Date: 2004-04-28
From: John's Hollow Shelter

To: Brown Mt Creek Shelter
Miles today: 17.6
Weather: clear sky

This is the third night in a row that I will be alone at the shelter. I also did not see another person today or yesterday after lunch. This is crazy! How can there be so few people around? Talking to myself can only keep me entertained for so many hours a day! I keep telling myself that the solitude is good for me but the silence has begun to get deafening and loneliness has started to creep in. How was I to know that when I only did 10 miles because of rain and everybody else went on that I would end up in a void free of 2-legged life? Anyway this situation is not critical and I am still having a very enjoyable time on the AT. The weather is beautiful, today¢s 17 miles seemed almost effortless and the scenery is awesome.I woke early this morning and enjoyed the warmth of my sleeping bag until my bladder started to complain. How enjoyable to be warm, dry and comfortable on a brisk morning outside. The hike today was divided into 2, 8.8 sections, with shelters in between. How oddly satisfying to have such even numbers. It made me happier then it probably should have! There is something enjoyable about stopping for lunch and knowing I was exactly 12 way done or still had exactly 12 way to go. (Is the cup half full or half empty?) Maybe this is what happens when you don¢t have other people around to talk to, it makes you sound like a crazy-person when you write your journal. I pondered this numerical oddity on the AT for about 12 an hour as I walked.The hike today was very nice. It started with a good climb in the morning to get the blood pumping and my legs working. It was still cold so I was thankful for the up to keep me warm. I only have shorts and rain paints for my legs, so I always hope it¢s not cold enough that I have to put on the pants, because of the annoying swish swish, swish they make. Then there were some creeks, a dam, a lake and then another creek. How enjoyable to walk by water because it makes everything alive. If only it were 10 degrees warmer I would have gone for a much needed bath in the creek, as it was I just soaked my feet for a few minutes, which perhaps reduced the general stenchiness factor, if only somewhat. That¢s the life of a budget hiker I guess. None of those stops at motels to do laundry and take a shower. Maybe it¢s better this way though because if you get clean every 3-4 days then there is a noticeable difference in stages of cleanliness, whereas for me, it just doesn¢t matter anymore after about the 4th day. Remember the days back in Georgia where I used to stop every 30-50 miles to get clean? How bizarre that seems to me now. There are a couple places I could stop before I get to Waynesboro but I am trying to resist the temptation.This little side trip into town could soon become a necessity as I am running out of food. The situation is actually becoming somewhat critical: 3 backpacker meals, a 12 pound or so of trail mix and 6 granola bars for 3 more days of hiking. I haven¢t really been able to stop eating. I could probably eat 4 pounds of trail mix in a single sitting if I had an unlimited supply. Everyday I just keep eating more then I have allotted myself for the day, but I just can¢t stop. It was a compulsion, I knew I would run out eventually but I was hungry. I¢m happy it was at 800 miles and not 100 or 200 miles lie it was for a lot of the skinny guys out here. Anyway, all is not lost; I will be crossing 2 roads in 2 days where I can go to little country stores. Chips and chocolate bars are better then nothing. Maybe they¢ll have Little Debbie¢s. Little Debbie¢s does some good work in the snack department but I don¢t think we have them in Canada. Well maybe we do but I just never noticed because before my hike I used to think crap like that was disgusting. Look what I have become: a serious junk-food junkie, who looks forward to eating Little Debbie¢s. I talk to my feet, my hands and various body parts a lot. As I eat junk I apologize to my body because I know it wants healthy food and that Little Debbie¢s are really no use to it. But I eat them anyway. Heald, in one of the shelter registers wrote an ode to Little Debbie. I wish I had copied it down because it was really funny¢¦ something alone the lines of ¢I live for you, I hike for you¢¦¢You would think I might have something more profound to write after so much time alone but instead I ramble on about Little Debbie¢s, numerical oddities and hiker stench. Maybe the best I can hope for is that this entry was at least mildly amusing to one or two people out there. Perhaps tomorrow I¢ll work on profound writing but probably not.JB -- "Tell It Like It Is"...