Miles: 11.8
Steps: 44880
Kcal: 1757
Avg BG: 115
It was a cold morning (as forecast), and Ready and I had breakfast at the diner next to the Budget Inn. As we ate, we saw another hiker out on the street. A few men across the diner commented, “what kind of a fool hikes in the middle of winter?” Ready and I looked at each other and smiled as I said to him, “we do!” Our waitress came over shortly and quietly apologized for the men’s comment. I told her that “we resembled that remark and took no offence. We knew that many thought we were crazy for starting in Feb.
The temperature was in the 20s as we got started on the trail. The sky was bright blue and the mountains were dressed in fresh snow. The forecast was for a cold day and night.
The temperature was in the 20s as we got started on the trail. The sky was bright blue and the mountains were dressed in fresh snow. The forecast was for a cold day and night.
We hit one of our first milestones – finishing our first state! We completed all the miles in GA and crossed over into NC in the early afternoon.
And then things began to sour. As we crossed a forest service road, Ready told us that he wanted to hike the road out, get a shuttle, and head home. He was ready to get off the trail. Serpent and I were shocked! We hadn’t seen this coming. We were concerned about his safety – we didn’t know where the road would come out and whether he would have a cell signal to reach a shuttle. We convinced him to stay with us the 3 days it would take us to get to Franklin, NC. He reluctantly agreed.
We arrived at Muskrat Creek Shelter late that afternoon to find a very crowded shelter! The shelter was full and there were a large number of tents already pitched. As the sun was setting, the temperature was dropping and we were very cold getting set up and preparing dinner. We were able to get a weather report and discovered that the forecast for the night was temperatures in the teens, cold temperatures the following day with about 8 hours of snow the following afternoon.
We discussed our options. We knew that Rock Gap was only 4 miles away. Our friends had slackpacked in and out of Rock Gap, so we knew there was a shuttle that could pick us up there and we had their contact information. We were able to contact Zen at Gooder Grove Hostel and he agreed to pick us up at 10:30 the next morning. We would be able to stay at the hostel and miss the snow and brutal temperatures.
We were happy with the decision – but had to make it through a very cold night! I tried to make a hot water bottle – fill my Nalgene quart water bottle with boiling water. This wouldn’t be an ideal solution as a hot water bottle can stay warm for about 4-5 hours, but I was getting into bed about 7pm – so this would lose its benefit before the coldest part of the night arrived. Unfortunately, the temperature was so cold that my Nalgene developed a skin of ice inside as I emptied the water into my pot for heating. And, my stove couldn’t handle the cold temperatures so I wasn’t able to get the water to boil – warm was the best I could do. So, I used hand warmers in my bag to help keep me warm. However, at least my Nalgene didn’t freeze overnight like my other 2 water bottles did. Breaking camp the next morning was a cold endeavor!
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