Date: 2004-03-26
From: Along the trail

To: No Business Knob Shelter
Miles today: 16.0
Weather: scattered clouds

Day 27, March 26, 2004It¢s nice to be in a shelter tonight. Just finished dinner consisting of a Lipton rice dinner. Made some hot cocoa with my dishwater. There is nothing more relaxing than a cut of cocoa right before bed. Was looking like I was going to be the only one to hold up the shelter, but Deja and Mellow showed up and all was good. Would rather be in the shelter alone than in a tent camping alone - even though the shelter may be more routinely visited by mice, skunks and other large roaming animals.Had a great view on a bald today, and it looked like the bald had some sort of ham radio repeater on top of it at one time. When I get to town I am going to check into a small ham radio to take along. A ham radio is much more reliable out here in the wilderness. The entire AT has coverage, simply climb the nearest hill. It can also be used to place local calls. In most towns they have ham radio towers (also known as repeaters) that are connected to the phone system. That could come in handy in emergency situations for example ordering a pizza, or making a reservation at a hostel before arriving at town. Also talking to local ham operators can give advice about town services and good places to eat, and could maybe even get a shuttle ride into town. Was thinking about getting a tiny ham radio before leaving for he AT but ran out of time. Now I¢m used to carrying the weight of my pack and will most likely be sending some things home, so the extra weight can be justified.While eating lunch I noticed a patch of forest in the distance sending off a large amount of smoke. While eating it got larger and spread to a different part of the mountain. It was a good distance off, so it did not raise a large concern. As you might of guessed about an hour later I came to a road crossing and a ranger had his truck parked near the trailhead. He said they were doing a controlled burn of 1,500 acres of forest. He said that he could not stop me from going through the woods but highly recommended taking a forest service road just up the street where it would bypass the danger area and reconnect with the AT. I was really upset with this and was thinking about continuing on the AT and skipping the bypass. But I did not know how bad it could be and did not want to be trapped. That could end a thru hike real quick :-) So I took the hot gravel road. Figured I cut out between 2 and 3 miles of the AT. But Deja brought up a good point saying that it was an official detour by the forest service, and we would have hiked the distance if it were not closed. The thing that bugs me is someone going south passed through that section and just said there were a lot of forest people on the trail. They said nothing about smoke or flame. So my guess is that the fire was further up the hill. If worst comes to worse I can always come back later this year and hike that 3 miles. Yesterday I set my alarm to wake me at 5:30 so I could be on the trail at 6. Well it went off at 5:30, and I heard it, but ignored it and woke back up at 6:30 and was on the trail by 7. But will try it again tomorrow morn and see what happens. My incentive is to get to the post office before noon when it closes. Town is 6 miles away! Deja talked me into taking a 0 day to chow on food and watch movies all day. That will also give the hikers a chance to catch up. We seem to be in a gap right now. There is a decent group ahead of us, and a LARGE group behind us. Tonight its just Mellow and Deja here in the shelter. It will be nice to take a 0 day, even if I don't really need it. Off to bed for now!