Date: 2007-05-14
From: Mountaineer Falls

To: Dennis Cove
Miles today: 16.0

The new shelter last night was great, but not much different that any I've stayed in so far. The only differences are the shiny color of the stained wood and the giant wooden bear carved into an 18 inch thick log by mens of chainsaw. The mice are already making themselves at home, there are reported bear sightings in the register, and the cross beams the frame the structure have the "(unimportant guy's name) was here" tattooed on them. I noticed all of this while wondering why a brand new shelter doesn't have a privy. I found out later that in Tennessee privies must be handicap-accessible. You must be joking. In the middle of the wilderness, miles from civilization, and the only way to get here is by walking, you need to have handicap-accessible privies?? Oh well, I thought to myself. No sweat, I see a hill with lots of trees over there, problem solved. As soon as I climbed the hill, though, it was quite obvious I'm not the first one to see the hill as prime spot for similar intentions. The scattered balled up sections of toilet paper next to ever large tree and the remnants of prior catholes create a mine field of "matter" to dodge before I can do my own business. 10 minutes later, I emerged safe and sound, luckily, with no "pitfalls". The 24 miles from yesterday is still present in the aching bones of my feet, but I still put on the socks and boots and headed to Kincora Hiking Hostel, 15 miles away. I took each step easy today, not pushing to be anywhere at anytime, but one particular incident nearly put me over the edge. I was 2 miles from the hostel and I had come across a side trail to Coon Den Falls. The last side trail had only been a tenth of a mile, so I figured why not? I've got nothing but time and waterfalls are like little gifts from the trail. I took off my pack and headed down a, unknown to me at the time, very long walk to the bottom of the falls. I'm guessing around .7 miles which is forever when you're expecting just a tenth. The trail snaked down and around and around and down, coming close to the falls and then back away again numerous times. It was taking forever and I want to emphasize how much time I really believed it was taking with no end in sight. Since I had left my pack in the middle of the AT, making no effort to hide or secure it, I was also worried about potential theft. The trail finally made it to the bottom and the falls were very beautiful, but not really worth the mind game it was playing with me. After frollicking in the water for a bit, I wanted to go back, but I REALLY didn't want to go back the way I came down that ridiculous trail. So here's what I came up with--why not just go straight up the side of the falls through the thicket of rhododendron and loose topsoil. I could see where another hiker had attempted a similar task, so I opted to follow in their footsteps, if you could call them that. At an unholy grade of terrain, I climbed up...and fell down...several times. I grabbed roots, I pulled up roots, I fell down some more. I grabbed trees, some live and some dead, and some fragile, and I fell some more. I stepped on solid ground and not so solid ground and....fell some more. Much time passed and I eventually made it to the top, bypassing a large portion of the side trail. It occurs to me on the way back to get my pack a physics or geometry rule that I once learned.--"The shortest distance between two points is a straight line." HA. It may be shorter, but that in no way makes it any easier. So here I sit at Bob Peoples' establishment, the Kincora Hiking Hostel. Tons of other hikers are here, all rushing to get to Trail Days and not one of them went down to Coon Den Falls. I'm glad to be here after a hot shower and some clean clothes. With a large pepperoni pizza and a pint of ice cream in me, I shall sleep well on a real mattress tonight. Goodnight.