Day 5

Aug 27 Groundhog Creek Shelter to Max Patch 6 miles Weather: thunderstorms I'm having some weird dream about getting thrown off a cruise ship at sea when I'm woken up by some horrific sound. This is one of those that could definitely have woken the dead. I should have prefaced this with the fact that upon further inspection of the map, I was sleeping in a bear reserve. Not deer or rabbits, bear. So automatically my heart starts racing to just below 200bpm. It's pitch black and raining. I reach for my light and turn it on... nothing but white. The mist was so thick that my tikka-plus on fresh batteries couldn't penetrate 15ft. I know the noise came from near where my food was hung about 40ft away. So, with no clue what to do, I started yelling. After a few minutes of that and no other sound but rain, I got up and slowly walked over to my food. Right as I shine my flashlight at the bag I see movement and BANG! It was the same sound that woke me. Now after 30 straight hours of rain and wind, quite a few limbs were falling from the trees, especially at this gap. And this particular food hanger was equipped with large aluminum disks around the cables to keep critters from crawling to your food bag. So of course this equated to someone throwing a bowling ball into a metal trash can every time the wind blew too hard. Relieved, I laid back down. I know it's not a wholly exciting outcome, but I was much happier that it didn't include a bear or some critter eating my food. I slept horribly for the rest of the night, chalking it up to how much body fat I had probably burned hiking up the mountain. I wake up at 7 and moan. Getting out of my sleeping bag, I notice a bright red rash about 4 inches high just above my ankles. Grrrr. After using up 6 AAA batteries to get that message sent out the night before, I was going to be pretty upset if I couldn't get my phone working. I had to call to find out if, when, and where I was going to be meeting people at Max Patch. It turns on, but claims it doesn't have enough power to connect. So I plug in 3 fresh batteries and leave it off to charge. Meanwhile, I filter water, stuff myself with as much oatmeal as my stomach can take and lie back down for a minute. One turns into a few more and before I know it, it's 10am. Oops, I'm bad about that kind of thing. Well at least by now my phone should have some juice. Wrong, it said the same problem. I throw on my dripping wet hiking clothes, squeeze as much water out of the cuishoning of my shoes, and threw on my pack. If I trek just faster than 2mph, I can make it to Max Patch by 1pm. This was the arranged time with my mother but an hour late for a few other friends. I keep my phone charging with another set of batteries, sorely disappointed in my charging contraption's performance. As if I should have known by this point, right as I get out of camp, a nice shower rolls through just to put me into my place. The hike was way steeper than I expected for what I knew to be a net elevation change of less than 1000ft up. But of course, that doesn't take into account all the steep downhills that I had to clime right back up just to clock even. My feet were killing me with every step, but I made it up to Max Patch by 1. The place was completely empty. So I laid down to bask in make believe sunshine. I look up to see the peak about 200yards above me disappear into a cloud. Just then, I feel the raindrops. "Does it make a difference?" I ask myself, laying my head back down. It passes just as it came leaving even grayer skies, wet grass, and thunder in the distance. Half an hour later my mom shows up looking pretty stressed. A while back, her and I took a backpacking trip at Shining Rock where if she wasn't wearing an external frame and I wasn't actually the incredible hulk, she would have died. And that was with less rain than I had the previous day. She explained about how much she was worrying about me because of how that trip went and how my sister wrecked her car. I calmed her down and we ate a wonderful lunch and I drank a gallon of apple juice 8-) yum. Nobody can complain about real mountain spring water, but it can't compare to juice. We both weren't feeling great so we relaxed at the base. I decided to fiddle with my maps and books. The sign at my shelter described 8.3 miles to the next northern shelter. Minus about six that I had just done, that's about 2 left. Under the mileage description in my book it said 1.8 from the summit. Then I look at the map. It showed the shelter at least 5 miles away. I look deeper into the book and discover that in a different spot it described the shelter 4 miles away. So I had no clue exactly how far I had to hike to find a place to sleep. At this point it's 4pm so soon I will have to get started. A thunderstorm rolls through so we hop (gingerly, my feet didn't magically heal) in the car to wait it out. I get out my cell phone and fiddle with it as my mom is describing her upcoming trips. Still no charge. During the deluge the day before, I convinced myself that one of the reasons I had to continue this trip was to continue my story. Without the ability to share it each day as it was happening took a lot out of me. As my mom is talking about a family get-together this weekend, I decide I don't want to hike through the rain tonight. I want to get my charger fixed. I want to dry my clothes, shoes, and sleeping bag. I want to make sure this rash isn't something that's going to be a problem. I turn to her and say let's go. By no way is this adventure finished. I am spending tomorrow at radio shack getting my phone charger fixed. Friday driving to Atlanta and spending the weekend with my family. Tuesday I will be back on the trail at Hot Springs, NC (just north of Max Patch). By then my blisters will have healed and I will be ready to rock this trail. Gear swap notice: camp towel unnecessary, replacing with bandanna. Sorry about this hiatus, but it's what I'm doing. High: plenty of water in the spring where a week earlier people had nothing to drink Low: my favorite place turns out to me not so cool this time