Date: 2018-05-05
From: Standing Indian Shelter 

To: Rock Gap Shelter 
Miles today: 19.7
Weather: light rain

Two valuable lessons were learned from hanging my hammock too close to the shelter. Lesson one. You risk being subjected to the shelter snorer. The sole occupant was a freshly retired man with one of the loudest and non-stop snores I¢d ever heard. I may as well have been in the shelter. By morning he was alternating between silence and such awful sounds that I feared he might be dying of oxygen starvation. What if he dies, I was thinking, and I had to call 911? How would that impact today¢s miles? Lesson two. You are in the domain of the shelter mice. Because I get up so early, I set up my little kitchen in my camp rather than risk waking shelter sleepers. This morning I had a small platoon of them running in and out of my headlamp¢s beam. They are brazen and well practiced in the art of thievery. I found one taking inventory inside my food bag. Today was to be 16.3 miles with 7.2 tomorrow into Winding Stair Gap and the road to Franklin. When I was atop Albert Mountain and finally had cell service I called the hostel in Franklin to reserve a room. Zen, the owner, said he was picking up some other hikers at Winding Stair Gap at 9:30. So rather than have 7.2 to cover by 9:30 I hiked on to the next shelter 3.4 miles down the trail leaving a much more manageable 3.8 in the morning. This all made for a 19.7 mile day. Most of it was easy going except the climb to the fire tower at the top of Albert Mountain. It was my steepest climb yet with big rocks to scramble up. It reminded me of Dragon¢s Tooth but this time going up rather than down. I find it much easier and far less scary going up rather than down. Fortunately the hike down the other side of Albert was very tame.  By the way, 11.3 by noon.There¢s only one other person here at Rock Gap Shelter, a young guy who seems not to want to engage in conversation. It can get lonely out here sometimes. But it was nice that the aforementioned Zen, the Gooder Grove Hostel owner, came by taking his two pooches for a walk. I¢m excited to be in Franklin which has the reputation as being one of the coolest hiker towns on the trail. Tech Moment Food. What do I carry in the way of meals and snacks? For breakfast I have packets of instant coffee to which I add powdered milk and stevia, a plant based sweetener. I often prepare two pouches of instant oatmeal, flavored. When I¢m sick of oatmeal I have Pop Tarts. A typical lunch is a pouch of tuna and a packet of mayonnaise on a tortilla. That¢s often followed by another tortilla with meat and mayo. The meat has so far been hard salami or pepperoni. In one of my early prep posts I wrote about the dehydrated dinners I¢d been making. Joan sends them to me at hostels. When I run out of these I use Knorr pasta or rice sides to which I add some meat. So far these meats have held up ok over 3 or 4 days hiking. They may not fare as well in the heat of summer. Maybe I¢ll try the packets of Spam slices. Yum.Snacks. My favorite snack turns out to be the packets of six peanut butter crackers. They hit the spot. They¢re crunchy, salty, and the crackers taste a bit sweet. I like Cheese-Its. I like nuts, particularly Smokehouse almonds. I carry Cliff bars. I like that there are so many versions, particularly the nut butter filled ones. Jerkys are good and add protein to my diet. I sometimes buy Snickers or some other candy bars but so far I like having dark chocolate and some cookies.Peanut butter is one of most common trail foods. It¢s calorie to weight ratio is one of the best. But I don¢t carry it. It¢s too thick by itself or in a tortilla. Someone mentioned they add frosting to it. That sounds good. Maybe marshmallow fluff. I¢ve already scoped out the best burger place in Franklin. Expect a full report.