Date: 2015-04-19
From: Painter Branch campsite, NC/TN

To: Walnut Mountain Shelter, NC
Miles today: 17.9

I was wrong about being rocked to sleep by rolling water last night. Another night of tossing and turning until around 4am would follow until I finally dozed off just in time to hear Moosehead start shuffling in his tent just after 6am. As tired as I felt, there were miles ahead that weren't going to hike themselves.Moosehead and I gradually packed our gear, retreated into the nearby woods to take care of business, and hit the trail at 7:15am. Burnsides would hit the trail by 7:45am and would catch up with us within the next 2 hours.During this time, Moosehead and I would quickly shift into mountain mode as we began uphill and would continue a rollercoaster ride type hike for several miles. Through Spanish Oak Gap, Snowbird Mountain, Turkey Gap, Deep Gap, and Brown Gap, we passed the miles by talking about football, our ex's, and anything in between. Moosehead told me about his dad being a former high school football coach who loves Lombardi-isms, his own success as a cornerback and wide receiver, and his Friday-Night-Lights-like ending to his senior season as a sure touchdown catch was deflected before his outstretched hands ending his final season of football as the #2 ranked team in Maine. I was able to relate with my 30-yard touchdown run as an eighth grader.Burnsides would meet us at Brown Gap and we would bust it ~3 miles to Max Patch Summit after a couple SoBo section hikers told us there was trail magic there. We would soon find, however, that they must've enjoyed it yesterday and we would be out of luck as no magic would be found. Max Patch Summit was still a treat in itself, though, and would've been more so had the weather been nicer. We climbed to the summit at ~4,600ft and enjoyed a half-mile or so trek on a large expanse of nothing but grass. Normally a 360-degree view of the surrounding mountains would be there for your enjoyment, but blowing fog and mist obscured most of the view. A sustained wind of ~20mph forced us to lean into the wind as we climbed up and over the mountain while rain and fog whipped across the top, hiding everything over 100ft away one moment and becoming clear enough to see the silhouettes of nearby mountains another moment. Even though we were pelted by horizontal rain and wind, we were still fairly comfortable in shorts and short sleeves due to the amount of energy we were exserting. Had the weather been good, it would have been an awesome place to camp. Other hikers will be more lucky.We continued down the other side of the mountain and spent the next couple of miles passing through pastureland and long stretches of groves where we walked through tunnels of overhanging trees. It felt like we had fast forwarded to Virginia. It was a nice, though brief, break from the constant up and downs of mountains. As we reached Roaring Fork Shelter around 12:30pm, already ~13 miles in, we decided to take a quick lunch with new hikers we had caught up to. Through a system of trades and haggling, the 3 of us worked out a pretty solid lunch. I traded 3 peanut butter crackers to Moosehead for a scoop of his Nutella, and a scoop of peanut butter and jelly for one of Burnside's tortillas. In the end I downed a PB&J&Nutella tortilla wrap, as well as crackers and a Snickers, and was quite happy.As we left the shelter we planned to slowly coast into camp around 3:30-4:00pm, but Frozen Mac quickly hiked past and said she heard a storm was due at 3:00pm. Plans quickly changed as we began huffing our way the final ~5 miles on full stomachs to try and beat the approaching weather. Hobble joined us in the final approach as we passed Lemon Gap and up several mountains to our destination of Walnut Mountain Shelter. Upon reaching the shelter, however, we discovered that it was already full. One thing that can be discouraging about the AT shelter system is how they're often too small to accommodate many hikers. When the 5 of us hikers showed up (3 completing 18 miles, 2 completing 20 miles) we were out of luck to other hikers who had all completed under ~10 miles. We had no choice other than heading down into a grassy valley a hundred yards away, Rattlesnake Gap, and pitching our tents before the rain set in. Everyone except Burnsides, of course, who scored the last spot in the shelter.Our tents were set just in time as rain started around ~3:30pm and would last a couple of hours. Lying in my tent wet and muddy, I did the only thing that would make things seem a little better - I called my mom. Fortunately the rain has since stopped and the 4 of us (Moosehead, Hobble, Frozen Mac, and me) have been relaxing in our tenth city exchanging stories and enjoying one another's company. Dinner tonight consisted of a Snickers and a concoction of gold fish and raspberry jelly mixed together. The latter was determined as a way to reduce weight, but I can now confidently say no amount of hunger really makes that mixture good. I was happy to be done eating for once.At the moment, the weather is calm, evening soon approaching. Birds are singing nearby, Moosehead and Hobble are exchanging the beauty of attempting to thru-hike the AT as Moosehead clips his toenails near me, and I sit knowing I'll be in a town enjoying food, Coke, beer, laundry, and a hot shower in less than 24 hours. Rain is in the forecast tomorrow, but the R&R soon approaching will make it only a minor inconvenience.Keeping up-to-date on Rock Boat (just shy of ~40 miles behind me now, as well as other stories shared by fellow hikers through the Smokies recently. It brings these lyrics by Drew Holcomb and The Neighbors to mind: "Everyone's got their own set of troubles. Everyone's got their own set of blues. Everyone's got their own set of struggles. Walk a mile in another man's shoes."It's glorious; it's life-changing. This feeling