Date: 2006-04-07
From: Overmountain Shelter

To: Moreland Gap Shelter
Miles today: 26.4
Weather: clear sky

What type of wild animal do you think chases a person like Overflow? A bear? A mountain lion? A moose? Oh no, those are all way too exotic. Instead, I got chased by a cow. That's right, a regular, run of the mill cow. When I woke up this morning I didn't know the crazy adventure that would befall me today. In fact, I was proud of myself for getting up before dawn and leaving at 7:30. I had a very big day planned and I needed an early start if I were going to be successful. Before I left Tofurkey asked me where I was going, and when I told her her mounth kind of dropped open in surprise. The first big obstacle of the day was getting across the infamous 19E. The area around this highway is not known for its friendliness to hikers. Signs warning hikers not to park their cars in the are and the gunshot I thought I heard as I got closer only reinforced this fact, and made me pick up my pace. I made it across without incident but much to my dismay the other side of the road was covered in litter. I walked down the trail a half mile before I was far enough to get away from the refuse, and I finally slowed back down to my normal walking speed. At about 3:00 I arrived at a side trail to Jones Falls, which I took. The falls were absolutely breathtaking, water cascaded down over huge boulders sending a sparkly mist into the sunny sky. I tried to take some pictures, but, once again, none of them captured the feeling I had at that moment. Strength, my left boot, had failed me today, and both boots felt too tight and were making my toes really hurt. I took them off and plunged my feet into the icy-cold water just long enough to get and ice cream headache. When I started to get feeling back in my toes I decided that I couldn't bring myself to shove them back into my tight boots, so I tied my boots to my pack and slipped on my crocs (my foam camp sandals). I had decided to eat lunch near Elk River which was only a short way from the falls. When I arrived at the river I saw a mangy loking cow drinking from the water on the other side. I guess I never expected to see a cow on the AT so the startling sight inspired me to fling down my pack and take a picture. After taking the picture I got out my food bags and guidebook because I figured it was as good a place as any for lunch, and I wasn't concerned with the cow because it was just a cow. As I'm eating and looking at my book I hear a splashing noise and I glance up to see the cow charging across the river and through the brush right at me! I jumped up and waved my hiking poles at it yelling, "Stop! Stay Cow!" It stopped and looked at me for a second but then it started snorting and pawing the ground so I threw my pack on my shoulders, grabbed my bags that were laying out and started to slowly back away. It charged again and I turned around and ran, in my Crocs, hipbelt undone, arms laden with food and books, as fast as I could up the hill, all the time shrieking with laughter and shouting, "I can't believe I'm getting attacked by a cow on the Appalachian Trail and no one's here to see it!" Luckily for me, cows, especially deranged ones, are not the smartest of animals, so that when the white blazes led me back into the woods the cow kept running straight ahead. All the same, I didn't stop until I was a safe distance in, where I threw down my stuff and fell over laughing. When I recovered, I finished eating my lunch while keeping my eyes peeled down the trail for Bessie. I got a little concerned when I heard a loud noise approaching, but to my relief it turned out to be Tofurkey, who I immediately relayed my story to. She laughed and said she had taken a picture of the cow but left rather quickly when it kept getting closer and closer to her. Tofurkey said that I had inspired her to try to do big miles today, and that she had left the shelter about a half an hour after me. We had twelve miles left to go, and both of us seemed glad for the company, so we set off together. We talked, we sang, we laughed, and the miles seemed to fly by. At one point we both ran out of water at the exact same time and we spent the next half hour telling each other that the dehydration we were feeling was all an illusion. After pumping water from a possibly contaminated stream we decided we were definately going to go to Moreland Gap which was still 5 miles away and would put use in after dark. That last five miles was hard. I was so glad to have someone with me, and we kept trying to encourage each other to go the distance. At 8:30 it got dark and right around that time we realized that the landmark we thought we had already crossed indicating we had 2.5 miles left, "Hardcore Cascades", was, in fact, in front of us. That last hour stretched into an eternity as we played our extreme game of are we ther yet, and when we finally saw the shelter in the distance we started up a chorus of "We are the Champions". After getting a hug from Tofurkey and sitting down in disbelief at what we had accomplished, I realized we had another problem on our hands. The shelter was full and I could see lightning approaching in the distance. Poor Tofurkey had to sleep on the picnic table while I chose to pitch my tent very close to the side of the shelter. About 30 minutes later it started to rain.