Stephanie's Trail Journal

Tuesday, May 4th

------Stats from 5/4/04-----
Beginning Point: Standing Indian Shelter
Ending Point: Betty Gap Creek campsite
Daily mileage: 11.3 miles
Total mileage: 94.6 miles

Today was a great day for a hike! With so many days of cold and/or rain, the sunshine seemed like visual gold. I've been neglecting my journal these past few days. The hike to Plumorchard Shelter on Sunday was all in the rain. My gear stayed dry, but my boots were beginning to feel a litle damp inside. This particular shelter is rather large and sleeps 14 people in three sleeping tiers. Dan was there having lunch when Stephan and I arrived. The three of us debated about whether or not to continue on as planned to the next shelter... We decided that if the rain let up before 3:00 we would set out. However, by the time 3 rolled around - and the rain had stopped - we were quite comfortable where we were and decided that the next shelter would be too full to accomodate any of us. This rationalization turned out to be a correct assumption verified by a SOBO (south-bounder) we passed the next day.

As usual, we had a good crew of hikers in the shelter that night. Mercury and Ginger, Shellfish and Sunpig, a group of women from Tennessee, and Katrina, Chris, and Pat. The rain kind of hurried the day along; folks were making dinner by 5, cleaning up by 6, and in bed by 7. I rarely move along at that rate, but there really wasn't much more to do after playing cards for about an hour. We had lengthy debates about the correct way to play Spades so instead we played Hearts since we could agree on those rules.

I had a pretty cold night and had to wear my hat all night. My toes were cold all night long and I found cold spots if I slept on my side - really the only warm position was mummy style, but I can't sleep on my back like that (and I apparently snore when I do!). The next day seemed promising with sunshine in the morning.

The exciting thing about Monday morning's hike was crossing my first state line from GA into NC. Got some photos from the actual line as well as the traditional boundary marker in the books - a gnarley old tree in the middle of the trail. During the trek to the state line, I saw my first trout lily - love those guys - right next to the trail as well as my first jack-in-the-pulpit and took some photos of pink lady slippers. It seemed as soon as we crossed the state line, the skies drew dark, the winds began to howl, the fog blew in, the trail became vertical, and the previously green lush mountains turned brown. We're not in Kansas anymore, Toto!

The hike wasn't bad; weather was kind of weird because one minute I was hot, the next I was freezing. I knew the next shelter was near, but I couldn't wait for lunch so we lunched under a rhodee to get out of the wind. We met up with Mercury and Ginger at Muskrat Creek Shelter where a crazy squirrel tried to get in our packs in search of food. We stayed long enough to be social and write an entry in the shelter log. Oh, and Sunpig was right about the black centipedes with yellow banding patterns - when you shake them in your hand, they really do smell like black cherry cola!

It was very cold at camp; Pat, Chris and Katrina made a fire to dry out their socks and boots - which had been wet since Thursday! Poor things. It was so nice to have a campfire when the temps were hovering around freezing (I'm carrying a centigrade thermometer and at 9pm it read 3d C). We stayed up late putting off the inevitable.

There were lots of warnings about bears being sensitized to human presence - and we wondered why the problem bear hadn't been removed- the warnings also said the bear was known to take packs. We made sure to have our smelly stuff in bear bags and hung the packs in the shelter. While sitting around the campfire we cracked plenty of bear jokes; perhaps the bear was intimidated by our perceived lack of fear! Ha. I think it was too cold for any bear to be out last night - seems like good hibernation weather to me. No one got out of bed before 9 am anyway.

Poor Ginger strained her achilles during yesterday's hike and hobbled into camp. The pain didn't diminish any with rest and she thinks she may have torn a ligament. She and Mercury are on the second week of their honeymoon, so this is pretty early in the game for them to leave the trail. They are going to stay in some cabins nearby and rest up for a while and see a doc. I hope it's nothing serious, Ginger.

Okay, time for bed. Another cold night out here, my fingers are numb! I plan on writing more about how various aspects of my daily life have changed, in installments of course. Hopefully you will find these entertaining.

Bye for now,
Butterfinger

----Stats from 5/3/04-------
Beginning Point: Plumorchard Shelter
Ending Point: Standing Indian Shelter
Daily mileage: 12.2 miles
Total mileage: 83.3 miles

----Stats from 5/2/04-------
Beginning Point: Dicks Creek Gap
Ending Point: Plumorchard Shelter
Daily mileage: 4.3 miles
Total mileage: 71.1 miles

Posted by steph at May 6, 2004 05:41 PM