Date: 2006-09-05
From: stover creek shelter

To: gooch mtn shelter
Miles today: 12.4
Weather: overcast clouds

======2003======Lord¢s day, february 23, day 2snow!...mist during the night turned to snow!...beautiful!....going to the woods in the middle of the night, the quiet snow falling¢¦.this is the life! The FULL experience!Had to shake the snow off the tarp a couple of times¢¦..MICE tried to eat our food bag (we forgot the second [¢outie¢] compactor bag)¢¦I thought the snow sliding off the tarp was a bear (or worse) walkin¢ around¢¦.diana says it takes a few days to get used to all the woods noises,but I slept fairly well considering¢¦.we¢re a little sore¢¦.charlie¢s out diggin¢ a ¢cat hole¢ in the pre-dawn¢¦.i¢m next¢¦.can¢t wait to get some granola and get hiking¢¦verse today: john3:27¢¦..(later)¢¦first trail magic today¢¦someone left canned drinks, bananas and other goodies at the coopers gap intersection¢¦.i was wishing this AM for bananas!( had dried some to bring but didn,t have any with me)¢¦.but there they were hangin¢ in a tree!...a ¢banana tree¢! ha ha!...charlie had a coke and gave me a sip¢¦¢¦Between hightower gap and coopers gap was this mtn¢¦.don¢t know the name, but I called it a ¢butt-kickin¢ beauty¢¢¦.it had gorgeous views of the mtns¢¦¢¦I¢m exhausted and very, very sore after lot¢s of climbing today (and we have much more tomorrow)¢¦.it¢s gonna be COLD tonight¢¦..hope we can stay warm¢¦..we¢re at the new gooch mtn shelter but sleeping under the tarp on a tent pad¢¦..Met our first fellow ¢thru-hikers¢ today¢¦..¢c-blue¢ and ¢whistler¢¢¦..they are here at the shelter w/ about 4 or 5 other men¢¦..w/o Diana I would be the only woman¢¦.(she says that¢s typical)¢¦good ¢crowd¢ for february¢¦guess i¢ll hafta wait my turn at the privy in the mornin¢¢¦..This afternoon, my thoughts went back to pikeville¢¦don¢t know what it is about sundays¢¦it¢s somethin¢ in the light that draws me back to those days¢¦chicken ¢n¢ dumplins¢¦.walkin¢ the woods¢¦the hill up to the anises¢¦..charlie said when he was little he thought sundays were always ¢sun- days¢ (no rain)¢¦..today was like that¢¦a bright, happy day!Thought/thinkin¢ about trail names¢¦.charlie stopped abruptly in front of us in the middle of the trail today¢¦we thought he saw a bear!......¢what?!¢ we asked¢¦.¢just baskin¢ in the sun¢ he said¢¦.so bill thought his trail name should be ¢baskin¢¢¦.we thought of a ¢surname¢ for us as well : ¢mule-team¢ (both of us are stubborn as mules)¢¦.i even made up a little song: ¢2 mules are better than one¢¦..2 mules will get the job done!¢¢¦.carli had thought earlier of ¢ho¢ and ¢made¢, but I don¢t think Charlie was excited about tellin¢ folks his name was ¢made¢ and i sure wasn¢t excited about ¢ho¢!.....we discussed others but for right now, ¢paw¢ and ¢maw¢ seems right¢¦.simple¢¦.who we really are¢¦.out here¢¦..anywhere¢¦..i¢m comfortable with that¢¦..======2006====== monday, feb. 13, day 2¢¦10 miles to stoverYes¢¦.that¢s DAY 2¢¦..day 1 we couldn¢t get out to leave because of snow!we walked in snow all day today¢¦beautiful! pleasant!...(this pen doesn¢t write when it¢s cold¢¦.my fingers don¢t either!)¢¦.very cold here¢¦..we¢re in the shelter because there¢s about 5 inches of snow on the ground!.... we¢re actually using the warmers mom and dad gave us¢¦pretty neat!....tried to eat all our lunch as we hurried today¢¦.too much ( adrenalin AND food)¢¦..had brought some cinnamon-sugar cornbread to have in the car but ate it before michael dropped us off (good energy food)¢¦.but we didn¢t get started walkin¢ till almost 2 pm¢¦.1:45 to be exact¢¦..we got here at a little after 6¢¦¢¦.i¢ll be looking for a shelter to leave the empty register in i¢m carrying¢¦stover¢s already has one herewell¢¦¢¦.the presence of the Lord was so sweet with us today¢¦..began this AM at home with a random reading in my bible¢¦..from judges 4 and 5 , i believe,¢¦..about deborah and barak¢¦.(are paw-ee and I ¢Deborah and barak¢?)¢¦.it felt almost as if God was calling us by name out to the wilderness¢¦.deborah and barak went out with israel and risked their lives for God¢s honor¢¦..they sang a song: ¢let those who love you shine as the sun in its might!¢¢¦.there was also something in there about sharing righteousness out in the ¢places where you draw water¢¢¦.sounded like the AT to me!.....i can¢t wait to share God¢s goodness out here with paw in the ¢waterin¢ places¢!well¢¦.everything is already freezing here as we prepare to sleep¢¦..my shoes¢¦.charlie¢s gloves¢¦.it must be 20 degrees or less!...we will try to sleep with a few things under our quilt with us to keep them warm¢¦¢¦.we met ¢ red ranger¢ today out for a shake down¢¦¢¦he will begin his thru-hike in one week¢¦¢¦.*NOTES/OBSERVATIONS/COMPARISONS*cat holes----- we eventually found it to be more efficient to dig the ¢latrine¢ at night for use early the next morning¢¦..this became my (maw-ee¢s) job of which i became quite proud¢¦..(separate holes were best as our ¢body routines¢ always seemed to be on the exact same clock! ha ha!) *we never seemed to be quite as tired or sore in ¢ 06 as we were in ¢ 03¢¦..(vitamins?)*we slept together under one, homemade ,ray jardine style quilt (both years) and ALWAYS slept warm (it was the getting warm at first¢¦[about 20 minutes sometimes] and the getting dressed and out in the morning that was really cold!)*pikeville¢¦¢¦that¢s just a little town in the sequatchie valley in tennessee where my grandparents lived¢¦.many happy memories and hikes in the woods!*¢ho-made¢¢¦.we made most of our basic gear*warmers¢¦.those little hand thing-ys¢¦..i always made fun of them¢¦..(REAL hikers would never use anything so silly)¢¦.but let me tell you¢¦.they¢re great!......my mom and dad bought us a box at sam¢s and they really came in handy several times¢¦.we had carli ship a few each time in our mail drops¢¦they were worth the weight¢¦..i began to call them ¢bun warmers¢ because i would slip a couple down on my hips between my clothing layers¢¦¢¦mmmmmmm! toasty!