Date: 2003-04-17
From: South of Moreland Gap Shelter

To: Dennis Cove, USFS 50
Miles today: 9.7

No rain when I got up this morning, which wasn't what I expected. It was difficult to tell if it was cloudy or not from inside my tent, so I peeked out around 7am, and to my surprise, there were blue skies! I was happy about that.The hike today was fairly uneventful. I think, when headed into a town (or a hostel with access to town things), I tend to look around less, and just focus on the miles. I took some time to look around today, but there weren't too many views to be seen.My cold has now progressed to my lungs, and hiking this morning seemed rough because of it. But after taking a morning break, I felt much better. The miles seemed to pass more quickly then. I'm hoping for a speedy recovery, or at least that this cold doesn't slow me down too much. If the days since leaving Erwin are any indication, my miles per day have not suffered at all. Rather they've grown. I think that's more a matter of hiking longer in the day than hiking faster. I'm really enjoying hiking later in the day. I like the hiking part better than the camping part, so if my body feels up to it, I'd prefer to hike until 6pm or so.I have a dilemma regarding the upcomng days hikes. A lot of people, including Bob Peoples, trail maintainer for this area, and Sonic, Guana, Fly, and Smoothie, have suggested slackpacking the next 9 miles of the trail southbound. All say that the climb is easier doing it that way. I don't have a desire to do any slackpacking, and have considered doing the southbound hike with my full pack. However, I'm not sure I want to do that either. I still feel sick, a little bit, and so does Hotdog. There's a group leaving here at 7:30am to get a ride and do the 9 mile southbound hike. I think we've decided to sleep in, and either take a zero here to recover, do the 9 mile southbound hike in the afternoon, or head out northbound whenever we feel ready. I think I'd prefer the latter of the three. The weather forecast is for some rain the next 2 days so that could play a role in my decision too.Another factor for me is that often hostels get crowded and cluttered, and I feel uncomfortable. I feel like I don't have any space for myself. This hostel, Kincora Hostel, is great, and the owners, Bob and Pat Peoples are wonderful people. The suggested donation for staying here is $4/night and that includes use of kitchen, washer/dryer, shower, bunk inside, and shuttle to town. Plus, any local shuttles to the trail are free, and for longer distance shuttles, the charge is per truckload, so the more people, the cheaper it is. I don't want to seem antisocial, especially to those I've hiked with before, but I like my private time, and I've had an idea about how I wanted to hike this trail from the moment I heard about it. Even if I did the 9 mile southbound section, Sonic, Guana, Fly, and Smoothie will be 19 miles ahead and plan on arriving in Damascus two days before I do. Sonic and Guana will be taking a zero day on Easter Sunday though. I'd like to hike with them some before they leave the trail on April 27, but I'm not sure it'll work out. There is a tentative plan for a pizza party at a shelter a few days before that to celebrate Guana's birthday, and maybe I can catch up to them then. If not, then when they return to the trail, they'll have to catch up to me!I think writing about my dilemma has helped me decide what I'm going to do. For now, I'm only concerned with some sleep. Tomorrow, I'll concern myself with that day's plan.