Date: 2008-10-29
From: kosby knob shelter

To: pecks shelter
Miles today: 14.0
Weather: light snow

woke up to sunshine a welcome change from yesturday. At 8am brad from kentucky announced it was 22 degrees outside, making me wonder just how cold it was last night (i think i found out later at the visitors center that it was around 12 degrees of so) but i believed it was that cold last night as it was so biting cold first time my sleeping bag wasnt warm enough usually my sleeping bag warms up quickly after i get in it, but it stayed cold for a long time. now most peole have their own method for how they keep warm in their sleeping bag, from being naked in it to wearing all clothes to calistinics before getting in your bag to lock in the body heat...i tossed and turned alot to try and get comfortable baybe i shoudl have just zipped up my sleeping bag j/k but it has slowly been getting colder and colder outside. amazingly there were guys at the shelter who made a roaring fire last night and this morning (thanks again guys!) what a difference it makes to get warm first time our water froze at night luckly i dried out my shoes enough by the fire lst night that they were not frozen this morning. so time to get moving as hiking is what keeps you warm we pulled out of the shelter late at 10 for a short day of 14 m iles but im so glad we planned a short day as hiking today presented a new challenge, hiking uphill in 3 or so in. of snowwhich is like hiking uphill in sand as every step slides back a little creating more work seems like when you get over one challenge on the trail there is another one takes its place always overcoming and learning to adapthard day as it was still cold and very windy in the morning knew we had to climb up for awhile but wasnt aware of what i was in for snow getting little deeper adn fresher as we went along wind blowing so muc that it was as if it was snowing all over again sun was shinign but not really warm at one pt i stopped for a QUICK snickers in sun but at top of ridge near mt Guyot summit and wind blew furiously and then a light continous mist of snow on me and all my gear i hurried on b/c frustrated i was getting wet from snow only to encounter more blowing wind in my face even had chunks of snow that were falling from the trees as the wind blew they would fall on my head and feel like someone had just chucked a small snow ball at my head snow was blowing around so much it had covered all the footprints from day before and looked as if no one had walked in the snow yet. i was getting frustrated with all of this and then looking for a 2 mile point that never seemed to come b/c it wasnt marked or i just missed it, i was at a breaking pt and just wanted to be done with being out here. i stopped jabbed my poles into the ground, leaning on them i began to cry as i couldnt take anymore looking back on it, it seems so silly that i got so frustrated and upset. what a great adventure i was in had i just enjoyed the moment it would have been totally different but then it felt so hard compared to now sitting in my tent few days later writing this in calm snow melted area that is way warmer. after lunch that day i hike with shawn which was so great as wind died down a little we took time to look around and see the beauty all around us oh how i loved how whe made me stop to see the beauty of white snow covered trees ahead of us and the snowy white path the sound of snow crunching under our feet at one pt wind blewup in our faces so cold with snow she made us turn our faces back to it and said see the beauty. on way to shelter began to get into some slick icy areas as we carried/dragged big pieces of wood to the shelter for a fire as soon as get to shelter took all wet clothes and put on dry clothes quickly to warm up had a hard time keeping teh fire going we think because teh wood was a little wet there was a tarp that hung over the entrance to the shetler which was nice to help keep some of the wind from blowing inthe shelter. thankful again for water information from people that we passed on the trial and that were at the shelter last night! now im thankful for the snow and cold adventure but then i wasnt i hope i dont forget this adventure so as to remember to enjoy things even with they are hard/rough. tonight used the emergency blanket that brad from kentucky gave me yesturday kept me warmer! (thanks again brad) tommorow on to gatlinburg!