Date: 2004-02-11
From: Big Spring Shelter

To: Cold Spring Shelter
Miles today: 24.9
Weather: overcast clouds

Log entry: 11Starting time: 0900Ending time: 1930Morning weather: cloudy but mildAfternoon weather: sunny and mild, around 40Evening weather: clear and coldBreakfast: strawberry CIB and oatsLunch: candy barsDinner: Lipton rice with turkey (Mexican flavor) and brown rice with brown gravyTrail description: I combined 2 fairly easy days into one long one in order to catch up with the Solemates and Stanimal. Good views from Wayah BaldPeople: Stanimal and the Solemates, some trail maintainers from the Nantahala chapterWildlife: don't rememberMoney spent: noneBiggest complaint: long day but body held up wellThoughts: PocketMail crashed, lost some entries, am catching up slowly, please wait for updateNarrative added 2/27/04Ahh, my first 25 mile day, I really wish my original entry had magically disappeared, but its gone now, so what are ya gonna do¢¦.Something was weird when I woke up this day. I knew that I wanted to spend the tomorrow night at the NOC (Nantahala Outdoor Center) with the Solemates and hopefully catch STANIMAL in the process. I knew from the shelter log entries that they all should be there sometime tomorrow and be somewhere between here and there tonight. And the only way to catch up with someone is to either do double miles or wait until they take a day off. Its quite simple math. As long as they keep moving everyday, you won¢t catch them unless you do something about it. Even if a hiker hikes at an average 2 mph and you hike at 3 mph, you still just are not going to catch them anytime soon. It¢ll take weeks or at least several days. So I thought I maybe had it in me to push 25 miles today where I figured they all would be waiting. I¢d better hurry.The first 5.3 from Big Spring to Rock Gap flew by; I did it in an hour and 15 minutes.   I was happy with that but I had miles to make up. I stopped at the shelter long enough to sign in and re-tape my ankles where the blisters had re-opened and were bleeding. Not profusely mind you, but enough to know it was blood. Between Wallace and Winding Stair I met some trail maintainers who were very friendly but advised a storm was in the mix for tonight and they were predicting 4 inches of snow. They said be sure to sleep in a shelter tonight. Nuts I thought. I did toy with the idea of camping somewhere in between in order to split the day up but not if its going to storm, not in my bivy at least. Also I wanted to make sure that the Solemates were in a shelter because sometimes they tent and if the storm was something like 4 inches of snow, you really don¢t want to tent in that if you don¢t have to.I stopped a few more times to fix blisters but for the most part kept it to the floor. By 14:00 I made it to the blue-blazed trail which led to Siler Bald shelter. The trail then rejoins the AT further up near the bald. I really wanted to know what the shelter log said because there was a chance that either the solemates or stanimal might be there, I would not press on. And being the purist about hiking all the white blazed portions I dropped pack and ran up the trail to the shelter.   The trail runs up the north face of the mountain and was glare ice in spots. So I did my best ¢socks across the linoleum floor¢ routine and made it to the shelter where it looked like Stanimal had spent last night. Cool beans. I raced back up the trail and across the ice back to my pack on the AT. 45 minutes later I was on my way again. It was 1445 and I had 12.1 miles to go, including a climb up Wayah Bald. The old tummy was a little nervous about hiking in the dark.The climb up Wayah was not as bad as I was prepared for. Actually at a good grade to still average about 3mph. It was up near there where I saw 3 different sets of boot prints. One being very much smaller than the rest. Yahtzee. I made to the top of the Bald at 17:00 and what a view to behold. You could see most of the Smokies and a lot back of what we had just done. It was surreal. I nailed a poptart and a candy bar and humped down the mountain. Okay, I pretty much ran, but I was careful not to fall.   Somewhere around 1830 I flicked my headlamp on. I was in a really super good mood for whatever reason and I remember the last hour up to the shelter being very pleasant. I was thinking about one of Andy¢s journal entries and some of the discussions we have had in the past. What got me thinking was the shelter log entries by an 81 year old hiker, EZ1. Let me set the stage here. EZ1 started in January and leaves a sticker label in all the logs. It tells a brief statement about how he has done this before and he plans on doing this years thru in 11 months. The last line of the sticker reads, ¢believe it or not, life does not get any better than this.¢ Coming from an 81 year-old I initially took this as gospel and thought that was pretty cool but the more I thought about it the more I disagreed. I am having the time of my life out here so far, but Lord knows that I have better days to look forward to. Wife, kids, births, weddings, my son winning the Heisman, being a police officer, saving lives, helping people. This is fun but at the same time this is very selfish of me. I have very close friends at home that are losing/lost grandparents/parents. My Pastor's wife just went through a double lung transplant. More friends who are close to losing a mother/grandmother and also have a daughter with a tumor. A mentor from the police department has another very sick daughter and here I am on va-fricken-cation. It doesn¢t seem fair. I am so blessed. The only solace I have is that out here, I have 9 hours a day where I walk. And as I walk I pray. So these hurting and sick loved ones are getting more prayer out of me now than they would if I was taking classes and working. But besides that I am not doing much here to help anyone else. I am learning a lot about myself and who I want to be which will in turn make me a better husband, father, officer. So down the road I can pay it forward, but if this is all there is in life, then I am very disappointed. Like Andy says and I concur, ¢hiking is the sweet icing on the cake¢. I really love my life back home. I love going to work, I like the classes I take, I like eating dinner at home, I like watching Law and Order with my mom, I like talking about our day with my Dad once he gets home from work. I like coming home from school or work and having my dog Broots come running out to meet me, usually with something dead in his mouth. Hiking for me is not an escape. I didn¢t quit a job I hate but rather painfully said a temporary adieu to friends and mentors. Not to step on toes, but I think if you have such distain for life as is back home, you may need to do some personal searching and make some life changes. Yes, life out here is simple. Eat, walk, sleep. That¢s all it is, but not all that has to be. (steps down from soapbox, bows to thunderous roar from audience, and exits stage left as curtain falls¢¦)Sorry, it¢s easy to ramble when you are sitting at a real keyboard and not pecking at a pocketmail. By 1930 I rounded the corner to the shelter and was blinded/greeted by 3 headlamps. They were all here. I ate a quick dinner and went to sleep. I was tired.