Date: 2003-03-22
From: Rocky Knob

To: Tray Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 9.7
Weather: broken clouds

Ah man, I think I climbed Mount Everest twice today. Got a good start (8:30am) and had nice, sunny weather. But those mountains were hell. The first one was Rocky Mountain. It was straight up 860ft no switch backs at all. Then a short while later was Tray Mountain, a gain of 1080ft although it felt better because there were switch backs. Although you were so tried from Rocky Mountain it felt harder. I had hit my wall right before Tray Mountain, but knew if I could push through it I'd be home free and we'd be right next to a shelter where we could finally get to know the other hikers. I think I had to leave my body for awhile and just turned into a machine. We got to the top of Tray and it was an AMAZING sight with blue looking mountains in every direction. We snapped a quick picture and then I had to keep moving or else I was afraid I would drop dead.We got to the shelter about 4:30 and it was a nice welcoming committee of Journey, Two-Step, Lucky, Ben, and some others who I didn't catch their names. I rested for awhile, popped 800mg of Vitamin I (which is also known as Ibruprofen). Got some mac and cheese and felt a whole lot better.I'm so glad we made it to the shelter for some contact with other hikers. I think it did me a world of good. It's nice to share stories, fears, and injuries. Kind of like college--everyone's in the same boat. We even met Ben who showed us all these cool knots and how to properly hang a bear bag. We were doing okay, but our's probably would've been an easy target. Ben seriously coached us for 20-30 minutes. He was so nice and generous with his time. We told him we have zero experience and car camping is what we know. He was impressed we've come this far 56.2 miles, which made us feel good. He laughed when he saw our knotted, tangled, mess of a rope and our caribeaners (sp?) that are really for trekking poles! He showed us a clover leaf knot to put over the top of the bags which works better than thte caribeaners. Good thing we met him before we get into the Smokies.We talked tonight about how easy it is to trip over rocks on the trail if you look away for just a second. Two-Step and I agreed that it reminded us of the song by Ani Difranco with the lyric "When I look down I miss all the good stuff, when I look up I just trip over things." I do a lot of praying for secure footing because one slip and you're toast.Two-Step is a girl from Delaware just finished college or is close to it. We met her 2 days ago when we pitched camp early because of the rain. She is a bright, cheerful person and a strong hiker. Her quads could definitely knock down some walls. She got her name because her and her twin brother were to hike the trail together. He died 3 years ago, so the second step represents him. I think that's a very cool name. She's reminded of him everytime she says her trail name.Tomorrow is another big day. We're going to do 10 miles so we can meet Tucker and DeAnna in Hiawasee. We might take a zero day to re-coop. No reason to push this early, plus we need a serious shower. I didn't know I could smell this bad :) Life is good.