Date: 2007-12-17
From: Flint Mtn Shelter

To: Hemlock Hollow Farm
Miles today: 12.7

mi. 12.7sleep hosteldest. Hemlock Hollow Farm day 157 It was freakin cold last night. I wasn't cold in my bags, but that was the only time. I learned a could important things. First I slept with my shoes. I turned my pack liner inside out and put my shoes in it, then put that in the bottom of my pack. They were soaked still, but steaming warm when I took them out this morning. Second sleep with any water you want for the next morning. I put my platy next to me and it froze solid. My gatoraid bottle was close, but I put it in my bag for an hour and it thawed out. I don't trust my platy to sleep with, especially after what I did to it today (more on that later). I think at the outfitter I will buy a nalgene and sleep with it. I have a bunch at home. I should have had one maildropped to me. The temp this moring inside the shelter was 20 deg. Freakin cold while packing up. It took forever to pack up and get going. The plan today was for a 20 to set up and 11 into town. We made the decision to hike together today. It was clear, but cold. We took our time early on. On the first up a guy pasted us on the trail on his ATV. He was looking for his lost hunting dog. He was super nice. I think he realized he was somewhere he shouldn't have been. He told us about the weather forcast and went ahead. Deluxe chimed in well ATV stands for Applachian Trail Vehicle. Can't argue about that. So the next miles were fulled with talk of long distance ATVing. It was great though having a broken trail through the snow to follow. Plus I'm not going to argue with anyone with a gun. We had an amazing hike today. This was some of the bext winter hiking I have ever had, actually the best. The trees, grass, everything looked fantastic covered in snow. I took a ton of picks. We went over a crazy exposed ridge today. It was a little stetch in the snow, but crazy fun. I'll have to get a pic of that posted at some time. What was crazy was up there we saw the valley had no snow on it, just the ridges. Right after that we missed a turnoff and ended up on a forest road. Now comes some Zen navigation with some map reading. Someone wanted to turn around. I saw a way on the map to keep going. This was there first taste of my shortcut, Zen navigation. More of how much better it is to go forward vs turning around. I had to break out one of my favorite movie quotes. "This is a short cut it is supposed to be hard. If it was easy it would be THE WAY." It wasn't too hard. A little icy though. It followed a forest back road most off the way. After awhile it came to a stone road. Definitly driven on since the snow. Which made it fun and icy. Now I'm admit I had a little doubt about this a little. The road kept leading up to the peak, where there were a ton of radio and broadcast towers. Just after the top we saw a side blue blaze. The name was one on the map. We took it and a few minuted later were back on the AT. Only a 45 minute detour. A nice change of scenery. After a little down we came to the second shelter of the day. Both were dumps. Good thing we were not staying at either. Truth be told I would without a second thought. Oblivious looked at the guide and saw a place to rent a cabin off the road just ahead. Funny how no one saw it before. After last nights cold no way we were going to miss this. Now comes my platy thing. Now I used to think I took good care of my gear, now I'm not so sure. I barely drank any water all day. My plater was frozen around the opening, but had some water below that. So I decide to melt the ice with my jetboil. Well needless to say I almost singed all the hair off my hand. I melted just a little bit of the opening. Just enough not to make it waterproof anymore. But hey I learned that a platy is not fireproof and I can melt ice out of it with my jetboil. It was a long quick down to the road. Where we took the .5 miles walk to the cabin place. We got a spot in the bunkroom for $18 each. Not too bad, and it is heated.Deluxe wanted me to add the quote "Not all who wonder are lost." Personally I'm a little tired of reading it. It is a good quote, but there are a couple people that write it in almost every register. A couple things I have been meaning to add. Deluxe cracked me up. Out of Kincora we got to the shelter and he realized he left the insoles to his boots at the hostel. He just thought his feet were hurting from the fast slackpack he did. Funny stuff. He hiked in 2 pairs of liners and 2 wool socks all the way to Erwin. A day or 2 before Ewrin we were debating the lyrics to the Seasome Street Theme song. We knew the first little bit and that was it. We were talking about this for awhile. Now I can say I know the entire first verse. The second was is a little obscure. I have been carrying the Crystal light instant drink mixes. Opoun Oblivious' suggestion I made one hot. I made it with 2 cups of water instead of 4. It was amazing. Strong, but great. I highly recommend trying it. Sealskins socks are great. I hiked all day today and yesterday with them. They suck for insulation when standing still. Give them 30 minutes of hiking and they are great. They are waterproof, and make a great vapor barrier. Once the heat from walking gets built up, they are great. I would have been misable with ice block feet without them. It was great being around these 2 lately. It makes the freezing cold way more torolarable. Plus I think with these temps it makes it a lot safer. I have completly convinced myself that I never want to do a winter thru hike. I can deal with the cold for a while, most like 2 or 3 weeks now. But not for the entire time. Oblivous also made the comment on how skinny we are getting. It hasn't really registered with me until now. I have been hiking in a lot of clothes for the most part the last month or so. I felt my chest the other night. It reminds me of the cartoons where they play the ribs like a xylophone. I feel like skin and bones. I confirmed it in the mirror tonight. I look like the northbounders I saw in Maine. Really skinny. Now I fully understand why I am so cold all the time I'm not hiking. We have been going over our plans for the Smokies. More on the exact details later. Basically it is only 40 miles between roads, but it is all crazy high. Around 5 or 6 thousand feet. We are planning on carrying a good amount of extra food. I had a bunch of my dehydrated meals sent to Hot Springs. Weather wise Saturday is looking like rain, which means snow for us. We all are definitly packing 2+ extra days of food. It would be cool to be snowed me. Date wise we might be hitching out of Gathinburg on Christmas or Christmas Eve. Either one will be pretty funny. Yet another adventure.