Date: 2012-04-04
From: Spring Mountain Shelter

To: Jerry Cabin Shelter
Miles today: 15.4
Weather: overcast clouds

Well I didn't sleep too well wit all the mouse scurrying that was going on. At one point one ran across my pad right around the outside of the exposed head of my sleping bag. Nothing likethat feling and all the noise to keep you wide eyed and staring all night. Started out today and realized very quickly that my body soooooo did not want to hike today. I feel my body has become sentinent and boy did it try all the argments out today. "But I'm tired!", "Oh come on, we've been doing this for weeks now", "You know it all looks the same anyway right" (theeyes agreed with the feet), and ten just a tad hysterical that the pounding continued, my feet said, "okay what are we running away from? Natural disaster? Aren't you just a little concerned that we are rapidly losing all that extra poundage I've been storing away for a time in need?!" (Yeah yeah what they said said my metabalism). So basically it was a hard day that was mostly a slog of just pushing through the miles. At any other point in my lifetoday would have been demed a couch day. Not so on the AT, it's eithr stay here and camp or get waking. But the weather was a little better and things really turned around when wewere surprised by trail magic at little laural shelter by a trailrunner. Soda, milk beer, chips, and cookies. A hikers dream! Thanks so much to our trail angel! It was just the boost I needed to get over the next hill. Which was a steep one. The switchbacks are starting to go away and they are just running us straight up the mountains. Going down again was nice and easy with the occaisnal glimpse of a pretty view. We had heardof a nice ridgeline up ahead that had great views called firescald bald. Oooo nice views right? Grassy slope? Um no.. What they failed to mention was it was a death trap! This 1.5 exposed ridgeline was a knife'sedgeof bolders, rocy steps, cliffs to either side, rock scramble designed to remind you that thetrail wants you dead. Tippy rocks, tripping stones, steep rock wallclimbing zones, random roots, you name it I fell on it. You simply do not send someone as clumsy as I am onto this thing without some kind of warning! How I dreamed of the foul weather trail below. Oh wat what if another storm rolls in while I'm trapped on this thing, literally a lighting rod as the highest thing on a pile of rock? I am sooo totally going to de here. Can they even recover bodies from a place like this? Or will I be another marker for furture thru hikers, " and to the east are the bleached broken remains of the foolish thru hiker who took this path in 2012". But still, cool views to the left where the mountains just slopedown and end in flat farmlands. Totally worth it right? If there was a pattern to the day it went like this, take 10 steps, trip, take 5 more 2 more face plants, take step kill biting bug, trip, take 6 steps dig suicidal bug out of eye, duck swarm tha formed while you did this, face plant...I was so glad to finally get off that rideline. Oh sweet boring dirt path, how could I ever doubt my affection for you? I'll never take you forgranted again you monotanous easy trail. The last two miles followed the TN/NC border. To your right is a normal forest, t the left a prescribed burn all blackended and sooty. Not much looking like it burned too much, more like someone spray a black spraypaint over the land. And what seperaes these two opposing views? A small foot wide path. So weird to look at. The air was sickly sweet wth the smell of the burn. End of a long day at a nice shelter with good company and new friends BLT and Steve. Bookworm didn't make it in and I'm writing this as it gets dark hoping she's not trapped on that deathzone of a rdigeline in the dark. Good luck girl.