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4/4/01, day 21. Icewater Spring Shelter. 3m in 1.5h Today was a day to be hiking, but I spent the large part of it gallivanting around town. I started out on the search for cash, as my late night at the microbrew drained the wallet. That done, I had a good time yapping with the people at the outfitters, then back to the hotel to watch the weather channel and eat leftover calzone for breakfast. When I opened the door, the stench known only to rooms that housed three thru-hikers the night before came at me like Evil. After breakfast, I joined Joel and RicePatty on one of those stupid trolleys that only stupid tourist towns have on the way to the P.O. and grocery store. I didn't receive the maps I was expecting, but grocery shopping is always a blast. I caught terrorist on the way back to town, where to my disappointment I couldn't update my webpage at the library. After that I walked to the edge of town, through which tourists just stared at me. I hitched a ride from some Vonnegut-loving artist who drove me up and down this road while we looked for the Trail. After awhile I gave up and just asked him to drop me by the road so I could catch a ride from somebody who know where (s)he was going. I flagged down some Ohio couple who informed me that I was hitching the wrong way. The third guy I got was some overexuberant Iowan who was already bringing Young'n to the Trail. At Newfound Gap, where I left off, all the thru-hikers were surrounded by tourists. I missed most of them but as I started up the Trail this guy and his two kids made me feel like some superhero - "Is that right? All the way up to Maine?" He and other arrivals pecked at me with questions until I informed them at I had to get to the shelter before sunset. At the shelter I got the chance to meet a few names that I had heard about earlier on the Trail - Diablo, Turtle, etc. I just wish I could have hiked more. Tomorrow promises to be a beautiful hike in beautiful weather. 4/5/01, day 22. Tri-Corner Knob Shelter. 12.6m in 8.25h. Well, today was pretty cool. It rained last night, lightly, so the day had a nice, apres-rain smell and feel to it. It was also a ridgewalking day, so there wasn't much up or down to deal with. I was 5,800-6,000 feet today, with my head literally in the clouds, which was gorgeous floating through the evergreens. Since I knew I had plenty of time, I took a bunch of decent-sized breaks listening to the birds and the sound of water dripping from the trees onto the dirt (one of my favorite sounds). However, due to the clouds there were no views on this day that was supposed to be spectacular, which was of course disappointing, but what the hell. I've only got 15m of the Smokies to go, and I've pretty much missed everything due to the weather. I'm considering coming back here sometime in the summer, when things are in bloom, there's no snow, and the wildlife are out a-frolicking. For now, I'll be happy to get to some lower elevations. Also today there were like a gazillion fucking huge trees in my way. A few times I had to take off my pack, scramble over a tree, and drag my pack under it. It was a pain in the buttocks, mind you. Anyway, I'm here in the shelter with good people. Luckily, most of the unpleasant folk from last night have pushed on to the shelter after this one. It'll be a relief to get out of the Smokies' shelter system. 4/6/01, day 23. Davenoprt Gap Shelter. 14.6m in 8h. Today was a pretty good day. Good weather for once. Nothing eventfull. 4/7/01, day 24. Brown Gap. 13.4m in 8.5h. Spring has arrived. Flowers, sweat, bugs, sunglasses, the works. It was quite refreshing to get out of the Smokies, which most agree pretty much stank like thru-hiker armpit. I'm camping out right now - something that's not permitted in the Smokies. I'm all alone, and it's the first time I've been alone for the night in quite some time. The people I've met on the Trail are swell folk, but all through the Smokies I yearned for a little quiet so I could listen to the birds or look at the stars without somebody telling me how beautiful they are. One of the best things about the AT, and hiking in general, is the calm that you can get when you're all alone in the woods with absolutely nothing to do but sit around and look at things. Too many people ruin that ambience. Soon into the morning's hike, I came upon my first interstate, which was pretty damn cool. After that it was a tough climb in fairly hot weather that beat the tar out of me. Luckily, it also beat the tar out of Turtle, so we had several nice long chats about nothing when one of us came upon the other taking a break. I'm glad to find somebody pleasant who, like me, spends more time sitting on their ass than hiking. I found out last night that Robyn and Steve to the iron man every summer, Jess is a long-distance runner, etc. I don't feel quite as bad anymore when they smoke my ass on the Trail. It looks to be a beautiful night. 4/8/01, day 25. Deer Park Mountain Shelter. 20.1m in 10h. Good Fucking Day this was. It was a beautiful day. Perhaps a little too hot, but there's always got be something to complain about. Near the beginning of the day there were a couple of Trail angels with a fucking generator making people breakfast. I had real scrambled eggs and cheese - goddamn good. After that it as off to Max Patch, a gorgeous grassy bald sticking out of nowhere. It was quite refreshing to see something beautiful after so many days of clouds, rain, and snow. Without describing anything, it was simply a splendid, gorgeous day. For the vast majority of ti I had the Trail all to myself. Tonight I'm sleeping out in the open under the full moon with a bunch of people, none of whom smoke and none of whom are prepubescent morons. I'm off to the fire where the birthday boy (Chris) is going to play his guitar. This kicks ass. 4/9/01, day 26. Elmer's Sunnybank Inn in Hot Springs, NC. 3.2m in 1h. Well, today's a town day, but since the Trail goes through Hot Springs, I'm literally a stone's throw from the Trail, so I'm still pretty much on the Trail. Today we all woke up with Hot Springs on the mind so we tore down into town. The group I was with (the WOE, Robyn and Steve, Joel, and Turtle) pretty much filled up this little place, which is an old Victorian house run by hippies. We filled up with a hot breakfast across the street then went to tear up the town. Hot Springs is a real swell trail town. You can walk everywhere, everybody's nice and excited about thru-hikers, and everything seems to be geared toward thru-hikers. I had a grand old time walking up and down the main drag, getting ripped off at the outfitter, etc. Being such a small town, it turned into another thru-hiker convention, with people I hadn't seen in ages just hangin' out in the sun. The best part about this town is this place I'm staying at. Like I said, it's run by a bunch of hippies. It's got a couple of big old lazy porches, a music room, a co-op-smelling kitchen, etc. We were served a freakin- four-course meal which included a black bean soup, salad with a luscious tahini-based dressing, pasta with chunky vegetable sauce, and downright orgasmic key-lime pie. Coming from weeks of mac and cheese and Rahman, this was a sort of sensory overload; it was almost too much to stand. People get town trapped in Hot Springs; I can certainly see why. 4/10/01, day 27. Spring Mountain Shelter. 11m in 9h Ninety-two fucking degrees it was today. I took a short day with several naps, am pleased to find the WOE, Robyn and Steve, Turtle and Wicked, etc. taking a short day as well. I had a great day lounging around and being lazy, not going anywhere in particular, 'cept North. Insects suck dick. 4/11/01, day 28. 15.5m in 9h. Long day. Feet Hurt. 4/12/01, day 29. ~10m in 6h, 20 min. Today was a weird day. I had a great time playing hearts last night with Terrorist and Robyn/Dr. Worm, going to bed fairly late and sleeping well through the night. This morning, though, I just couldn't get motivated to get out of my sleeping bag. By the time I sauntered out of my tent people I usually don't see until past noon were almost ready to go. Even Robyn was all packed up before I had finished breakfast. Since then I've had a sleepy, lazy feel to the day. There were some really beautiful sights to the day; fields of white flowers, waterfalls, views of TN farmland, old barns, the works. Turtle and I agreed that it was just the splendid day that we needed. After lunch (which included potato chips that Dave had procured, somehow), though, I got real sleepy. I was shooting for Hogback Ridge Shelter, about 4m down the way, but I was just plain done. Besides, it had started raining, I was getting hungry, etc., etc. There's no water here. I had enough for dinner and a little spare for tomorrow, but I'll have to hike to a water source before breakfast can be had. It's been a good day, but my short miles have made my approach to Nolichucky/Erwin a little more difficult. The logistics of getting into town can be a bit of a pain. If you get in too late, you're either going to have to pay for a room or hike in the dark after you've done your stuff. What's more, there seems to be some sort of weird Easter party all weekend at the Nolichucky hostel. Anyway, I'd have to pull a 20m day tomorrow to catch up to schedule, which can be done. I plan on getting my ass actually moving in the morning and seeing how I feel in a few hours. 4/13/01, day 30. No Business Knob Shelter. ~23.5m in 15h. Today was a crazy freakin' day. Woke up at fucking midnight 'cuz some asshole animals (owls? coyotes?) were having up having some frat boy kegger party. I laid in the tent for awhile, then I realized "fuck, I'm going hiking." So, in the dark, I packed up my shit and headed out at 2:50am for a little night hike. I had a blast at first, although in the dark it's pretty easy to lose the Trail. It was slow going, but I passed the shelter I had planned to stay at last night at about 5am and headed into the morning. Then things started to suck, as it started to rain, my glasses fogged up, and my flashlight started to dim. What's more, the spring that my guidebook said was there wasn't there, and I had to delay my coffee and oatmeal, which near infuriated me. After coffee, though, things of course started to look a little better. I clambered onto Big Bald, where I got a gorgeous view of other mountains with what looked like smoke coming out of their summits, of course clouds. After that it was an hour break at the shelter for hot coco, then a pretty much mindless day to get here. Of course, I'm exhausted and never planning this bullshit again.
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