Date: 2006-04-19
From: Apple House Shelter

To: Moreland Gap Shelter
Miles today: 18.2
Weather: 0

Cell none, also none all day.Today started with a bang - at 6am a loud thunder clap woke all of us! We hurredly packed our gear and ran into the shelter. Fortunately the rain did not start right away, and I was able to pack a dry tent. We ate breakfast in the shelter and watched the rain start. After eating, we put on our rain suits, covered our packs, and headed out for a day of hiking in the rain.One observation while hiking near roads...Eastern Tennessee must be the home of the North American Litter Bug! I saw more trash along the roadside here. They need a beverage can deposit law badly. There was one stream near the road that we walked along that had old appliances, a bed mattress, and lots of other trash. It was quite an eyesore. I guess for someone on the road it¢s out of site, but if you¢re in the woods it¢s terrible. Wake up Tennessee! The world is not a dump! Take care of it for your grandchildren!As we were hiking, I walked through an open field that climbed a long hill. Did I mention there was lightning and thunder at that time? I was in the lead. When I reached the tree line, I turned around and didn¢t see Die Hard right away. When he reached me he said I must have had my jets on because I shot up the hill pretty fast. I didn't want to be in the open field with lightning around us. You may be asking why be out walking in the rain at at all. Well, if we let every rain storm stop us, we may never reach Maine sometime this year. We have to go - rain or shine. We just have to watch ourselves, be smart, and go.We hiked all morning in the pouring rain. We kept moving to keep warm. About 11:30 the rain stopped, but the rain was still falling off the trees. When that slowed down we stopped for lunch, as we needed to fuel our bodies.After lunch the sky cleared, and in a few hours the sun came out. We eventually took off our rain suits and were hiking in the sunshine.We hiked 18 miles to this shelter. It was a tough day, but that was the spacing between these two shelters with none in between. Tomorrow will be short, as we have to resupply our food, and we¢ll stop at a hostel.Tonight I met Miss Parkay [she has a bottle of liquid Parkay to add to her food], Coach K [he works at Duke in the Athletic Dept], and we have Sputnik, Die Hard, and me.When I got to this shelter I had to dry out a lot of clothes - my rain suit and some of my gear. It was a good thing the weather improved. I¢m expecting days when I¢ll have to live with wet gear. I hope it's warmer then.GoodnightSue's Note: We talked this morning (no cell phone reception tonight). Old Goat talked about how it was to hike in the pouring rain...not fun. He said they saw some nice looking waterfalls, but passed up one when they were in a downpour and they would have to go a ways off the trail to see it. I told him he was seeing all the waterfalls he wants with so much rain - he laughed and said, yes, the rain puring off the brim of his hat.Old Goat said it would be fun to see a sign at state borders like you see on the highway ("Welcome to [State]¢) on the AT."Coach K" is not THE Coach K. This "Coach K" works for Coach K at Duke. When someone heard that, they said it was close enough and that they'll call him "Coach K."