I only shivered a few times in my bag last night...no snow on the ground this morning!
I meant to be on the trail by about 730 this am, but didn't wake up till 7..I jumped up, packed all my stuff, had a protein drink and was hiking by 8. The morning routine has certainly evolved with this cold weather. It's simply too cold for any standing around, such as cooking, bathing, etc..I've begun to sleep in what I intend to wear the next morning, in addition to my thin wool jammies...(those must be removed as they're too hot to hike in and I try to keep them as clean as possible)
I get out of my bag and pjs, stuff it all in the same waterproof bag (that, through the night, held my 3L platypus with the next days water supply safely insulated in my rain gear, deep inside my pack so as not to freeze), roll up my thermarest and put it in it's special bag, put everything in it's place inside my pack, one last privy stop (in hopes of pre hike poop) and hit the trail. It takes me about 2 miles for my fingers to thaw and to feel anything other than painfully cold....all the while, my eyes are watering from the cold and I hope to not stumble from pre awake stupor and cloudy eyeballs..I've done well so far.
Since I was hiking alone today and my sole purpose was to get to Fontana before the p.o. closed, I hiked as fast as I could for a long as I could...I kicked ass ! I left the shelter about 8 and got to Fontana about 12 30.... Avg 2.5 Mph..that's the fastest yet! I called for the shuttle from the Fontana dam visitors center. It felt so good to sit in a car! He was very kind to let me drop my pack off at the village report lodge then take me the.1 mile back down the hill to the p.o....saved me a little walking. I knew we had 3 boxes and I didn't want to carry those up that hill with my pack on, too. The lady at the po was very nice, though a little overwhelmed with all the hiker boxes arriving & hikers trying to pick up before closing. One poor guy was trying to call his mother and there is spotty cell service here at best. He insisted on standing in the tiny lobby while speaking very loudly into his phone: "mom? can you hear m...mom?"apparently, mom sent his box to Franklin, which is a few days south of here...Ahhhhhh, communication. I picked up our 3 boxes and trekked back up to the lodge and checked in.
I had a super hot shower, wore my frog togs (luckily i keep a spare pair of socks and underwear in the bounce box) back down the hill to do laundry (I washed everything except my sleeping bag and my rain suit) I wandered around the general store, sat and read some books for sale and drank free coffee (black) while my clothes washed...some other hikers came in with beer while I was drying, so I had a Budweiser....tough for such a beer snob...but a tired hikers gotta do what a tired hikers gotta do...
Zag came dragging in with her slack- packing, stayed- in -a -warm -bed and had -a -hot -shower -last -night self about 530...we went down and had dinner with some other hikers and talked about our plan for the smokies..the weather forecast calls for rain, snow and low temps and, quite frankly, we're worried about hypothermia...the bad news is, it's possibly a 3 day delay, the good news is, we will still be alive without any frostbite or hypothermia....
Looks like we're planning to stay here one more day to see what the weather does..if it hovers and dumps a bunch of snow, we'll have to plan further, if it blows on through with minimal residual, we can move on...I'm not looking forward to hanging out tomorrow...maybe refresh myself on rules of gin rummy...
I'll have more time to sort out the food and bounce box and prep for future drop points, maybe look up the life cycles of fern and moss that I can't quite remember all of from biology...
Oh yeah, finally saw trillium coming up today...all along the trail on the way down to the dam...spring is here!
Tonight we're all hanging out in the lobby because there's excellent Wifi service...I've tried to catch up on my blogs since I've got service and power..woo hoo! I am not looking forward to our delay, but, in the interest of safety and a less miserable experience... You know what? I'm truly enjoying this and I want to keep on trucking...but safely, not being pig headed just to get the miles...so I'll hang out here...
Pics today: sunrise in the mountains,
View of Fontana dam as I came down the mountain...frustrating as you can see the lake and dam from miles away...takes a long time to get down to it,
A neat little cave I passed along the way.
Staying alive needs to trump stubborn every time! We're really enjoying reading about your adventure. Maybe Spring will arrive in fact as well as on the calendar soon and you'll have better weather along the way. Stay safe.
ReplyDeleteI agree! Every time we have a storm or cold temps I know it's headed your way! But where we have rain, you get snow. And I'm glad your gear is holding so far with the super cold temps you're having. Smart vs hypothermia wins in my book, too!
ReplyDeleteYou are a CHAMPION!!!
ReplyDeleteI guess I was sleep walking last night when I wrote my comments. 2.5mph is the best you can do!! Those old knees are not given in or should I say out. Now that I have you smiling "Keep up the great Hike".
ReplyDelete