Date: 2013-05-02
From: Stan Murray shelter

To: Mountain Harbour B +B Hostil
Miles today: 12.0

I was getting pretty upset as I was packing my backpack. I was about to hike 11 miles , cold and damp with a soaked sleeping bag and damp tent from dew the previous morning. After Rob and Mark the section hikers left I cried to myself a little . This was another scary event. M 2 dry shelter and warmth that I'm supposed to get into if I'm cold and wet were wet. So I started hiking through the super windy cold rain with just a dry change of clothes but no tent or bag to get warm in. I look took the side trail to see overmountain Shelter which was a re purposed barn. It held 3 hikers, mostly upstairs. It would've been nice been super cool in good weather as it was overlooking a meadow. I met Nutella and the section hikers also stopped to look at it. I hiked on over a bald, at times pausing to brace myself against the fierce wind. The fog was pretty intense. I entered the forest and the force of the wind died down. I could see my shadow at times so I knew the sun was fighting. I shouted into the wind "C mon Sunshine! you can do it, shine with all your might!" the others from the barn soon passed me and we all began our climb over the balds. The wind was probably 60mph, it felt like hurricane force winds. I put my foot down in front of me but it ended up 6 inches ti the left. It was tough going, climbing uphill and lighting and wind pushing me from the right. Nutella and the section hikers and the other guy took a break and waited for me out of the wind behind a group of large rocks. We got going and they all disappeared just 20 feet ahead of me into the fog. I did not like getting cold and wet with no warm dry tent or sleeping bag. They stopped for me one more timeto wait for me. It was a bit dangerous to be up there hiking alone. Patchouli passed me and had been singing loudly but I hadn't even heard her. We were all headed to town to get warm and dry. I was cold, wet, hungry and had to go pee really bad!! I didn't want to stop til I got to a forest but there were no trees in sight. I felt like I was being blown off the mtn. But I stop and grabbed a bar out of my pack. I took 12 steps of the trail to go to the bathroom. I wasn't sure to bury my TP or let it fly away with the wind. I buried it and in that time not hiking I'd gotten super cold. I tried to hike tast to get warm but the wind was now pushing me backwards not just sideways. I was praying for trees to appear for the trail to be sheltered from the wind. i could see trees off in the distance but the trail wouldn't go that way. Finally, I went over a fence where Rob was waiting for me out of the wind. Oh thank God for trees! I live trees! Even with their roots and drippy leaves. After 30 min of hiking down the mtn. in the trees I took my jacket off because I was hot. I continued down and I could see the valley bathed in sunshine. The horrible scary weather was just an evil cloud on top the mountain. I descended into a beautiful meadow and came to a sing saying Doll flats that meant the NC/TN border was near! I soon came across the border sigh that said AT leaving NC. HOORAY! Done with NC. I hurried down, thinking about town and maybe going out to eat. I made it to the road and Nutella the guy had waited for me. We went .3mi to the Mountain Harbor B+B Hostel. The hostel is actually over a barn that houses goats and horses and who knows what else. This didn't surprise anyone and seemed perfectly normal. I laid all my wet stuff our to dry inside the hostel. The section hikers drove me, Patchouli, Nutella and the other guy to Bob's Dairy land to have burgers and ice cream. After I ordered my burger and sat down I realized just several hours prior I was fighting my way across the balds. The other guy had ordered the hiker burger it was 10 inches tall with 3 patties bacon onion rings ham and probably much more. I just ordered a bacon cheeseburger. It was delicious! The guy ate his entire burger. We all sat there awhile til we got ice cream. I got Moose Tracks. We all went back to the hostel and hung out. Snail and Double D with his 2 dogs were there (Dixie and Diesel) I showered and went ahead and got a loft bed upstairs for $22. People put movies on and I tried to journal but didn't have the energy . Double D sat nest to me with potato chips and french onion dip, normally I don't really like dip, especially not french onion, but I ate a lot. The lady that runs the place's husband was sick so she wasn't going to cook a breakfast. I got up and tried to make oatmeal using a microwave but it didn't turn out so well. I lounged around ate a pop tart and Dr. Pepper before leaving at 10.