Day 47

Now this was definitely a snow day. It helped that the sun was out. I first caught a shuttle from Erwin, TN back to Iron Mountain Gap and trekked off into the snow. It’s not bad even as moisture slowly soaks into your shoes and socks as your body heat warms it all up and you even start to dry them out with your own warmth. The problem is when you get later in the day and the trail that’s been stomped down by hikers and warmed up enough to start melting turns to slush and mud. Now that’s pure icy water soaking in and making your toes numb. No reason trying to avoid the water. You won’t be able to. Just embrace it. I did 12.4 AT miles but with some extra distances added to a shelter to go get water at its water source and for finding a good camp spot for the night, I tacked on extra distances. Some I didn’t even get counted on my GPS watch for my Relive videos but let me explain why. I found a camp spot at Ash Gap pretty early as I wanted to put my socks up in the sun while it was still out and I have a plan to get me where I need to be on the 14th to meet Jason. I know the shelter on top of Roan Mountain is going to be busy as a lot of hikers were planning on stopping there as it’s a fully enclosed shelter with a door. No thanks! I don’t want to be closed in with that many people and with all the incidences of noro virus going around. I much prefer the solitude of my tent. So after putting my tent up, I wanted to get my line thrown for hanging my food bag later this evening. Ever try finding a rock the right size under snow? I had heard some people will tie the rope around their water bottle and toss that. I carry a 1L and a 700ml bottle, which is the only bottle that gets the drink mixes. I tie my slick line to my 700ml bottle, that I just mixed a drink mix in, and tossed up to get over a good branch. I missed and the bottle came back down and exploded. Yep! Ruined bottle and all that yummy water gone. I only had enough water in my 1L bottle for making dinner so now I had to go walk back into the snow and slush down to a somewhat nearby water source where I not only filled my 2L dirty water bag with enough water to fill my 1L and extra for cleaning my pot and for dinner but I also was able to grab a nice rock from the creek to be able to hang my line. Just another lesson learned. I even resupplied my Carnation instant breakfast that I liked to put in my 700ml bottle with a couple instant coffee packets for a “breakfast on the go” but I guess now I’ll have to do that in my only 1L bottle. Ugh! It’s only for 5 days. When I meet up with Jason and go hang out in Johnson City, I’ll replace both bottles and be back to the way I like it. Time to eat dinner and hang by bag before it gets dark and then get comfy for the night. Looks like this snow isn’t going anywhere tonight. Might be fun digging a cat hole in frozen earth in the morning. Good times!