Date: 2006-03-25
From: Rock Gap, USFS Road 67/ HOTEL

To: Sapphire Inn, Franklin, NC
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: 0

Today is a zero day, that means I will hike zero miles on the AT today. I am comfortable and away from the freezing weather outside in the mountains.Although I¢m not hiking I will be working. Today will be full of town chores. I¢ll wash clothes, buy food for the next few days, dry equipment, rest and feed my body. Hopefully I can use today to fill in the blanks of the journals from the past week. Incidentally, the town I¢m in is about 26 miles from where my son-in-law went to college at Western Carolina University [WCU]. And I¢m seeing advertisements for Mast General Store, when Cindy (my daughter) and Chris (son-in-law) lived in Waynesville,NC I enjoyed going in there.My son, Chris, asked me to fill in some details that seemed vague in my postings. A few days ago I mentioned a someone had brought in the ingrediance for his traditional birthday drink. He carried in a Guiness beer, Jamisons whiskey [22oz to share], and a shot of Baileys cream. When mixed it makes a drink called a Carbomb found in Irish bars. We have since given his trailname ¢Carbomb.¢Some people start with a trail name, I chose to use Old Goat because I¢m proud to be one. Some come without one and hiking partners give them a name.I keep talking about the cold weather since I¢ve been out here. I have four layers I can use to keep warm. The first is my long johns, they are synthetic wicking material. The second layer is my pants and a windstopper fleece jacket. Third layer is my raingear pants and jacket. And the forth and final layer is my sleeping bag, you crawl into it toget warm. During the day while hiking the trick is to stay dry and comforable. As I feel myself warming I remove layers, open the front zipper or open my armpit zippers. The idea is to stay cool enough not to create sweat. In the colder days I¢ve been only going down to the windstopper fleece. I open up the zippers going uphill and close it up on the long downhill sections. I generate a lot of heat climbing, cool down walking downhill. When I stop, I have to hurry up to add layers so I don¢t feel cold. We¢ve had a fire many nights so we eat around the fire. I¢ve been climbing into the sleeping bag soon after we eat. I¢m pretty comfortable in the bag, I get a chill if I move wrong. Mrs. Old Goat is sending me a sleeping bag liner to add 10 more degrees of warmth.I mentioned yesterday that I went over Albert Mountain. It was a straight up climb, sometimes there were steep stairs, sometimes a hand over hand scramble. As I was climbing it I thought of my late brother Albert. He was a strong willed person who never gave up in his battle with cancer. He first had it at one and a half years old when he lost an eye to it. It reoccured when he was in his 30¢s, when he battled it once again and won. He had more bouts with that disease, and each time he held it off. Eventually it did take his life. He accepted his fate stood stong, and in so doing he showed his inner strength. Until that time I hadn¢t realized how much of a hero he was of mine. Like the mountain, Al was tough, and with his memory the mountain was conquered.The hiking is the easiest part of this journey, I enjoy walking in the woods. A few days back we came across a baby bear. I think it was separated from its mother, I don¢t know if she was killed or if the baby came out of hibernation too soon. It sure was afraid an confused.As I said, I enjoy hiking. My legs are strong and the miles drift away. I am staying positive and my focus is still strong. I have to say the cold we are havng is more than I expected. I dislike camping in the cold. I keep telling myself that each year the AT hikers have their own set of challanges. In 2003 it was rain and mud. In 2005 they battled more hot weather than normal. The class of 2006¢s story is unfolding and being written every day. We will have to wait for it to be history to give it a description. All I know is I am a part of it, and I am resolved to see it through.I¢ve been asked if the reality of my doing this has hit me yet. To be honest, no it has not. I just passed a previous milestone - on my 1991 and 1999 Philmont treks I hiked about 85 miles. Now I¢ve done 102 miles. The next milestone is an 11 day trek, and I¢m on day 11 today. I don¢t think that will be the trigger. I expect it will come either in the GSMNP (Great Smokey Mountain National Park) or soon after it. Somehow that seems to lurk heavy in my mind. Once I commit at Fontana Dam, it should take 6 or 7 days to complete the GSMNP. It¢s remote and a tough stretch. I respect it as being hard, and I¢ll take nothing for granted.I hope this has been informative and has filled in my vague blanks. Incidentally, Mrs Old Goat and I have decided to make this a dual journal. She will be writing her side of this thru hike from time to time. Hopefully those who wish to try this in the future will have the homefront perspective somewhat.Thanks for following our story.Old GoatADMIN NOTE: Hi All, this is Chris, Old Goats son. I have been primarily responsible for the updates to this journal. My mom is also helping with occasional updates and notes. She is primarily helping with mail drops for my dad. As you all probably know, most hikers need support from home. My mom and I are doing that for Old Goat.I have been trying to find other hikers journals that are near or mention my father (Old Goat). So far I have stumbled upon these:HandlebarChris & ElspethIf anyone knows of other journals that mention my dad I would love to hear about them, thanks! (my email is at2006 @ cencifamily . com (remove the spaces)I do not expect to add much to this journal. One thing I am planning is asking for is help in the northern VA, PA, NY/Conn. areas. I plan on joining my father for 4-5 days at a time (probably twice) randomly in May-July in those areas. What I'll need is transportation to/from my car in about 50 mile stretches. (ie. someone picks me up at my car in say Harpers Ferry, WV and drops me where my dad is, near say US 522 in Front Royal, VA, I walk with him back to the car) If anyone is willing to help we would appreciate it, you could write me or just keep reading, I expect to post something a few weeks in advance (May-July), thanks! (my email is at2006 @ cencifamily . com (remove the spaces)Otherwise enjoy reading!! If anyone wants to ask more I'd be happy to help.Sue's note: (Yes, both our son's and our son-in-law's names are Chris. It can be confusing at times.) Old Goat starts this entry with "I will be working." As he was preparing, he talked about looking at this like it's a job - as a way to keep going day in and day out. In one of our conversations today he said, "As soon as I'm done working, I get in my sleeping bag." He's taken that thought process to heart and it's working for him.He said he and the others have their tents and all their gear spread out all over their hotel rooms to dry out - hmm...our basement and garage looked like that from time to time after his Boy Scout camping weekends.