Date: 2015-04-24
From: Seeley-Woodworth Shelter

To: Route 60 Buena Vista VA
Miles today: 14.0

I woke shivering, in the middle of the night, with my head covered, in my 40 sleeping bag. I knew I was in trouble. I had on two pairs of socks, with all my warm clothes and I was still shivering. Mike, my husband said the weather forecast said it would be 32 degrees in Lexington VA, not too far from where I was. I made the mistake of leaving my 20 degree bag with fleece insert in the car.   My first thought was the person sleeping next to me would wake in the morning to find me dead from hypothermia. I was asleep when he came to the shelter and had not even exchanged pleasantries. Worse case scenario that I wanted to prevent.   My second thought was to ask him if I could join him in his sleeping bag to get warm. I was not sure how I would word this without sounding like I wanted more than to just get warm. I also was not sure how I would explain this to my husband later.   My third thought was I could exercise to generate some heat. So in the middle of the night, in my sleeping bag, I did a few reverse curls and then some crunches. That helped. My hands were warm because of the fleece gloves. So I took off my gloves and tried to warm my feet with my hands. It helped but they were still cold. I managed to fall back asleep.   I woke as two shelter mates were packing up to leave early to have breakfast at Leap Frog Cafe, 5 miles north on the trail. They let the guy next to me, Ox, know about Leap Frog Cafe and he thought he would try to make breakfast, too. I got going as quickly as possible. No hygiene ritual this morning or breakfast before I left. I was concerned about frostbite on my toes. The sooner I got hiking the better.   For the next three hours, I was walking on frozen ground and whorefrost. I passed two water sources because I could not bear to sit still with cold wet hands, treating my water. In an hour or two, I started getting feeling back in my toes. Good! No frostbite.   The spring flowers continued to give me delight. There was a field of Mayapples in various stages of development. Beautiful views as I climbed Tar Jacket Ridge, Cole Mountain and Bald Knob.    I rested after an hour or so, now that I was warmed up. I took off several layers and ate breakfast. I met Berkshire Boy and his girl friend. She said she was going to name herself, Why Am I doing this. I met them the day before section hiking north. Now they were section hiking south. For the night, they were going to stay in a hostel, so they had day packs. They explained the evening before, they made a wrong turn and were miles from the hostel at sunset. I told them the day before about Leap Frog Cafe. He drove them to their hostel. She said he saved their lives. She passed the favor forward by giving me some water when I was running short. We leap frogged a few times as we both headed to our cars at Route 60 Buena Vista VA.    I got to my car about 2 pm and called my husband. I am told Verizon works at this crossing but not other carriers. I use a TracPhone because I am cheap. It works well for the trail. I turn it off if I am not using it. I usually get reception on peaks but not in the valleys. On this trek, I usually got connection if I could see buildings.   I bought a gallon of water and filled up with gas. I got home about 10 pm.