Date: 2007-04-25
From: Overmountain Shelter

To: Mountaineer Shelter
Miles today: 17.4
Weather: overcast clouds

This morning my tent was covered with moisture inside and out. It was a very still night with a lot of humidity. I rolled the tent up wet and packed up my things. The three section hikers and one other unknown hiker left before me. Most of the thru hikers left within a 30 minute time frame, except Hemlock, Rio, and Jim who arrived fairly late in the evening yesterday.I led the pack of hikers for most of the day. I hiked with Pootz, Scholar, and Tom B for most of the day. It was the first time I hiked in a group since before Franklin with Step 'n' a half, Jeanie, Weeks, and Spicy Shrimp. Today started with climbs up Little Hump and Hump Mtn, which are topped with grassy balds and have great views. We stopped at the top of Hump Mtn for over 30 minutes. The weather and views were wonderful. It was breezy and about 65 degrees. I set up my tent and it dried in about 20 minutes. There were 16 hikers lounging around the bald before we dispersed back on to the trail.My legs are pretty much healed and not a problem anymore. It feels great to hike without pain for a change. The temperatures went up through the day and the sun was bearing down on us most of the day since there aren't any leaves on the trees. We grouped up again at Apple House Shelter for lunch. There was a difficult uphill after lunch in the heat. My shirt was changing from blue to white because of all the salts coming out in my sweat. We finally reached Jones Falls by mid afternoon. We took the side trail to the falls, since Scholar said it was worth going to. It was awesome. I climbed up near the top where the water was falling about 15 feet. I emptied my pockets, took off my shoes, and carefully climbed over the rocks into the waterfall. The water was cold, but it felt great to cool down and rinse the salts off me and out of my clothes. That was definitely one fo the highlights of my journey. A lot of times thru-hikers don't take the side trails because it is extra miles, but this should not be missed.Back on the trail I was sweating again in 30 minutes. We walked along the Elk River for a while I saw a couple ducks and there were butterflies and bees flying around the flowers along the trail.Tonight I am tenting at Mountaineer Shelter. There are 5 tents set up and the rest of the group is in the shelter, which was built last year and is very nice. Flint and Jubilee arived and I over heard some conversation with my name. While I have seen them a couple times, they didn't know who I was. There were talking about a guy named Diesel and some of the others pointed to me and said "He's over there." They told me I was a legend on the trail. People always say Diesel was here and moved on or they would see journal entries, but never would actually see me. I have received similar responses from some other hikers when I tell them my name. Some shake my hand and a lot have been tracking me through the shelter journals. I try to sign in at every shelter.I did 17.4 miles today. It was tiring in the heat, but I feel great. I love this journey!There are a lot of people here tonight. I will try to list them all. Scholar, Dirty Ernie, Sky Blue ( his dog Blue went home today due to the heat), Blue Yonder, Flint, Jubilee, Uncle Buck, Evil Eye, Pootz, Dances w/ slothes, Little Red, Wolf, Ziola, and Tom B. I hope I didn't miss anyone. Most of us are headed for Kincora Hiker's Hostel tomorrow.