Date: 2007-11-03
From: Bearfence Mountain Hut

To: Hightop Hut
Miles today: 12.6
Weather: clear sky

mi. 12.6sleep shelterdest. Hightop Hut day 114 Today started off really great, ended ok, and really sucked in the middle. I decided last night to do an easy day with a town stop. Includig lunch somewhere in town. With a short day that ment I could sleep in. I didn't get out of the hammock until almost 9am. Good thing. It was freezing last night. A clear, calm night. All of the cold air sunk in the valley where the shelter is. There was definitly frost on the ground and my water bottle I hung in my foodbag had ice in it. A good day to sleep in. I got up and made and eat breakfest. After that Oz and Emily got up and came over. They shared a wonderful apple concocsion with me. Really tasty and heavy in the stomach. Prefect for breakfest. I shared some coffee to return the favor. I then packed up and said my goodbyes. Nice people. At just after 10am I was on my way. Nothing really stood out about miles to the road crossing. An easy 8 or 9. I got there just after 1pm. It was a nice bust road. I was feeling great and feeling a ride. I tried for a good 20 minutes lots of cars no luck. I figured maybe I needed a change of appearance. I already took my bandana off. I was wearing my black long sleve shirt, so I put on my bright red rain jacket. It was cold anyways. Still no luck. I was getting a little bothered at this point. So I moved down a ways so I could catch traffic leaving the park. Still no go. I even stopped to chat ewith the ranger at the park enterence. She was zero help. The store was 3+ miles away. Down a busy road with no shoulder. If I walked in, chances where I would have to walk out. I did a mental inventory of my foodbag. I figured I had just enough. So after an hour of trying and getting really pissed at everyone driving by, I gave up and went back to the trail. In retrospect I think it being saturday was working against me. Too many families and old people. Neither of which are usually good for a lift. Or I really do look shadey. Now I was more than a little flustered and worked up at this point. Not freakin out worked up, but not thinking straight and upset stomach worked up. I got back to the traiol and in the woods a little and set down and collected my thoughts. In retrospect again it is funny what works me up and what doesn't. This really did. I passed a good number of day hikers and brought myself to say hi. All the while thinking, yeah these were the kind of people who wouldn't give me a ride. I even past someone who said she northbounded a couple years ago. I probibly sounded short, but polite as we talked for a few seconds before moving on. About 5 minutes later I realized I really screwed that up. Her car was probibly close and if anyone would drive me even to a wayside and back, it would have been a former thru hiker. I was kicking myself for that one. I got to the shelter around 3:30 or so. The next one was only 8+ miles. I was feeling in no mood to move on. I got water and collected a good pile of firewood. I did an inventory of my foodbag. I had a little more than I thought. It was going to be close, but I could pull it off. Dinner though turned out to be pudding and candy. I justifed it later but really I was just too flustered to deal with setting up my hammock and just slept in the shelter. I even skipped the coffee. I decided to say screw journalling and read my book and watched the fire. Both helped a ton. Watching a fire can be really relaxing.