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March 26, 2001

Long day yesterday--14 miles from Baggs Creek to Blue Mountain Shelter. A long flat stretch in the middle made it bearable. But if yesterday was long, at least the night was fun. I was really proud of us for hiking that far, too. There were tons of people camped at Blue Mountain Shelter. There was a fire and plenty of laughter.

We met some people that braved out the storm that put us on trail a day late. They told wild tales of trees falling and the wind whipping ice chips in from all directions. They refer to that night as 'sleet night' and the following day as 'hypothermia day'. A lot of them got off of the trail for a few days after that. We haven't had any precipitation since the ice chips flying painfully into our heads that first day.

I slept in a shelter for the first time last night. It was colder than my tent, but warm enough once I smushed against everyone else. I asked them to make room for me because I've been having nightmares about being attacked in my tent or nabbed during the night. (All of you people who gave me sincere warnings about a trail which you know little about should all feel very ashamed of yourselves for scaring the begeezes out of me:) Anyway, I was glad that I addressed this because sleep is pretty important out here. I did wake up in the night, recognize that there were night noises and people moving around, and realize that was okay. Hopefully, I will have sweet dreams from now on.

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