April 29, 2005 | Day 33 | Miles 12.2 | Total Miles: 350.8
End: Deep Gap, unofficial campsite, Tent
Danielle:
Rain
Well, we woke up to rain and spent a few hours debating back and forth the pros and cons of staying. In the end, hiking won out, and we packed up and headed down the road. It is really hard to leave town when the weather is crappy. It's so tempting to stay. After all you're warm and dry and are voluntarily heading out into wet misery. But town is expensive and also we can't stay in every time it's bad weather so we figured we would suck it up and go hike. We hadn't gotten more than a minute down the road whena car pulled up. It was a woman named "Phoenix", previously a 2005 thru-hiker who decided she didn't like the hiking part of it. So she thought she'd do some trail magic for a bit, as she didn't want to let go of the experience quite yet. She dropped us off at the trailhead and we headed into the woods. It actually let up raining for most of the hike, until we had 4 miles to the camping spot we had picked from the book. Then it downpoured. And that just really sucked as it meant setting up the tent in the rain which is just no fun. But we didn't get the tent inside too wet, which was good. And for now, it's stopped raining but everything is still pretty wet. Maybe we'll get sun one of these days and we'll be able to hang everything out to dry. That would be nice :-) In the end, though, we made the right decision and despite the weather, it's good to be out here.
Ryan:
cloudy, rain, then lots of rain
it was raining this morning...hard. but, we knew that we had to leave town. so, that's what we did...eventually. we just figured that it was going to suck today, so we wanted to get the sucking over as soon as possible. my pack is heavy. we're out for a 5 1/2 day stretch and we have a lot of food. if we're hungry by the end, i'm not sure what we're going to do. i can't carry any more. the problem is we planned to buy some power bars at the grocery store, but they didn't have any. the grocery store was fairly ghetto. so, we panicked. we started picking up all sorts of stuff. we made so much gorp, we left a fairly good sized ziplock bag outside of our hotel room door for anyone to take. when we were hanging the bear bag (you have to hang your food in a tree to keep the bears from eating it, but more on that ridiculousness another time), it was so heavy, it took both of us to hoist it.
...so, we tried to eat as much as possible already. so far, thumbs up to the slim-fast meal bars, caramel peanut flavor. they were an experiment, and make a good snack. but, i wouldn't want one for lunch. the verdict is still out on the quaker breakfast bars. the package claims moist and chewy, but in reality...not so much. thumbs down to cracker barrell cheese. i hate the south. there is no good cheese. that is the #1 reason i couldn't live here. cracker barrell is the best you can do, and it tastes like...well, nothing. cabot all the way, baby. we might start logging more miles just to get real cheese. and none of that wisconsin crap, either.
today's song - the river, bruce springsteen...probably inspired by our crossing of the nolichucky river, but it also described the mood. warm and dry? they vanished right into the air. i just act like i don't remember, danielle acts like she don't care...
April 30, 2005 | Day 34 | Miles: 13.1 | Total Miles: 363.9
End: Clyde Smith Shelter
Danielle:
It was a rough day of hiking for us. Ugh. We just couldn't move along as we felt we should. It was a slow morning. We were surprised that none of the people who had camped at Deep Gap with us--Free Radical, Stats and Mud pumpkin, and the Seattle crew-- passed us, but I guess they all got a late start so we managed to stay ahead. We did eke out the last 6 miles in a respectable time, but the first 7 were pretty slow. Maybe it's from all food in our packs. I think we went a bit nuts on our resupply. Too much food! Way too heavy. But we're eating well :-) I guess that's the payoff.
It's currently rainy and the shelter is in the clouds, but we stayed dry while we were walking, which was nice. It's supposed to clear out tomorrow so we'll keep our fingers crossed :-)
We did see a rose-breasted Grosbeak--very cool-- and a red salamander along the trail, which was neat.
Ryan:
cloudy, cool, rain late
we're tired. for some reason, we were just really slow and sluggish today. could still be from the heavy packs, who knows. the trail was fairly rugged today, too. and where it wasn't rugged, it was muddy. really muddy. yawn.
May 1, 2005 | Day 35 | Miles: 12.9 | Total Miles: 376.8
End: Overmountain Shelter
Danielle:
So, you know how on a cold and dreary winter morning it's hard to get out of bed as you know you have to pad down the hall in your bare feet to shower? OK, imagine it's May 1 in the south and you wake up and it's 38 degrees in the shelter and there's a cloud around you and you have to get out of your warm sleeping bag and go take a wilderness poo in the cold, dank morning and then you have to pack up and start hiking up to Roan Mountain at 6285 feet. That was our morning today and it was pretty sucky.
Still, it's amazing what a little bit of sun can do to lift your spirits. The sun came out as we were climbing up Roan, and it didn't warm up, but it did make us feel better. Roan Mt. was really cool--the trail up reminded us of New England with pine trees and its steepness. At the top the trees were all rimed over with ice. Then after Roan Mt., we went over these very cool balds--Round and Jane Balds--open and wide and beautiful. And now we're at this cool shelter which is a converted barn with a gorgeous view out into the valley below. There are about 30 people here, many of whom have caught us with these past few shorter mileage days. We're on the upper floor of the barn. It's still chilly but blue skies. Hopefully it will at least last through tomorrow. So, all in all, after a not-so-great start, it ended up being a good day :-)
Ryan:
fog early, sunny, windy, colder than cool, but cooler than cold
today, i really needed something good to happen. i hit my lowest point this morning. we started from the shelter slowly this morning...it was 38 degrees. i was just tired of being wet and cold. my back didn't feel that great. my legs were tired. the trail was really muddy and much steeper than i expected. i was already dreading the climb up (g)roan mountain. basically, everything sucked. i was ready to go home. just be done. then, the sun came out. it got a little warmer. then we started to climb, and it was great everything just turned around. the final climb up roan mountain reminded me so much of maine or new hampshire...the look, the smell. plus, not a cloud in the sky. then we crossed over a couple balds. they were beautiful. this shelter is a huge converted barn, and really cool. everything's great. one of the best days yet. it really is a roller coaster out here. i also remembered that i don't want to go home. i really enjoy putting the pack on and just going...somewhere.
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