Hiking Matt

Gooch Gap Shelter to Woods Hole Shelter (entrance)

Miles hiked: 11.9
Total Miles: 27.0

Gorgeous  day for hiking.  Stayed nice and warm in my hammock overnight and as a bonus, the forest didn’t burn down from last night’s neglected fire.

It would appear that I am still having a hard time getting going in the morning.  Bee Chucker had a nice head cold going for him and decided to head out early.  I tinkered with a bit of breakfast and packing up, all the while enjoying the blissfully weird Lil’ asking people if anyone has something to spare or to pass something of hers over to her from afar.. then there was the constant inquiries from a young SkunkApe.

Leaving them, I finally headed out a bit after 9am.  The weather has really been quite nice the past couple days and this one looked to be another awesome day.  Shortly after leaving the shelter, I had to pull off for a pebble in my shoe at Gooch Gap.  Phoenix Rising and Missing Person pass by but stop just across USFS 42.  As I approach, I see a cooler with a bag (for trash) next to it.  TRAIL MAGIC!  Pepper and Freckles (both former Thru-hikers) had left a cooler of different varieties of small sodas (thank god there was a Dr. Pepper in there) and beer, specifically, Yuengling.  Phoenix Rising said that it was hiker’s favorite beer because it’s cheap, good and a domestic brew from Pennsylvania.  Let’s see, it’s 10:30am, of course I can have second breakfast..Yuengling it is!  Oh yeah, there was a box of Krispy Kreme donuts there, unfortunately they were completely covered in bugs, no thanks.  I tried to share the beer with Phoenix but she only took a couple polite sips.  Guess it was either too early or not hot enough out.

Did I mention it was a beautiful day for a hike?  My pace seems to be a bit quicker than Phoenix and Missing Person had already pushed on at Gooch Gap, so I spent the morning walking mostly alone, which was cool.  Then, early in the afternoon, my day was about to get a hell of a lot better, I saw a sign duck taped to a tree, Trail Angels Ahead – Free Food – Nancy & George – Cheryl & Hal.  Two, in one day, c’mon, this is bordering on silly!!  I’ll happily take it.  Nothing perks up your step than knowing you’re about to get some “Free Food.”  Sweet!!

It was such a nice day that there were a ton of people hanging out in the road side park areas (both sides) of Woody Gap .  In fact, there was so many people, that initially it was kinda hard to actually find where the Trail Magic was located.  From the east side of the gap, I could see Bee Chucker, Bojangles and Missing person next to a truck with table of food with coolers all around.  Nancy and George as well as Cheryl and Hall welcomed me to help myself to any and everything.  One of their sons (Triple Deuce) had completed a thru-hike in 2007 and they were out to help give back to the community that supported him during his time on the trail.  There was cheese, crackers, cookies, chips, fruit and some really wonderful smelling chili.  I opted out of the chili for diet reasons but took full advantage of everything else they had to offer, including some Dr. Pepper.

Since Bee Chucker and the rest had been their awhile they eventually pushed on.  I myself decided to wait to see how Phoenix Rising was doing.  I didn’t think she’d be too far along.  While enjoying this smorgasbord and looking back towards the trail, I noticed a very familiar dog.. Pepper!  Sprite and Freckles were making their way across the road and we chatted for a bit.  I thanked her (and Freckles) for that awesome breakfast trail magic.  She enjoyed the little note I left her;
“You, me and Pepper.. we’re even now.”

Where the hiker feed was today has a bit of history to it in the “Appalachian Trail Guide – North Carolina-Georgia.”  It’s a book with information regarding water sources, shelters, various trails crisscrossing the AT, profile layouts and more.  One additional feature is the history of some of the trails, roads, mountains and in this case, Woody Gap (3150′).  I’d love to paraphrase the history of this particular spot but the book does such a good job at it, I’ll cite it instead;

Arthur Woody was the state’s first ranger (often called the “barefoot ranger” because of his tendency to leave off his shoes).  It is said that he saw his father kill the last deer in the forest, during a time of little respect for wildlife and deteriorating conditions of mountains and forests.  Woody vowed that he would some day put back what the mountain men of his time had taken away.  In time, he began to restock the forest with deer and the streams with fish.  His outstanding achievements in forest-fire prevention, game restoration and preservation, land reclamation and timber management paved the way for today’s advanced methods used by the Forest Service.  Woody was a large, round, mountain man; the story is told that he asked the federal government to build a road over the mountain from Suches to Stone Pile Gap but was told the government did not build roads, they only improved them.  So Woody “scraped out a trail through the mountains” and then told the government, “I have my road.  Now, you come and improve it.” Ga.60 is that road.

Using his own monies, Woody started buying and rounding up deer, some which he even had names for, in 1927 only to have the state re-open deer hunting 14 years later.   In 1946 “Ranger’ died, having suffered serious depression from the state’s decision.   Hard to imagine such a dynamic character these days.

Soon a weary but well-spirited Phoenix came rolling into the feed with Groove just behind.  She was doing okay, but wasn’t worried as she was actually moving slow to try to protect her arm.  Good.  I pushed on after tossing my trash from my pack away.

There was a nice little climb up Big Cedar Mountain (3737′).  Passed quite a few day hikers going up the mountain and in one case, two guys with two large dogs (breed unknown) who had their own packs.  They said that they were trying to acclimate them to the rigors of hiking with packs.  I wish anyone luck with trying to hike anywhere with any animal.  Once I arrived at the top, an older gentleman had just finished a “really cool story” as Bee later told me, about how his German Shepard (dogs are everywhere anymore) was of Royal decent.  As soon as I get the whole story, I’ll edit this.

Bee Chucker and I hiked together for the rest of the day.  Our paces seem to match quite well and he’s an interesting guy.  Apparently he just moved with his girlfriend to Baltimore, MD.  However, they do not even have a place there.  His girlfriend is staying with her brother and his wife while he’s out here hiking.  Sound like a very cool girl to be able to understand his needs while she does her own thing too.  Very cool.

We pull into Jarrods Gap (3250’) and take a quick break and while there two guys approach us from their little camping area.  They ask if I have any Aqua Mira or some way to treat water.  They were weekenders and had forgotten to bring a water treatment system.  Bee Chucker and I chatted about hiking the AT, Atlanta (where they were from) and other silly topics while I retrieved my ‘emergency’ tablets for them.  After chatting for 20 minutes we moved on, still had another 1 and 1/2 miles to go to get to Woods Hole Shelter for the evening.

Not sure why, but for some reason this last little section seemed to have really done me in.  By the time I got to the shelter entrance (3600’), all my body wanted was more water, so I went to fetch some.  We had earlier decided that if water was near the entrance to the shelter, we’d just camp there to avoid walking the .4 off the Appalachian Trail to the actual shelter.  Apparently lots of other people thought the same thing, including a church group with young kids.  They were nice and ‘well-behaved,’ but I wanted nothing to do with that, too many camping trips with kids around have taught me better.  Bee pulled in just as I’d returned and had started setting up my hammock some 20-30 yards away from the group.  Since Bee is a ‘ground dweller,’ he opted for the easier route and parked himself just north of them.

Once I erected my hammock, I just laid inside for about 90 minutes, dozing in and out of sleep.   I was pooped!  Granted, this was definitely my longest day at 11.9 miles but wow, feeling like this, no good.

Bee came over and told me that I could use his bear line (cool, less work for me to do) and that a Boy Scout troop had pulled into the camping area..so that’s where the noise was coming from when I awoke.. HA!  He was a bit bummed but said that he was just going to put in his MP3 player and go to sleep.

I waited and waited to see if Phoenix and Groove were going to make it.  I had even held off making my dinner (15 bean mix) until dusk so that when they pulled in, I’d have a nice hot dinner ready to go.  They never showed.  So, here I am feeling awful trying to eat about 3 cups of cooked beans.  Again, this process took forever as every couple bites I had to lay down and relax just to keep them down.  Officially, this sucked.

I did my best but didn’t come close to even being able to eat half of my dinner, so I bagged them up, just in case Phoenix and Groove did show.  Cleaned my bowl and hung my food over by Bee where the campers were quite loud for 9-9:30pm, running around and shouting.  Can’t say I felt good, but I fell asleep rather swiftly.

mattbob

I enjoy getting emails about new hiking videos being released and this particular one i’ve been anticipating for some time.

Last year at Trail Days (2007) in Damascus, VA, I spoke to Mark Flagler of FlaglerFilms about his “Appalachian Impressions” movie. He had remembered me from the previous Trail Days (2006) and so I was curious about whether he was off to produce the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT). Mark said that he was actually better off filming the Continental Divide Trail because there was actually a demand for it. Good point.

Mark continued on informing me that he was going to be heading back out to the CDT to do more filming and hopefully have something towards the end of the year, which, I checked periodically, nada. He also said that he was probably going to do the voice over (VO) work, which would have been cool but, silly me, couldn’t help but recommend Sam Elliott.  He’s got that very rustic, slow, country-style voice.  To my surprise and delight, upon viewing the movie preview, Mark was able to have the famous Peter Thomas narrate this newest project, sweet!

According to the FlaglerFilm’s site, he will be screening this latest edition in what I (and probably many others) hope will be the second in a total of three films, eventually making up what could be a Triple Crown box set.

Check out this latest preview: Walking the Great Divide

mattbob Appalachian Impressions, backpacking, CDT, Continential Divide Trail, film screening, FlaglerFilms, Hiking, Mark Flagler, Pacific Crest Trail, PCT, Peter Thomas, trail, Trail Days, Walking the Great Divide

So, It’s been awhile since we’ve chatted. Yeah, life can be a bit overwhelming at times as well as a constant test of fortitude. With all that life throws at one during the course of any given day, hardly a one passes that I don’t think about the Appalachian Trail. As this year starts to come to an end, friends, co-workers, family constantly inquire about my plans for this coming summer. Of course, by this time I’ve been able to work out a ’song and dance’ that everyone is keen to understand. It goes something along the lines of, “well, I’m not certain about all the different things that could change in the next couple months, but I’ve set everything up so that when March comes around, I should be able to leave sometime around the 15th-23rd. If I am able to leave earlier in March, that theoretically means that I will be able to get back sooner, the later I start, the later I’ll get off the trail. But as of right now, I plan on hiking the Appalachian Trail.” By the time I’m through with a rambling of this sort, peoples’ heads are shaking in acknowledgement. I’m not really certain if it’s a ‘whew, glad that’s done and over with’ or a ‘hey, that makes sense, he’s not setting himself up again for a tortorious summer of constant disappointment’ or if it’s a ‘yeah, he’ll get on the trail next year my ass.. my beer is low, need another.’ I never seem to be able to read people that well when it comes to trail talk. I believe it’s a; you get it, or you don’t. Black or white.

Anyway, I was trolling around on the ‘internets‘ when I ran across this site for the CDT. It’s called ‘The Walkumentary‘ and it’s about the CDT Thru-hike of “Disco” and “P.O.D.” (being the main characters) with large supporting roles with he ever hilarious German, ‘Speedo’ and the extremely healthy eating ‘Skittles.’ I downloaded the five hi-quality chapters off their site (very nice, btw) and watched them back-to-back. I felt as though I was wasn’t living life. Everytime I watch a video like these, especially if they are made from different people, I realize that I am still not doing what it is in this world that I want to do. How pathetic. I’ve become a slave to myself! On the flipside, it would seem that my fire has been re-lit and that getting out on the AT will remedy this feeling.

mattbob

    Woke up numerous times throughout the night, 2:30, 3:30, 5 something and 6:00 before finally getting up around 7:15am. I figure that I kept waking up because I am used to getting around six hours of sleep a night. Go figure, but hey, I’ll take 10-11 hours of rest any day.

    I am actually shocked that my legs and body don’t hurt as bad as I’d thought. My knees cricked a little as I got down from the top of the shelter, but other than a bit of tenderfeet (to be expected) I was okay. My heal had started a very small blister but it was nothing to get worked up about. I was kinda shocked to still see sleepy hiker in the shelter, you’d think that with all that sleep he’d gotten he would’ve took off long ago. Seems as though his alarm didn’t go off. See, even in the woods we use that excuse!

    I was out of the shelter and on my way at 7:45. A bit later than I desired because I wanted to catch the sunrise over the mountains and enjoy breakfast while doing so. There’ll always be next time. Boy did the climb out of Peck’s look totally different than the sauntering in that took place the night before.

    While hiking up Mount Sequoyah I ran out of water and my stomach was complaining about having nothing to do but slosh around acid while huffing and puffing uphill, so I took my first break and got some food in me which was a good thing because I also needed to take some Vitamin I (ibuprofen). Since my first x-hike, I am always petrified when I run out of water because it was my second biggest downfall to that hike. First being the imbalance of my electrolytes.

    Pulled into a wonderful shelter, Tricorner Knob. There, an overnight hiker was finishing up his lunch before pulling out just as another hiker had just come in. Fool was his name and he too was a SoBo thru-hiker. What luck, two hikers, one each day. Very cool. I took my time and just chatted with him while we both enjoyed our lunches. He had started his hike in July and was only two days behind Young Gun (Young Gun admitted that he’d taken about a month’s worth of zero days on the trail). I picked his brain about various trail activities and the like. He was very courteous and joyous. When I spoke of this being a shake-down hike he told me that his was from Harper’s Ferry to Springer last year. Then, this July he started at Katahdin and was hiking all the way back down to Springer, again. I acknowledged how cool it was that he didn’t just get off in Harper’s Ferry but decided to continue on to Springer. He shared in this thought and mentioned that other (thru-hikers mind you) thought he was crazy for continuing on. Just when you thought you knew thru-hikers huh?

    He took off after about 45 minutes and I left shortly thereafter. I looked at my watch and realized that I’d broke for lunch for about and hour and half. What was I thinking?? Sheesh. Did I really want another night hike, with that crappy light to boot? I knew I’d be okay, but I don’t like to cut comforts off that close. The views, like the day before were spectacular. Granted on the east side, a lot of color was washed out due to the sun, but on the west side, the colors were warm and inviting. You could see Gatlinburg and the surrounding areas, truly brilliant.

    As I was walking through some thicker, green shrubbery and trees, I noticed some metal on the ground and looked about. Just down the way there were more pieces, large pieces, the size of sheet cake pans and bigger. Ahhh, this must be where the plane crash was that Eric mentioned that I would see while on this section of the trail. How interesting, I’d like to learn a little more history about this wreck before my hike next year. I wasn’t certain exactly where I was so-as to know what mountain to look up regarding the wreck until mere minutes later I was at the sign post for the AT and Snakes Den Ridge Trail. 5.3 miles until I can get to my car, take off these boots, put down this pack, drink some Gatorade that I left in the car, eat a Rice Crispie Treat that my sister made for me.. ahh, just a couple hours away.. I can almost taste it. But first, I have about 5000 feet in elevation that must change before any of that’s going to happen.

    I realized something on the way down the windinginess (new word) trail I’ve been on to date, mountain trails are peculiar. At the top, some 6000 feet, the path is nice and relatively flat, perhaps some rocks, but not much to worry about. Usually there are more rocks used for erosion control that you need to worry about more so than naturally protruding ones. Then, you come down in elevation a bit and there are rocks galore, all over the place, your ankles twisting left and right trying desperately to keep the rest of you upright and prone. Then you make it down a few more hundred feet and the trail is somewhat rocky but much more wet and therefore muddier.   After a short time in that, you hit the elevation where fallen leaves play a role in how you must try to hike. This time, your feet have been taking all kinds of abuse but you knew what to expect and were able to counter it, most of the time. Now, the trail is hidden under a blanket of leaves, leaving your body at the mercy of your feet to work everything out on their own. This will continue for some time until you make it down to an 2000 to 1000 feet where there is much less rocks and mostly hard terra firma where your paws can finally just going about their daily task of taking you where you ask them to. Except on this trail, by the time I reached this ‘zone,’ I, at the same time, entered the horse trail dung area. So, I had to constantly be aware of my footing of old and fresh horse manure. There were a few close calls, but man there must of been a whole herd of them that decided that this section (about 1800 feet) is where they did their business.

    Right on schedule, at 3:57pm (4:00 was my goal) I’d made it to the bottom of the mountain to Cosby Campground. Five minutes later, I was at my car enjoying that Gatorade.

    Due to the aggressive schedule and the constant downhill my foot was able to create a nice big blister on the bottom of my foot (just groovy.) Other than that, I felt fine. In fact, I was a amazed how well my knees held up the entire time. Very pleased.

    Off to Gatlinburg, into the heart of the beast. I wanted to stop by the Happy Hiker outfitters to pick up a pair of hiker crampons, not the large Antarctic-style ones that were in my pack. Not only that, but they cost $158 and I didn’t even need to wear them, not so good. I knew that the outfitters had what I was looking for (thanks, once again to Eric at A Walk in the Woods). Made it to their establishment and walked about reading the numerous Polaroids and thank you cards tacked to the walls throughout the store. What’s sad/cool/interesting were how many people I recognized, either from encounters, online journals or references from others. There were even some people that I recognized from published literature.. pretty cool. I chatted to the staff for quite some time (there were no customers) and was able to learn a lot about the area and the people. I additionally learned that hikers usually don’t have too many problems making it up and down the mountain during the ‘thru-hiker season’ which occurs right before droves of tourists descend upon Gatlinburg to start the summer season. In fact, A Walk in the Woods will take hikers up/down for $10/ride.. which seems completely reasonable. As it was getting late, and I was a hungry hiker, they pointed me to an Italian restaurant close by and I was off. Hopefully I’ll be able to stop in come April and say hi.

Matt

TrailJournals Link: http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=163192

mattbob

    Having been a bit disappointed/frustrated about my inability to be able to stay overnight in the mountains of Maryland (due to lack of gear,) I went to REI just days after that trip to get properly outfitted. I’d packed and repacked everything a couple of times and thought that I had everything covered (check out my gear section.) The only major item I lacked was a tent (on order from Six Moon Designs) but I considered that as negligible.

    Having finally gotten most of my gear sorted out, I decided that a proper overnight hike was in order.. a shake-down hike. Since I had an appointment in Sevierville, TN on Monday at 9am and Thanksgiving was on the Thursday before, well, there is only one logical thing to do, go out camping. Family are in Ohio, friends are in Kentucky (Somerset), so the fastest I could get there would be Saturday morning.

    My desire for the trip was to be able to stage my car and walk north the whole time I was hiking, this way I didn’t have to cover trail that I had already crossed (I get bored easily) and by continuing north, there would be the possibility of running into SoBo (SouthBound) thru-hikers. I phoned up a cab company in Gatlinburg to see what it would cost to be run up the mountain at Newfound Gap. “About fifty bucks” I was told. Cab is out of the question. That price didn’t even include taking me from where I would need to be picked up from once I was completed! Looking for information about trail stuff, I ran across the Happy Hiker, an outfitters in Gatlinburg that goes to great lengths to help hikers. They turned me on to a company called, A Walk in the Woods. They are a nature hike/shuttle service ran by Eric and Vesna Plakanis. I rang up Eric and asked him for a recommended hike given the parameters that I had to work with. He is a very resourceful man, knew a lot and was glad to have spoke with him and able to garner a bit of his expertise. Unfortunately, his price was a bit higher than I expected and a bit over my budget, so unfortunately, I was not able to use his services. Plus, I figured (okay, okay, rationalized) it was a holiday weekend and he’d rather be spending it with family. I was running out of options.

    I spoke with a good friend of mine that was going to be in Somerset, KY too and he had mentioned that he was probably going to leave on Saturday morning to Virginia. Long story short, he said he’d help me out and take me to Cosby and Gatlinburg.. I’m going to owe him, big time.

    We left early this morning (6:15am) so that I could get started hiking at a reasonable time and Doug had to add eight hours of driving after dropping me off (it was going to be a long day for both of us.) Surprisingly, we made it to the Cosby Campground in Great Smoky National Park right at my predicted time, 9:30am. Hid everything I could in the trunk (recommended by Eric) to prevent theft and we were off to Gatlinburg.

    I now have a clear understanding, a crystal clear understanding of what people (and more specifically, hikers) mean when they say Gatlinburg is a shock on the senses. Numerous online journals, books and even Bill Bryson mentioned it (actually spent a chapter on it) in his book. I felt a numbing pressure on my chest just looking around.. and I wasn’t even driving. The town was packed. Tonnes of people everywhere, in town for Christmas in Gatlinburg or something. The weather was no help either, it was gorgeous out, sunny, low to mid sixties. Perfect hiking weather. Perfect anything weather really, even if that meant eating a footlong corn dog while waiting in line for another gaudy establishment right next to Ripley’s Believe it or Not (and I don’t!).

    Maps sure are deceiving. Well, they are to my currently untrained eye at least. I didn’t imagine that it was 17 miles to Newfound Gap, but there was a sign that said it was and who am I to argue that? On the way up, ever so slowly to the Gap, I was able to convince Doug that since he was already here, a stop at Clingman’s Dome is practically required. It was another 7 miles away or 30 minutes away. I am constantly astonished about the different peculiarities that humans have, especially in National Parks, they really never cease to amaze me, and the Smoky’s didn’t let me down. People were actually pulling over to be able to touch, play and take pictures with ice that was once water seeping out of rock, right there on the side of the road. There was barely room for two cars on the road, now you have drivers swerving to not hit them and crush them down the side of their cars. We even saw people having snowball fights with snow that even MacGyver wouldn’t bother trying to salvage for a sip of water. Jim’s got it right, people are strange, strange indeed.

    We parked in the parking area for Clingman’s Dome and to my surprise, it was a half mile hike to the observation platform. Uphill. On paved asphalt. Sigh. What’s worse is that the day is ticking off, minute by minute and I still have a lot of hiking ahead of me, with a trail that I was told was partially covered in ice. But we were already here and it was only another 15 minute walk up (20 for Doug).

    The view was spectacular. It was a brilliant day out and you could see for miles and miles around. All the time it took to drive and walk up Clingman’s really made it worth it, at least on this day. I knew that I would be able to visit this tower when I thru hike in the spring, but it was too nice of a day to pass it up and I also wanted to be able to share that experience with a friend.

    After a short spell on Clingman’s we finally made it back down to Newfound Gap, said many thanks to Doug and off we both went, I for a hike in North Carolina, he a ride down the mountain in Tennessee, through Gatlinburg and even worse, Pigeon Forge to I-40/I-81 and then home. I wasn’t sure who had it worse.

    My step off time was 12:57pm and I had eight miles of hiking to Peck’s Shelter. Shouldn’t be a problem. While hiking to the first shelter, Icewater Spring, I was truly amazed how many people were out hiking and enjoying the trail. I spoke to a number of people who just wanted to say they hiked some of the AT while others used the trail to gain access to one of the many other trails that run all throughout the park. Four or five groups I spoke to were on their way back from overnight hikes at either Icewater or Peck’s Shelter. They provided great trail conditions that I was really curious to know. Overall the trail was in great shape, yeah, there were a number of icy passes, but nothing to get worked up on… or in my case, worth the weight of the full-on ice crampons I was carrying in my pack. Sigh.

    Made it to Icewater Spring Shelter for a quick break and boy where there a lot of people there. I grabbed some food out of my bag, grabbed my map to reassess my situation….crap. crap crap crap. My day just went from “great” to “d’oh!” For whatever reason, I had eight miles for my first day (to Peck’s Shelter) stuck in my head, when in actuality, it was 10.8 miles. Greeeattt. I had my hiker’s headlamp, but still, hiking at night wasn’t what I had in mind as I was going up the trail in the Smoky’s. Off I went from Icewater.. next stop, Charlie’s bunion. Enroute, I ran into three friends who’d just come from Peck’s.. I knew I was in trouble. They started early in the morning it was now 2:20. One in the group had tried to thru-hike once a couple of years ago and wasn’t able to make it. She thought that she might try again some other time. They also mentioned that a thru-hiker was behind them. I hoped to run into this individual. I like to be able to provide a little ‘magic’ where ever I go, so, even now in bear country I was carrying way too much chocolate. When I made it to Charlie’s bunion, I didn’t want to get off the trail for fear of missing him. Figured that if it was going to happen, I couldn’t change it if I wanted to. What a view. There was a clear view of Mount Le Conte and of Gatlinburg. Glad to have stopped in.

    Not even a couple hundred yards up the trail from Charlie’s Bunion I saw two guys sitting on the ground with three or four people standing around talking. It was obvious even from afar, I’d ran into the thru-hiker. Young Gun was his name and he’d started in Maine in mid-June and was counting the days before being completely finished with the trail. He had family in the area and was able to get off for a Thanksgiving celebration. He even convinced his younger brother to come out hiking with him for the holiday weekend. Very nice young men. I usually ask seemingly silly questions but gain great advice from hikers, and Young Gun’s advice was to ditch my water filter. He said “everyone starts with them, for about the first hundred miles or so, then after that, you realize that no one is using them anymore, so you send it home.” I feel reluctant to share in that same philosophy, but when it comes to weight, less is profoundly better. Having chatted with him and the others about a wide variety of topics, time was a wastin’, I had over six miles left to hike and it was 3:30.

    I tell you. I don’t like this rushing around bit, not at all. The whole purpose of this trip was to have fun, meet people and learn. Rushing off doesn’t feel like fun.

    Since I’d never used my stove and pot (for cooking,) I thought that it’d be wise to cook while there was a little light left. Admittedly, I was reluctant to stop, I wanted to get to Peck’s before sundown, but knew I’d be in the same predicament either way, so I might as well eat now instead of debating it later. It took a little while to start the Varga stove, only because I didn’t bring a primer to help heat up the fuel (won’t make that same mistake). I was kinda amazed how fast it heated the water and was even more astonished how quickly the fuel burned up. If you were doing some proper cooking, you’d need more fuel.. I think I’ll be able to get by though. For dinner, I chose Mountain House Rice and Cheese. It was easy to prepare and I could hike on while it “cooked” in the bag. It doubled as a great hand warmer while hiking on to the shelter, except the few close calls on the ice where I almost dropped my dinner, which undoubtedly would have turned into a midnight snack for a hungry bear. The food was okay but it was piping warm and boosted my spirits to move on and get to Peck’s. Sometime around 6pm, it was getting to be so pitch dark in the wooded tunnels that I was forced to turn on the hiker light. I kept it on the first, or low setting so that my eyes would stay a little more acclimated to the night. Finally after about 20 minutes, the nighttime was swallowing up more and more ambient light and now I required more candlepower to be able to see where I was going. I turned it on to the second, brighter setting, or so I thought. As it turned out, I’d had it on the highest setting the whole time. It was the batteries that were going dead. Greeaatttt. I had maybe three to four feet of decent visibility and it was so dim that everything was kind of blurry, very difficult to make out defined edges. Apparently I was learning my third lesson of the day. When you check your flashlight (headlamp, whatever), do so in a darkroom or outside at night if possible. Or when in doubt, change all batteries and avoid any potential problems altogether.

    Ahead I saw the outline of a wooden sign, I knew I’d made it to Peck’s. Upon further review I learned that I still had 4/10’s of a mile to go. D’oh! Sigh. Down the watery trail with a fading light I went. Earlier in the day at the backcountry permit office at Sugarlands Visitor Center, I was told that there’d be three people in the shelter tonight, I was hoping for none, or, if there were any that there would be someone with the name of Fireman, Firebug, Firewalker or anything that would mean that a welcoming fire would be enjoyed on such a lovely evening. Nope, nothing of the sorts. Instead there was one guy who was already in bed and almost asleep, it was 7:12pm. So much for the night life at Peck’s Shelter. After a quick couple pleasantries, sleeping guy zipped himself back up and went to sleep. I rolled out my mattress, hung food bag, and got ready for bed. After looking over my map to properly prepare for the next day (didn’t want to have any more surprises) and reading the shelter registry, I journaled a bit, until I was too tired and fell asleep with the Treo in my hands.

Matt

TrailJournals Link: http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=163190

mattbob