Date: 2005-04-04
From: Tent, Rufus Morgan Shelter

To: Shelter, Sassafras Gap Shelter
Miles today: 7.7
Weather: overcast clouds

Trail Angel¢s rock! Even if they aren't on the trail. Today we went to the Nantahala Outdoor Center (NOC) where we picked up our resupply. Thank you so very much Terri. Without you to take care of everything, none of this would be possible. Thank you sweetie for everything (literally from transcribing journals to getting our barn permitted). When we picked up our packages, it was like Christmas. We got our food box and our bounce box. Troll was really pleased to see he had received his new Bear kilt (www.bearkilts.com). I must say that Troll cuts a fine figure in his new kilt. The package log also showed that we had a postcard and that Brian had a letter. The Katahdin postcard was from the East(er bunny)man family. The letter was from Janet Ake. Both were really cool. We also had another package from the East(er bunny)man family filled with Easter goodies & glow in the dark zipper pulls. Needless to say, the candy was immediately inhaled and enjoyed. So like I said Trail Angels rock! Today was a pretty good hiking day. It was warmer than yesterday with breezes. The walk down to the NOC was quite pretty. There were lots of wetland wild flowers startingto come in. The hillside covered in little white flowers and purple violets was really pretty. I wish I could recognize more types of wildflowers. The NOC seems like a pretty fun place. The Nantahla River runs right through it all with a nice big walking bridge. It is a big white water center that does canoes, kayaks, and rafts. There is also a train that brings people in to walk around or drop them off for water adventures. It is bright and colorful; all of those different watercrafts seem to come in bright primary colors. Our sorting of packs and packages made it look like a yard sale had come to town. Of course, before we could leave, we had to have chili cheese dogs and cokes. Finally, we got out of there around 1330. Today we climbed up a bald. The NOC is at 1740 ft elevation and the top of Swim Bald is around 5000 ft. We climbed up this bald for 6 miles. That's a lot of climbing. I thought I was at or near the top around 1700. Ha! It was not until 1820 that I had finally reached the point where the trail started going down. I did discover a really bad thing about steep climbs. When your body is leaning forward and you are using your poles to pull yourself up, your armpits seem to get really close to your face. A good self-whiff can make the burning quads and gluts dull in comparison. There are lots of trail terms to describe the trail. PUDs = Pointless Up ad Downs. I could go on and on with other examples. Troll has come up with his own definitions for some of the terms found in the trail guidebook. BALD means really high up and may take the greater part of a day to get there. KNOB means not quite as high up, but probably steeper. MOUNTAIN means there will probably be switchbacks on at least one side. GAP means there will be a climb down immediately followed by a climb up. We got to cross some more of those giant stone Zen gardens. They are really wild and look like a giant just threw random rocks around. Today they were especially cool because most of the rocks wiggled. It was so much more fun walking across those rocks never knowing which rock would wiggle under your foot or which direction it would wiggle in. I got to crawl on my hands and knees to go under a blown down tree. Watching me pull myself up with my poles was probably a really amusing sight. Today was pretty enjoyable for me. I was slow but steady. I had plenty of opportunity today to work on my uphill breathing. Sometimes even the slightest incline can make you feel as if your lungs might explode out of your chest. Different breathing rhythms seem to help with this. I can't describe my breathing patterns, but I am certainly paying attention to them. I haven't concentrated this much on breathing since my Lamaze class. Today, I seemed to be able to get into a pretty good rhythm. I have started to notice some changes in my body. My feet are getting veiny and skinnier. My old lady hump on my upper back is shrinking. My bra cup size also appears to be shrinking. My big belly is still hanging in there. Now I just need to find what part of the world finds skinny veiny feet and big bellies attractive. Thank goodness, my Troll loves me. Troll and Oblivious saw an owl fly off today. They rounded a curve and probably disturbed it. Oblivious said it was brown and Troll remarked on how silent it was. I spent some time contemplating the purple violets alongside the trail. There I was, trying to remember if it was sprites, brownies or pixies that would wear violets for hats. When all of a sudden one of the violets seemed to flutter by. I know it was just a little butterfly, but I would like to think that it was an invisible little magical creature using the violet petals to fly. I saw 3 of those little purple butterflies today. It was such a nicer day than my previous 2 days. I know that I tend to go on and on about all my trials and tribulations in this journal. But how bad can life be when you are with your family, basically healthy and very happy. Tonight before the boys went to sleep they were whispering the how much I love you game. Tonight they loved each other more than all the cells in universe times all the stars in the sky times all the objects in the world to the infinity cubed. Or something like that. Take care and we will see you on the trail.