Date: 2003-06-02
From: Double Spring Gap Shelter

To: Icewater Spring Shelter
Miles today: 13.8
Weather: overcast clouds

Yeah! It¢s a beautiful clear, sunny morning. We¢ll have a great view from Clingman¢s.With all the people around last night the ghosts weren¢t as bad as I was afraid they¢d be.Later¢¦So yesterday was kind of low, today kind of a high. Guess that¢s how it goes on the trail. Just have to remind myself of that in the low times! Climbed Clingman¢s Dome this morning, and passed 200 miles today.This was the third time I¢ve summited Clingman¢s ¢ I did much better this time!! That feels good ¢ it means the last three weeks have made a difference!Today dawned absolutely beautiful. By 9 when we left it was even warm enough for shorts, and the wind that blew all day yesterday had blown away. In fact, I hiked in my shorts and tank top much of the morning.Hal and Anne don¢t know it yet, but they are Trail Angels. They usually get going by 7:30 am, but for some reason slept in today and Hal and I started out together. After my craving yesterday for conversation and companionship, we hiked together much of the day. A handsome stocky man with a sense of humor, Hal is a hiking machine. He out-climbed me more than once ¢ carrying a good 10 pounds more than me and 20 years my senior!Anne is an absolute doll and a sweetheart. She¢s shared dinner with me twice now¢if they¢re not careful they¢ll have me following them all the way to Damascus! I¢m not so short on food as to need that, but it is nice, and my appetite is kicking in with a vengeance.Hal and Anne are both married, but not to each other! They met through a hiking club of sorts, started hiking together, and got the permission of their spouses to make a 35-day trip from Springer to Damascus. I think that¢s so cool. I tried to put myself in Hal¢s mate¢s place, wondering whether I¢d be cool with that or not¢¦. Oh wait; I¢d be the one out here hiking with my husband ¢ right on.I¢ve really enjoyed their company. This is the third night with them, and likely not the last.We stopped three times today ¢ Clingman¢s, lunch at the junction near Mt. Collins Shelter, and Newfound Gap ¢ and despite the shorter mileage than yesterday it took all day and wore me out. It's true you don't think about how you smell or look until you come back around civilization. At Newfound Gap, a simple parking lot with a view, I started to reach up to get something out of my pack. I was walking past a cute, clean-cut girl in clean, stylish athletic clothes, and was suddenly very conscious of the hair under my arms...We passed several families coming down the trail into Newfound Gap as we were climbing out. What struck me the most was how good they smelled as they passed by!One family we passed sounded as though they were straight from the hills of Tennessee. The women and girls all wore long skirts (Jenn, they looked like "hardcores"!) hiking! Dad was extremely outgoing and stopped us with questions about where we were headed. When it came out that I was going to Maine, what a commotion! They even had to take a photo with us -- which Anne escaped. I think even the lastborn in me will get tired of this. After all, I'm just a person, I'm not a tourist attraction. It's a little befuddling -- but still quite amusing -- to be made such a big deal!Hal was a good hiking partner ¢ I do better with someone behind me. We made awesome time up to Icewater Spring Shelter from newfound Gap, barely even stopping to rest. On the way we passed a lady waiting for her husband and son to return, and breastfeeding her 2-month old! It¢s not every day you see someone breastfeeding on the AT! What a great place to do it though ¢ she had an awesome view. Apparently we also missed a romantic interlude here at the shelter. Mike and his brother Tom are hiking the Smokies, and Mike¢s girlfriend packed them up a homemade feast. In appreciation, Mike popped the question! (He¢d been planning it for a few weeks.) that would have been fun to see. Hal and I passed her as we were coming up ¢ she did look awfully happy! Cute.I love this shelter. A skylight allows much more light than most of the shelters here (at least since Georgia), and a tremendous view of the valley can be seen off to my left as I lay on the top bunk. A bench and ¢counter¢ stretches across the front ¢ and no bear cage! Once again, everyone¢s asleep . . .