Date: 2005-04-25
From: Hemlock Hollow

To: Flint Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 10.0
Weather: scattered clouds

It's been a while since I've written, huh? I'm slackin' a little here. I'll start from the 22nd. We were supposed to hike out that afternoon, but the day before we were asked to particiapte in a rafting river clean-up for Earth Day. I couldn't resist the Earth Day spin so we all met at the rafting company in town. They had muffins and coffee for us, so it was a good start. This section of the river was extremely high after the hurricanes of last year so there is LOTS of trash along the banks these days. We were asked to group into 4's for each boat, which we would be guiding, hop in and take off to collect trash. We hopscotched with 8 boats and got heaps of junk. We were up the river 2.5 miles unloading the trash on shore to continue the last 5 miles when the skies opened up on us and dime to nickel-sized hail started coming down. It was NUTS, at the time we all thought it was hilarious and were falling over laughing. The storm let up so we hopped in the boats and took off to the take out spot before it started up again. We missed the rest of the trash, but it was amazing how much we were able to retrieve in such a short amount of time. At the take out we had lunch and went back to town. It turned out to be SO much fun and I was so glad to be able to participate in an Earth day event.We ended up staying in town again that night at the Duckett House, actually in their workshop. The upstairs is a hostely-type area with some sleeping platforms, it was great, but...a ZERO that was sort of unplanned. We finally headed out of town the 23rd., after walking to the outfitters for one last opportunity to spend some $$. Grr! We were hearing lousy weather reports, but walked out anyway. It was 11 miles to the next shelter, but we were determined to get there that day. When leaving Hot Springs, it was raining and it continued well into the hike. It did end soon enough though that my raingear was able to dry out before we stopped for the day. Always a good situation. Getting there pretty late, we had to cook and set up camp pretty quick. It was a small shelter that was already full, so I pitched my tent. it was VERY cold and we heard there was snow in the forecast. So, I guess it was inevitable: I awoke to 4 inches of snow on and around my tent. Needless to say, it was COLD. We all cooked for breakfast and were off. We had planned a 15-mile day, imagining the farther we walk, the longer we stay warm. Well, 4 miles into the day we came upon AMAZING trail magic from TRUE trail angels! They fed us warm food and such. We decided to avoid another COLD night and went to Hemlock Hollow a store/campground/cabins and stayed in their one remaining cabin. it was super tiny, but we managed to squeeze all 5 in, leaving our packs on the proch. With the heat CRANKED UP we got toasty! Seriously, is it almost May, or January? And on to today....we rearranged the schedule because we only did 5.5 miles yesterday so today, was 16. Not too bad. Finally some decent weather, it was sunny all day, but a little cool. I kept my 2nd top on all day. About half of the walk today was among snow as well. Pretty fun! Tomorrow is supposed to T-storm and be cool, so I'm praying that is only for a day. Where R.U. Spring???