Date: 2009-04-07
From: Green Corner Road, Standing Bear Hostel

To: Roaring Fork Shelter
Miles today: 14.6
Weather: light snow

As I was leaving the Hostel with several of inches of snow on the ground, the plan was to go to the first shelter, or a couple miles further to a camp site called Hawk's Roost.It was a very snowy walk, but very cool with a snow covered forest. Just beautiful. The first part of the hike was pleasant going.I got to the first shelter right around noon and it was full already. And there were more hikers standing around having lunch discussing plans. Long Haul was there with some day-hikers that had no equipment for dealing with cold or snow....and I mean none. Basically all they had were some sleeping bags and the clothes on their back. I felt bad for them....they were just holding out in the shelter for better weather. I asked if they had any room in the shelter....and in the past the answer had always been "yep, or we'll make room". Not here. This shelter had a very dark aura about it....so it was an easy decision to move on and get away from there.Well, I pressed on to where I thought Hawk's Roost would be but couldn't determine where it was, so it was an easy decision to continue on to the next shelter, another 5-6 miles. This is where the adventure really began.This was my most awesome experience of the hike so far. I caught up with Greaser and Squeegie and stuck with them for the rest of the day...mostly for my own safety. The snow was still falling and we were hiking in one to two feet of snow the rest of the day, with drifts up to our waist...more on this later. We were having a blast, pushing hard through the snow...hard work but fun. We were singing Christmas songs while walking through a winter wonderland.The obstacle of the day was crossing over Max Patch, a bald on top of a mountain. At this point, there was an "ice expedition" of us together....Greaser, Squeegie, Newt, Ms Scarlett, Doc, Sam Wise, Journey Dog, and myself. We looked like an ice expedition, minus the cord tied between us. The snow was falling and the wind was intense. It blew me to my knee once and blew one of the twins right over onto her side. We could only see about one of the A.T. marker poles at a time. At one point we were in some bad drifts and I had to actually crawl on my hands and knees to get out of it. Very intense. Very glad I was not alone. Greaser was keeping an eye on me...thanks dude! That was an intense experience that will be hard to top!When we got to the shelter that night, our group was awesome. Very different attitude than the shelter before. "Everybody warm and safe" was the motto for the night. We had 14 in a shelter built for 8, and 4 under the shelter. Two tents were actually up. We were squeezed together like never before for sleeping, but at least everyone was warm, dry, and safe. Great cooperation by this group of hikers. And we all had a blast....could have been a lot different with the wrong people.No one journaled....straight to sleep after quick dinner and hanging bear bags.I used almost everything in my pack to get safely through this day. Everything I wore today is stuffed inside my sleeping bag liner and jammed to the bottom of my bag to keep from freezing tonight. I'm also sleeping with my water bottle so I'll have drinking water in the morning.Incredible adventure today!