Date: 2010-05-06
From: Campsite

To: Catawba Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 15.8
Weather: scattered clouds

Started off the day with a big climb, which seems to be the custom nowadays. I really felt like I was able to keep a good, steady pace up the hill which made me feel really good. My mom has been sending me some healthier food lately and I really think it's had a major affect on my energy level and hiking ability. Today was also exciting since I was going to be climbing up to Dragon's tooth and this afternoon I would be getting into Catawba for my resupply.Maybe it was all mental, but as I climbed up the mountain and as I walked the top of the ridgeline I felt like I was possibly hiking through a dragons lair. The rocks were puzzling and the flora so green and wild. There were mixes of pine at the lower elevation and these pretty red flowers littered the sides of the trail. Once I reached the top of the mountain it did seem to take a while to hit the side trail to Dragon's Tooth but it was so worth it! This huge rock stuck out of the mountain like a dragons tooth and I climbed almost to the top and decided I really didn't need to sit on the very top where the thoughts of taking one wrong step to my death lingered in my head, i'll save that moment for McAfee Knob tomorrow I spent quite a bit of time up at Dragon's Tooth with the Traveling Circus and around eleven I started to make my way down. The descent was tricky, some rocks even had holds on them to help with the climb. I thought Kelly might have some issues but she did better than I did. While I slowly worked my way down one rock, she was already down the whole set, she makes me so proud!The miles into Catawba seemed quite long and a few miles right before town we hit a rather large and unexpected climb which the guidebook failed to mention or show in the elevation profile, it was disheartening and it made me want to cry, but I knew I just had to keep going and eventually I reached the road that lead into town. After getting guidance as to which direction town was I walked the mile into Catawba which was quite scary. The road lacked a good shoulder, was windy, and the cars and semis were moving fast. When I had the opportunity I jumped the guard rail and walked on the side. I hit the post office first thing in town before they closed and stopped in the small general store for a soda. It seems that there was a large group of hikers in town that day and they were all headed over to the Home Place, an all you can eat southern style restraunt. I ended up going more to hang out than anything else and it was an excellent choice! Despite being a vegetarian, they had plenty of choices to offer and gave me a few dollars off my meal. After being satisfyingly stuffed, the Circus and I laid out on the grass for a few miles before hiking out the one mile to the first shelter. As I hung out in the grass I was able to contact Keen and informed them that in the email I sent I wasn't able to give an address due to being on the trail, the lady I talked to was wonderful and told me she would tell the person in charge of replacements to send out a pair Monday. The shoes will be sent to Damascus where I will be picking them up next week during trail days Kelly also enjoyed her time on the grass. She played "Monkey in the Middle" with a couple of guys tossing a football, and when she got bored of them not throwing it to her she went and stole some guys frisbee. All I saw was her running past me with a frisbee in her mouth looking back at them, hehe. I apologized, but we all had a good laugh and I brought out the tennis ball I brought for her and we played a little bit.It was past seven when we were ready to hitch a ride back to the trail head, which was very easy. The first car pulled over, and as we were deciding how we were all going to fit with the dog and packs a pickup stopped in the road and offered to take the rest of us, so we piled in and headed up to the trial.I had intended to hike to the first shelter a mile up, but I felt really great hiking out despite a big dinner and wanted to knock off some of tomorrows climb, so I decided to hike one more mile to the second shelter. It was pretty late at this time and I didn't get in till dark, but I thoroughly enjoyed hiking at this time of evening and was greeted by Dipper, Castor, Nemphis, and Scout who were singing and jamming on the ukulele, which is always nice to hear on the trail.Today was a long day, but despite being discouraged and sore heading into Catawba, I ended on a great note. I am very excited to hit McAfee knob tomorrow and this shelter is just over a mile and a half away. Despite my happy ending, I did however find more ticks on Kelly and i'm pretty sure this will be a daily battle from now on and I can imagine it will only get worse. Her medicine kills them, but it doesn't prevent them from biting in the first place and I sure wish I could find something that did.