Date: 2011-04-10
From: (19-1) Wesser Bald Shelter

To: (20) Brown Fork Gap Shelter
Miles today: 21.7
Weather: few clouds

I am writing down this journal a day late, because I was too exhausted the night of. It would prove to be my toughest day on the trail yet, not because of high mileage but rather rough terrain, heat, and no water.I hiked the morning with Trail Gatherer, a guy who had hiked the AT several times and was currently hiking to get into shape for the Continental Divide Trail. By noon we were hiking downhill to the Nantahala Outdoor Center or NOC for short. The NOC is an outdoor adventure center, complete with white water rafting in the nearby river. Most thru hikers I knew were planning on staying at the NOC, but having not yet reached my two week goal of roughing it and not showering, I decided to press on.I went into the store and bought a coke, and then I checked out some of the hats. I had been getting a lot of sunburn on my head, and wanted a hat for protection. I almost bought one, but decided it was too overpriced.On the hike out I sipped my coke. I didn't realize it at the time, but getting a coke had caused me to overlook that I was completely out of water and hadn't refilled at the NOC. The hike out of the NOC was hot and steep. I wrapped my head with my t-shirt to keep from burning. Halfway up the mountain, I met Simmeron, who told me he was trying to become the oldest thru hiker at age 88. When I reached the top of my climb, I was over 5000 feet and very thirsty, but alas, no water. This didn't bother me though because water was generally so plentiful. I was about to hike on, when I found a hat in the grass, a Columbia hiking hat much like the ones I had been looking at earlier. I asked another hiker about the hat, and he said that it belonged to a guy named Bubbles who was heading towards the next shelter. I decided to continue and return the hat.The rest of the day was miserable. Having finished the last of my consumable liquids at three, I would go on to hike the afternoon till six without water. It was hot the entire time, and the terrain grew worse and worse, with tons of PUDS (pointless ups and downs). I wanted to stop something awful, but had no choice but to hike on until I found water. I never did while hiking.What I did find was a hiker asleep against a hillside. I approached him and found out that he was the infamous Bubbles (also dying of thirst), and that the hat was not his. This was excellent news, because it meant that I could keep the hat! The trail had provided!I continued my hike through the PUDS. I would later learn that the area I was traversing was nick-named "Jacob's Ladder", and is famous for being difficult.Late in the afternoon I was lightheaded and experiencing muscle cramps. I kept having 50 miler flashbacks and refused to stop less the runners behind me catch up. I stumbled into Brown Fork Shelter around six and found a nearby spring. I drank. I hadn't eaten much that day (I was afraid food would further dehydrate me), so I made some supper, but it made me sick to eat.I shared the shelter that night with Superwolf, who had started two weeks before me, Bubbles, and Milo. I had hiked 21.7 miles, all day in the heat, through Jacob's Ladder, and only drank twice. I am certain that more days like this one are in my future, and I am ready for them.