Samwise Hikes the Appalachian Trail! - Trail Journal -
	Home	| Map	| Journal	| Photos	| Resources	| [frame break]

May 1, Jenny Cabin Shelter - mile 297.2

    Wow! What a difference hiking today! I felt like a different person when I started out this morning. My pack was still heavy & the trail still hard but I sure was in a better mood to handle it. I did the first 8 1/2 miles to the first shelter by noon, reaching it just in time to get water. There were 2 springs listed in the guidebook during those 8 miles but both were nothing but sad little mud holes. For someone with a filter, you could still get some water out of it & drink it, but I'm only carrying iodine as a purifier & I'm not dipping my bottle into those nasty puddles unless I'm absolutely desperate! So I rationed my last liter, allowing myself two swallows every 10 minutes, until I got to the shelter. It went well - I still had water left when I got there & it was a great place to fill up.

    After lunch, I pushed on another 7 miles to this shelter, which apparently used to have a faux telephone & light switch in it. Both are now gone - I guess eventually the maintainer figured the joke was over. But it's a fairly nice shelter, regardless, & I'm staying in it tonight since we're having "scattered thunderstorms". Mostly it's thundering without much showering but I'm kinda hoping we got a good bit of rain tonight. This area is extremely below normal in rainfall for the last month & the springs are definitely showing the effect.

   

May 2, Hogback Ridge Shelter - mile 311.8

Feeling kind of like a war victim tonight - the ole body is pretty sore & stiff & beat up. When I take my boots off at night, I'm always greeted by a multitude of glaring red & purples bruises & the skin is peeling off the bottoms now, too. Today I had to wrap the middle toe which is swelled twice it's size & rudolph-red colored, which I suspect means it's working on a bruise. My knees were improving before Hot Springs, but I seem to have hit a plateau. No, I think actually they're a little worse now. I had the good fortune to meet "Trail Trucker" today who gave me an extra disposable knee wrap he was carrying. So now at least I can wrap both these crying babies. which helps keep some of the swelling down. My left arch is sending up sporadic but very intense pains, & my left calf muscle feels like a tight rope that is about to break. I noticed tonight that there's also a strange welt on that ankle - hopefully I just whacked it on a rock or something & it's nothing more serious. The frustrating touch is a mass of heat rash welts all over my calves & shins, I guess due to wearing the gaiters, which must be trapping the heat. I am very grateful for the tube of anti-rash cream that Tony left with me. he got it from the doctor recently for a huge nasty rash on his knee that wouldn't go away, & it seems to work pretty well.

    It's at times like this when I remember the mantra quoted oft by other hikers: "the worst day on the trail is still better than the best day of work". It sounds a little extreme, but it's true. No matter how sore & tired I am tonight, I'd still rather be here than anywhere else.

    The shelter is crowded tonight & I'm glad I decided at the last minute to set up my tent. I have learned Murphy's Law of Shelters: Those who snore loudest will always fall asleep first & will remain firmly planted on their backs in a deep sleep all night long. i had a miserable night last night with the symphony of snoring & though thunder clouds may threaten tonight, I've decided I need to sleep!

    I gave away an entire bag of cookies tonight, much to the joy of my fellow hikers. I saw it on the bottom of my food bag & realized I haven't touched it yet since leaving town, plus I've got another full bag waiting for me in Erwin, 2 days away. Crazy to be hauling all that weight! So around the table my bag did go, til all the cookies were gone.

    I also had to get help tonight from my fellow hikers in identifying a mammal that I saw today & had no idea waht it was. I was hiking up a hill (of course) & rounded a bend in the trail, when suddenly this animal came flying across the trail a couple feet in front of me, moving at the speed of light. Although I couldn't see it's face, I saw that its body was about the size & color of a beaver, except with a short furry tail. Not a racoon or porcupine... the best guess we have is probably a groundhog. So I can add that to my list of wild life encounters on the A.T., which now numbers 4 deer, 8 black squirrels, 2 gray squirrels, salamanders, snails, too many birds to count & a groundhog.