Stickers arrived after I had already gone to bed. I heard some people say his name so I got up to see him. He and Lady Bug hiked almost 20 miles to catch up today. They thought they would probably catch up with us in another day or two (knowing that Bunny never sticks to a plan).
While everyone was getting ready, we started getting to know everyone. Traveler was sleeping next to me last night. He is from New Zealand and lives in London. He’s got a 6 month visa to do the trail. Traveling with him are Joe Kool and Domatello. They are trying to put in long days and they are running the trail (they were the ones running to the shelter yesterday). Joe Kool was complaining about his Achilles’ tendon. Bunny suggested they slow down and enjoy the trail more. That was pretty much the end of the conversation.
We’ve noticed that several people that started out doing big miles are feeling the consequences. There were four older guys called “the Four Horsemen” who hit the trail doing between 20 and 25 miles every day. What remains of “the Four Horsemen” are well past Damascus—there are only two left. What kind of Apocalypse can there be with only two Horsemen? Bottom line, there are a lot of people that end up getting obsessed with big miles and not paying attention to their bodies. They are having trail ending injuries.
Leave it to Americans to take a pleasure trip and turn it into a competition. The people from the front end of the bubble that are catching us are the biggest competitors in the field. I admit to getting caught up in the furor. Lots of times I feel like we need to be moving faster as people continue to pass us up but then I look at the people we are seeing on a near daily basis—they are the same people that started the trail within a day or two of us and are taking their time and enjoying themselves.
The last ones on the trail were not us—it was Stickers and Lady Bug. They were still in the tent when we left. A couple miles of snow and slush hiking caught us up with Little Blue and Bear Foot; they were just getting out of their hammocks. Little Blue told us there was a bad weather bypass ahead for Big Firescald Knob.
We got to the trail split and had a disagreement. Bunny has a very loose definition of bad weather. She interprets snow on the ground, freezing rain, upper 20s, and 40 mph winds as bad weather. I call that an average day on the trail in NC. I didn’t want to, but Bunny gets her way, down the blue blaze weather bypass we went.
There were only two sets of footprints on the bypass trail. The views to the west started opening up. I started getting stomach cramps thinking about the fact that we are supposed to be hiking the AT and here I am on a blue blaze trail. I thought we might as well call Chris Jones and ask him what date he wants us there—we’ll yellow blaze it and catch a bus. We’ve started down the cheating path; where does it end?
I started bugging Bunny about the views. After a half mile, she told me to just go back and risk my life to walk the exposed ridge (thinking she was shaming me). I said see you at the shelter and turned around. I can only assume that I made it successfully across the ridge. Ignoring the copy of “Handbook for the Recently Deceased” I found at the next shelter with the bookmark saying not to call “Beetlejuice” three times, nothing unusual happened.
There were a few icy spots on the ridge, but, overall, there wasn’t anything too terribly frightening about the ridge walk. I did have to “butt” walk in a few places to make it down but the view payback more than compensated for any inconvenience. It turned out to be the most exciting mile and a half of the trail I’ve walked so far. Bunny made the right decision for her (and me). She would have been crying in a couple places even though she has actually walked in worse places. I would have been worried about her constantly.
When I got to the trail junction at the north end of the ridge, there was a scrawled message in the snow for me. “EFG, Br sheltie.” I was confused. Am I supposed to bring a sheltie with me? Bunny later claimed that she was saying “EFG, BT to the shelter.” In the mean time, I wasted a half an hour looking for a stray dog to catch.
The worst part of the trail was the final bit of walking to the shelter. The wind was whipping me mercilessly and pelting me with ice. There was no wind on the “exposed ridge” but now that I was on the regular trail, I was miserable. I got to the shelter as Bunny was so concerned that she actually stood up and stuck her head out of the shelter to look up the trail to see if I was coming yet. Little Blue had offered to send a young hiker out looking for me, but she declined the offer saying it wasn’t necessary unless I was 72 hours delayed.
We ended up with a full shelter tonight (only 6 of us including Lady Bug and Stickers who made it in a little after 5) and three tents outside. There were two other thru-hikers in the shelter we hadn’t met yet, Hokie Pokie and Donut. It was so cold that we were all in our bags well before dark—everyone but Stickers who was waiting for the rain to stop so he could hang his bear bags. It didn’t let up until after he hung his bags.
It was another night down in the 20s with the added bonus of rain. We decided we had a hostel in the plans for tomorrow night. Little Blue and Bear Foot told us of one that will pick us up at Devils Fork Gap. Tonight we only dream of a dry warm night; tomorrow we live it.
One final thought for the day; today is Bunny Tracks’ dad birthday—Happy Birthday Bunny Papa Bill.
EFG
Jerrys Cabin – maintained for years by Sam Waddle. He would always make a point of getting up to the shelter or trail to meet up with any friend or acquaintance who was hiking thru the area. True trail magic. Ask Marcia sometime about the night she spent at the shelter in 1982.
Perhaps you should have read Bryson’s book on the Appalachian Trail. His experience Is very much like yours.. Have been saying prayers for better weather, but guess I don’t have much pull with the man upstairs. I can see your book now, “I survived hiking the Appalachian Trail during the year with no summer”. Be Safe!
We did read Bryson’s book—-unlike him, we are actually going to hike the entire trail. We are handling it but hope for some better weather.