Date: 2003-04-18
From: Roan High Knob Shelter

To: Elk Park NC 
Miles today: 15.1

Day 36 Avg Mls/Day 10.7 Weather: Miserable, lousy, dreary, cold, wet, windy, foggy, sh...., The storm came through during the night Heavy rain until 3 a.m. I didn't sleep all that well as the heavy rain on the metal roof was quite loud. Also, there were some leaks although I stayed mostly dry. I did fall asleep after the rain stopped and woke up around 6:45. Eli and I left about an hour later and must have passed each other on the Trail about 6 times in the morning. At first it wasn't so bad, dropping down almost 1,000' to Carvers Gap. Eli and I got to Stan Murray Shelter around 10 to find Nick, Cosmo Kramer and another hiker still in their sleeping bags. This is a 3 sided shelter with the front completely open....open to high winds and driving rain...everything was wet and to make matters worse, the floor was slanted to the rear. I told them I would skip signing the register. Cosmo said there wasn't one and it didn't matter since he was going to burn down the d... shelter anyway. Eli and I laughed, but apologized as we had stayed in the best possible shelter for stormy weather. They seemed to take it all in stride. I hiked on to Overmountain (a converted barn) where I had a snack with Al and his dog...the only ones left from last night's crowd of 20 or so. I gave Al's dog my blueberry muffin...it wasn't that good.I hiked on and things went from bad to worse. Little Hump Mtn. (5,459') and Hump Mtn. (5,587') were long hard climbs in 50 - 60 MPH winds. It felt like the wind chill was 20 below zero. I wore gloves and my hands were still cold. It was all I could do to keep my balance at times. Furthermore, the mountain tops were long grassy balds. It took at least an hour to get across Hump Mtn and out of the wind. I was wearing my LL Bean parka and Schoeller guide pants. You may recall that I was concerned that the parka was a little too heavy. Not today...I was glad I had it. Normally, the guide pants repel the water. Today, it drove so hard the legs facing the wind were soaked through. The mountains tout 360 degree views. Yeah, about 30 yards in all directions! Fog and drizzel all day. It was by far, the worst day of the hike. I couldn't wait to get to route 19E so I could hitch into town and dry off. Even after getting off the balds, much of the Trail was covered with jagged rocks. Only the last few miles were easy switchbacks. Okay, I'll quit whining. Just before U.S.19E was Apple House Shelter where I stopped to sign the register. The only hiker there was Slow Ride who I had met at Miss Janets.Hitched a ride with a nice guy named Dan and his beautiful Great Dane dog. He dropped me off at Times Square Motel. Thanks Dan! Only trouble was it had just been sold 2 days ago and was closed. Went to the restaurant next door and they gave me the number of the Shady Lawn Motel across town. They picked me up and will take me back to the Trail in the morning.Did my laundry (no charge) and got cleaned up. Saw Charlie coming back to his room from dinner. We will hike out together after breakfast. Went to dinner...had the homemade soup and salad bar and a hot ham & cheese hogie. Would like to do 20 tomorrow to Kincora Hostel...we'll see. BTW, picked up a day and am only 1 day behind schedule now.Thought for the Day: Sometimes you get pissed off and sometimes pissed on.