Date: 2017-04-09
From: Standing Indian Shelter

To: Long Branch Shelter
Miles today: 16.3
Weather: clear sky

Last night we had decided to hit the trail at 8am, which meant that I could sleep in until 730. NotBad was going to hang a bear bag directly over my tent the night before, so I had volunteered to put her stuff on my bear line if she wouldn't hang her's over my tent. I had done a PCT style hang, which involves using a stick and a caribeaner to hang the the bag in the tree. I awoke just before 7 to sounds of struggling hikers... emerging from my tent I found 3 hikers standing under the bag looking up. Apparently my bear hang is also hiker proof... good to know.Before we started we also heard that the Smokies had gotten a foot of snow, so hopefully that's gone before we get there.Lookout, Liz, and I ended up hitting the trail at 830, and started with a gentle uphill all the way to the top of Standing Indian Mt. At 5400ft, it was our tallest peak so far and the highest peak we'd see for the next 100 miles. The peak had a wonderful view, the best we've had so far, with Hiawasse still in sight and mountains fading into progressively lighter shades of white in the brilliant sunshine. The peak also had a bunch of campsites, most with grass, which would've made a really nice place to sleep last night with the wind as calm as it was. From the top of the mountain we could see Albert Mountain Firetower, another good view we'd see later in the afternoon.Lookout left first to give him a lead on us since his foot was bothering him, then Liz headed out, and I stayed for a bit longer to finish posting yesterday's journal entry (no service at camp last night). After a quick snack, I headed out, and cruised most of the morning until I found them again. Lookout opted for a quick break to air out his feet, so Liz and I hiked on before stopping at a shelter for lunch. I enjoyed my first peanut butter and goldfish taco of the trip, yummmm.While we were eating Lookout leapfrogged us, and we all ended up hiking solo most of the afternoon. Most of the hiking was again through burned regions, and on one of the overlooks I could even see a plume of smoke from a distant forest. The hiking was easy and the miles passed quickly until I caught Lookout, who had found MagicTouch and SmoothTalker. I ended up taking a short nap in the shade until Liz arrived and we had no more excuse to chill.The last (and largest) hurdle of the day was yet to come, Mt Albert. While the trail wasn't too steeply inclined, it was only about 2ft wide and pearing through the dense brush to the side revealed a 100ft drop... not a good place to lose your step. After an arduous 0.5mi of steep uphill we reached the top of Albert Mt, and the fire tower. We joined a large group of hikers recuperating/enjoying the views at the base of the tower, and all grabbed some pictures from the top. We heard rumor that someone was carrying a chiuawa on the trail... HYOH I guess.From the tower we only had an easy 2.5mi to the shelter, but only 0.2mi from the tower we hit another milestone... 100miles on the AT!! That means in the past week I've made it ~1/10 of the way back to MD and ~1/22 of the way to Maine. It's hard to conceptualize those goals, so for now the plan is just to make it to Fontana and then after that the Smokies.The shelter is by far the nicest we've seen so far. Built only 5 years ago, it's dual level and has a covered area, a picnic table, a bar for cooking on, and mice hangs (to hang the packs so the the mice can't get to them). I had instant mash potatoes, goldfish (for crunch), and some red pepper flakes for dinner. The tent sites were small and situated in a steep hill, so we decided to use the shelter, Lookout, Liz, and I on the top level with Saucy, Coach, Helena, and Dylan. The bear hang was tough due to the lack of flat ground and short trees, but we managed to find a tree and get a bag up.Also, it looks like Liz picked up a trail name today. She's finished medical school and is starting her residency after her hike, and can't help but using medical terminology when talking to people (ie "These pack straps are hurting my clavicles", something about miniscal tears... Etc). So we've dubbed her Doc. We'll see if it sticks.We have 7 miles to the road tomorrow and a shuttle at 11am, so we'll get moving pretty quickly tomorrow morning. I need to put together some supplies to send ahead to myself tomorrow, and there's a good brewery in town for dinner, so that'll be tomorrow's plan. It's looking more and more like Lookout and Doc are going to take a zero on Tuesday, but I'm still really undecided because I don't really need another day off right now. Lookout is going to try to find a doctor to take a look at his foot tomorrow, and might take a couple days off trail to let that heal, so if that happens I will probably not take the zero since it won't allow me to keep hiking with him either way. We'll see.Couple of interesting notes... We've been moving fast enough that we're now finding some people who started a week before us, which shows the different paces that people move at.Also, I've forgotten to mention that several people have complimented my "cool space socks", ie, my gaiters. They've got colorful galaxies/planets on them... glad to see my trail accessorization is appreciated.