was also getting pretty cold. Last thing before hitting the shelter I was going to stay at tonight was Blackstaff Cliffs. There was a blue blazed "bad weather" route and the regular white blazed exposed ridge walk. I was thinking "bad weather" meant snow/ice/lightning...we had neither, so I took the white blaze route. Note: I am also trying to be more of a white blaze purist, so I'm trying not to use any blue blazed routes. Blue blazed routes are generally alternate routes you can take off the regular white blazed AT route to see something special off the regular AT or to avoid a certain part of the AT...either way, you miss a section of the white blazed AT. It's not a bad thing...there are just purists (white blazers) and blue blazers...the motto on the trail is "hike your own hike". There are also yellow blazers: these people skip sections of the train entirely by hitching rides...following the yellow blaze of the hiway. Anyway, sorry for the segue. I took the exposed ridge route and, boy, was it exposed! It was more of a rock scramble...actually lots of fun...more fun if my knee would have been a bit more trustworthy. It was very windy/rainy/sleety at the tops of some of the rock ridges, but the wind was coming almost straight up the mountain, so it actually kind of just kept going up and over your head and didn't hit you directly...kind of cool. Thought it would be a cool pic, but evidently I don't have the skills or camera to capture it. Too bad the weather was what it was...would have been some killer views if it were a nice day. After I got off the ridge, I was a bit disoriented on timing...didn't know exactly how much time the ridge walk/scrambling added to my walk that day, so didn't know how far I had to go to reach the shelter. Got pretty wet and cold climbing around on the rocks. I kept walking...and walking...and walking. I was about an hour past when I thought I would have reached the shelter, so I was starting to get worried I just walked past it in the rain and didn't notice the turn off. I just wanted to get to the shelter and get out of my cold, wet clothes...first day of hiking in the rain where I'm not going into town and a nice hotel room to warm up in a shower...I think I'm going to be cold tonight. Finally, I noticed the faint smell of smoke in the air...must be close to the shelter and someone already has a fire going...YAY! Not sure how they have a fire going, but I think I'm delirious and don't really care. Got up to the shelter and, indeed, there was a fire...the shelter actually had a fire place inside and some of the hikers from last night had left some dry wood in the shelter...nice! Hollywood, Hedgehog, Stretch, Rider, and Ron were already there...wondered how Hollywood/Hedgehog got ahead of me...they used the "bad weather" route. The fire felt great...as soon as you stop hiking, it was freezing. The problem is you want to put your dry clothes on, but you still need to get out of the shelter to go to the bathroom, hang your food bag, etc. So, you keep your wet clothes on until you get all that done...you won't have a dry set if you don't. So, we were all working in shifts and taking turns by the fire between our chores...we were a well oiled machine...impressive. Also joining the shelter by this time were Bismark, Sticks, and Bobalu. Finally got all our chores done and into our dry clothes...everyone was in their sleeping bags trying to warm up by 8. Just laid around in our bags for the next hour or so talking first about how cold we were, then how warm we were getting, and then food...it always comes back to food with hikers. Sorry, very long journal tonight, but today is also my 1 month anniversary on the trail! One month ago, Todd, Mike, and I set off from Nimbleweed Gap to start this journey...seems like more than a month ago! Here are a few milestones/updates: 298 miles walked so far...only 1,881 to go! Weight down 12 lbs...losing the gut little by little, but most of the weight is in my upper body which I just don't use at all on the trail. Beard coming in...a bit crazy at the moment and more gray than I would like, but not itchy. Some hair growing on my head believe it or not...again, more gray than I would like. First blisters have mainly healed up and no new ones...just keep putting duct tape on the old spots for prevention. Second in command toe on the right foot is doing OK after losing his nail...still has his good and bad days. And the knee...I think I've talked about that enough...still hoping to get a cortizone shot in Erwin on Friday. Cheers.