Date: 2011-10-04
From: Birches Lean-tos

To: end of the white blazes
Miles today: 5.4

Today is THE DAY...The day has finally came, the one i've been working towards for so long. I will get to touch that famous wood sign on top of the mountain. The weather forecast was great. 70degrees, 10-15 mph wind, and clear skies after 10am. The sky was clear by 9 when we started up the mountain! It was warm-ish, and the excitement was in the air everywhere. We went to the office and signed ourselves in, and started up the mountain with smiles on all the faces. The farther we climb the colder it got. I ended up putting on my soft-shell for the climb up the mountain. When I emerged out of treeline I found "Three Bellies" posed right on a rock enjoying the view of the land below. Iceman, Three Bellies, and me where in the lead of the pack. I was to excited that I couldn't hike at a slower pass with everyone else, plus there were rocks everywhere to climb! So us three continued up the mountain up and over all the rocks, and through some of them to. Right after catching up to Three Bellies I looked around at all the fall colors in the valley below, along with all the bodies of water. I realized that there were a large set of clouds about to blow right over us. I got to see the mountain get locked in by the clouds. The cool thing was I was actually high enough that I was truly in the clouds. I then realized that it wasn't raining outside but instead it was snowing...yes real snow. IN OCTOBER! It started out as a few snow flacks blowing around into a huge blizzard. The wind was not the predicted 10mph but instead a steady 50-70mph winds. When the snow is being hailed at you by that wind it hurts when it hits bare skin. It actually stings your skins where you feel like there are Indians shooting small pins at you all over you. Through out time it was not just snow coming down but sleet, and ice also. The wind was so powerful that I found myself not being able to walk at some points in time and other times walking sideways trying to hold myself up. I did get blown off the trail a few times in which I was lucky that there was no drop off. I stopped and waited multiple times out of the wind for Three Bellies to catch up, and just to get out of the wind. But after reaching the Plato at the top f the mountain there was no stopping till I got to the top as there was no place to hide. Iceman surprised me on how fast he hiked, normally most people can not keep up with me but he was faster than me. When the big brown sign came into view he stopped in let me go up front so I could run to it and claim the mountain as mine! I ended up giving a victory yell as I made it to the end! Along with getting my photo taken with the sign before I changed into more practical clothing. I ended up screwing myself over as I took off my soft shell so I could put on another base layer which got rid of all the heat trapped between the jacket and me. I also lost all of my lower body heat as I went to the bathroom Although I put more clothes on I lost more body heat doing so which sent me into a mild case of hypothermia. When the rest of the group got there we got everyone's photo along with the groups photo, then started down the mountain. The group realized that I was shivering uncontrollably and my hands wouldn't work at all, which lead to not hiking for another minute but heating me up. Guinness helped me zipper my jacket and buckle my pack, while Natedog had me put my freezing numb hands under his shirt against his body using his body heat. It took me a minute to feel any of his heat, but started to feel a little bit of heat in the center of my pulm. Hopeful was carrying a spare pair of gloves which he let me use. After I started to get feeling back in my hands Natedog and me trotted down the mountain the best we could. The wind kept blowing me over to where I couldn't hike at all, as I kept getting beat into the ground. Natedog the southern man that he is held out his arm and held me up so I could fight against the wind and hike. After I got warm we stopped and waited for the rest of the group to catch up, as the weather was so bad that the group needed to stay together as long as everyone was warm. While waiting Natedog took out to candy bars one for each of us to eat while waiting. He gave the famous sneakers bar which I didn't know if he was being nice or just playing a joke on me, although he did open it for me. When I went to eat the candy bar it took me at least a minute to bite a piece off as it was completely frozen. After I bit a piece off I looked at the carmal that came out of the candy bar and it was completely frozen. The candy bar though was needed and much appreciated. Coming down the mountain I found myself on either 3 points of contact or just on my rump, because of the terrain, wind and icy trail. One person looked at their thermometer at the summit and it read 24 degrees. We also had a inch of snow with ice on the ground. I found myself looking at the ground thinking that it is Christmas time. One spot on the climb there are 2 pieces of re-bar were you have to hold on and say a prayer and drop. Well when I dropped I found myself being overpowered by wind and being blown up against the rock which I just dropped down off of. Using all my arm Mussels I pushed back against the wind and kept moving out of one of the many wind jet streams coming up the side of the mountain. There were also other places on the trail were you just sit and slide down the rock to the bottom as there is no place to go around and the rock doesn't have traction. The group finally got below treeline and out of the hailing wind, although the snow kept on coming along with hail. We all pulled up in a nice spot with snow covered trees for lunch, and thoughts on all that happened. I asked the group if they saw the other ridge when coming down the mountain as it was a sight to see. It was all snow covered and the way the sun was hitting it was amazing! We finally got all the way down the mountain in one peice and out of the weather safely with one great story to tell.