Date: 2011-11-12
From: Dennis Cove, Tennessee

To: Mountaineer Shelter, Tennessee
Miles today: 15.6
Weather: clear sky

11/12/2011  Time: 6:32 p.m. DISTANCE TRAVELED:  15.6 Miles FROM/TO:  I hiked from Dennis Cove, TN, to the Mountaineer Shelter, still in Tennessee. WEATHER:  It was cool most of the day. According to the weather forecast, the temps were supposed to be from the low 40's to the mid-60's, with mostly clear skies and winds from the south southwest at 15-20 mph.  MEALS:  Today I ate my every-day-trail-food¢¦ Duhhh!  OK . . . I did have an egg & cheese omelet, toast, bacon and a liter of Pepsi for breakfast, too.  On my first break, I finished off the last third of the jar of peanut butter I¢d been carrying, along with tortilla wraps, and twenty ozs. of Kool-Aid to drink. The next time I stopped, I just drank 20 ozs. of Kool-Aid. For my dinner I mixed mashed potatoes with chicken flavored ramen noodles and drank forty ozs. of Kool-Aid with it. ROAD/TRAIL CONDITIONS:  I encountered a lot of smaller mountains today, so the path went up and down all day.  Other than that, the trail was fast-moving which is a good thing because I got a late start today. SHELTER USED/SLEEPING QUARTERS:  I¢m sleeping on the lower level of the Mountaineer Shelter tonight. PEOPLE MET, HIKED WITH OR SEEN:  I met Baltimore Jack, who often helps out at Kinkora, before leaving this morning, and I also saw Bob Peoples. I¢ve been asked to be part of the ¢Fox Force Four¢ group (The Captain, Columbus, Sponge/Scarecrow & Splake) to make it the ¢Fox Force Five.¢ We¢ll see if they can keep up. LOL I left them at the hostel, and hiked alone all day. They were supposed to stop here, but there¢s no sign of them as of yet.  ANIMALS SEEN:   I¢ve seen a few small animals today, but nothing really to speak of. MONEY SPENT OR SAVED:  I dropped $10 in the donation box at the hostel before leaving this morning. MAIN CONCERN OF THE DAY:  I was entirely focused on making it to the shelter before nightfall.  I don¢t like hiking after dark. SPECIAL NOTES:  It didn¢t seem like the guys wanted to hike today, so I don¢t know if they hit the trail or not. I like hiking alone, though, anyway. That way, I don¢t have to concern myself with what others may or may not do. SUMMARY FOR THE DAY:  I got up this morning and packed up my gear before Pat and Baltimore Jack fed me a ¢Kinkora-style breakfast,¢ which was a typical, tasty everything type affair. I washed some dishes, waited for the others for a bit, but finally left around 11 a.m. I wasn¢t sure if the Fox Force guys would soon be following or not. I made it to the shelter at my first stop, rested and snacked, but no sign of the others, so I moved on. The next shelter, 7 miles along, was my next stop, still no one, so I continued hiking alone. I pushed on to camp for the night, where I did my usual camp chores. I collected wood to add to the wood that had been left by another hiker, got a fire going, and fixed my dinner.  It¢s now dark as I complete this log entry, and the guys still haven¢t arrived. I¢ll just have to go on without them. I plan to read for a while, then it¢s off to bed with me. ¢Night my friends. TTFN Additional note: Late that night, three of the four rolled in.  Columbus wasn¢t feeling well and stopped for the night at the first shelter four miles in. He¢ll catch up later.