Date: 2004-03-27
From: hurricane gap

To: campsite after little laurel shelter
Miles today: 12.3
Weather: few clouds

the slackpacking with dragonslayer fell through. she could not get in touch with her cousins. she went ahead yesterday while i slackpacked 9 miles.this morning, squirrel dropped me off at hurricane gap at 7am. this was my first day out with my full pack in four days. since i'm babying a knee i wanted to have the option of doing shorter days. one problem. i didn't figure in anymore food on this stretch so i either have to do the miles or bail out at sam's gap and get a hitch into erwin. from there i could set up a slackpack schedule with miss janet or just re-supply a few days of food and get dropped off at sam's gap to continue on my own.my knee was incredible today until little laurel shelter. i stopped there for lunch and water. the water at this shelter was 75 yards down a steep hill. no trail. this is where my problems started. i could feel my knee pulling as i moved down the incline. going back up i had a funny feeling in my knees. this one hill was probably the worst one of the day. the trail today was quite gentle.i set out for jerry cabin shelter, up a steep grade for a mile. when i reached the top and started down, a pain shot through my body. my heart sank. oh no, what have i done? it hurt like this coming into hot springs days ago. did i re-injure myself going for water? i was angry at myself. i don't have enough food to take a short day unless i can get some from the weekend hikers that i may run into. also, i was thinking, what to do now? backtrack down to the last shelter or push on ahead? i pulled out my copy of wingfoot (thru hiker's handbook) and looked for a water source ahead of me. less than a mile ahead there is a stream. hopefully there is a decent camping spot near it. with the way my knee feels there's no way i'm going to try for the next shelter. hoping there's no permanent damage going on here, i slowly made my way down the mountain. i ran into a southbound weekend hiker who confirmed my hunch... there was a place to camp near the next water source. i got to it in no time and set up my tent and a clothesline to dry my hiking clothes. (it was in the high 60s today, quite hot when you're hiking)the weird part about a short day is what to do with the time. capping the day at 3pm leaves 3+ hours of daylight. i dried my clothes, ate my dinner, and started journaling. it's 5:30. i still have to plan what i will do for the next few days and if i will bail at sam's gap because i don't have enough food to finish the section. i'll still be sitting around bored until dusk. there is also the unknown with my knee. did i screw it up again? did i just get some warning shocks here? i'll take good care of it tonight and also work on the issues (pain is denied joy).i'm frustrated. i had such a good day with my knee to have it end this way. i'm not wanting to take more time off. hopefully my body will heal up to the point it was at this morning. that will make tomorrow pleasant.another thing. i picked up a medium size long sleeve top today as i was hiking. i'm thinking it belongs to one of the women ahead of me. that was another reason i wanted to get to the shelter today. since the time i set up camp, no one has hiked by, so i'll keep it until tomorrow. it sucks being without your cold weather gear.