Date: 2008-03-18
From: Jerry Cabin Shelter TN

To: Hogback Ridge Shelter NC/TN 
Miles today: 14.7
Weather: overcast clouds

Day 30 ¢ Tuesday March 18 ¢ Hogback Ridge Shelter NC/TN ¢ Miles Today: 14.7 Total Miles: 312.8 We had a very, very windy night. Luckily, we were tucked behind some rhododendrons so the tent wasn't flapping too badly from a noise standpoint. But the wind was pretty loud during the night. We woke about 7:00; it was in the upper 30s and still windy. We were on the trail about 7:40. Nothing real special about today's terrain. It was another nearly 15-mile day. We went from Jerry Cabin Shelter to Hogback Ridge Shelter - 14.7 miles. Easy first part of the day, it was downhill or flat. We walked along a logging road for a while and saw many individual gravesites along the way. One was for somebody who thru-hiked in 1969. The last half of the day seemed to be more uphill and our legs were definitely more tired. We were pleased to hit the shelter about 4:00. The wind, which had died down around lunchtime enabling us to hike in shorts and t-shirts for a while, picked up in the afternoon and by the time we got to camp, we needed to quickly toss on two more layers, knit caps, gloves, rain jackets and rain pants to do our camp chores. It was also very foggy the last couple hours of our hike. It's now nearly 7:00 and the wind is still going strong but it appears to have brought the sunshine with it. We met a new hiker today; he arrived about 6:00 at camp. His name is Trailfoot and much to our chagrin and displeasure to report, he started on March 1 and has already caught up with us. He is definitely cranking some miles. Brer Rabbit, the hiker that passed us the other day, also started on March 1. Trailfoot and Brer Rabbit were hiking together for a while until Trailfoot developed blisters and was slowed down. The good news is that Trailfoot brought an updated weather forecast to us compliments of Trail Angels Fal and Hercules (he stopped in for their Belgium waffles!). The rain that we were expecting tonight and tomorrow seems to have been pushed back a couple days. So we shall see. There are never any guarantees in the mountains. Over the last couple days we have crossed a lot of backcountry logging roads or woods roads, some of which appear to be used by 4-wheelers now. We have to pay close attention to make sure that we don't miss our AT blazes as sometimes we follow the woods roads and sometimes we veer off into the woods. We¢re seeing lots of old barbed-wire fencing too.OK, I think that's a wrap for today. It's 7:00 and about 50 degrees and very windy. We pitched the tent right behind the shelter to get some break from the wind. The shelter unfortunately in this case is facing down the valley, which is exactly the direction the wind is coming from, so for the one section hiker and two thru-hikers in the shelter, they might have a windy, chilly night.The other update is that Grasshopper's hiker¢s appetite is here! After tonight's dinner as well as last night's dinner, she said, "Ooh, I could have eaten more. I think we're going to have to resolve that issue soon by packing more food.¢ That makes Brakeman really frown.Goodnight.   Soon to be done with both North Carolina and Tennessee!