[at-l] KC back again!

["KC" <felton@bluenet.net>]

	Left on Wed and was on the trail by 11:50am. As we drove up the mountain
we broke through the clouds and the sun finally came out. We started out at
19E and hiked to Doll Flats. We met one person Northbound who had come from
the Smokies and was hiking to Grayson Highland. It was a bit on the chilly
side but comfortable hiking. By the time we reached Doll Flats at 2:20pm (a
3 mile hike) the clouds had moved back in. We set up camp and Beth gathered
enough firewood for a fantastic and very warm fire that lasted till 9pm. I
had set up my brand new tarp (Siltarp) and hammock. Made enough room for
Beth to put her brand new bivy under the tarp next to me(Yes she finally
got rid of that 6 pound tent). I went to get into my hammock and fell on my
back,,,ouch! Finally got that arranged right and crawled in. I had
forgotten to take my 20 degree bag, had my 35 degree bag. I ended up
putting my down jacket over my feet. That helped some but I was still a bit
chilly all night long.
	Thur morning the fog had NOT lifted. It rained a bit during the night and
stopped by 8 am. We decided to get a late start so that we could see the
views, we just knew that fog would lift. It was 37 degrees that
morning,,,good hiking weather. We broke camp and left by 10:40am. We
stopped at 11am to take off all those warm clothes. We stripped and changed
clothes right there in the middle of the trail (talk about nude hiking). We
stopped to eat lunch right before the bald,,,waiting and hoping that cloud
would go away. It never did! Fog, Fog, Fog, Clouds, Blowing clouds,,,we
could not see more than 30 feet in front of us all day!!!! We met a group
of older hikers, about 10 going north. They had on day packs and I guess
they were headed for 19E. We reached Overmountain Shelter by 3:05pm. What a
cool (in both senses of the word) place. We went for water and arrived back
at the shelter ready to get into our sleeping bags. We set up in the far
corner, putting plastic over the opening. It was COLD. At 7pm it was 32
degrees,,,we knew then it was going to be a cold night. That night the wind
was blowing so hard that it knocked off one of the rocks holding up the
plastic 3 feet from Beth's head,,,that was an eye-opener, as Beth put it!
We listened to that wind howl and were very very thankful for an enclosed
shelter.
	Fri mooning there was Ice/Frost/Frozen Snow? everywhere. It was from 1 to
1 1/2 inches thick and on the right hand side of everything (wind blown I
guess)!!! It was beautiful and fantastic and very very very cold 24 degrees
at 7am!!! I went to bed with liner socks, wool socks, regular Poly
underwear, Long Poly underwear, rain pants, Poly long sleeved shirt, Poly
short sleeved shirt, scrub shirt, Fleece jacket, rain jacket, liner gloves
and Fleece gloves. In the middle of the night I got the shivers and could
not stop. I had moved over off my RidgeRest and was on the barn floor!!!
Burrrrr, I moved back onto the RidgeRest and warmed back up after about a
half hour. I used my down jacket for my feet and slept pretty warm the rest
of the night. Beth was real comfy in her 20 degree bag, Full length
thermarest and OR Bivy. She had listened to a weather forecast the night
before and it was going to get much colder and rain on Sun. We decided we
needed to go HOME. We could have hiked 4 1/2 miles to Carvers Gap but we
didn't know if we could get a ride anywhere. We decided to hike back 9
miles to 19E. Beth said we didn't need to carry all the water we had, but
we didn't have much choice, it was frozen solid! She carried 2 liters of
frozen blocks and I carried 2 liters of frozen blocks. The sun was out and
maybe we could see the view that we had missed the day before. We packed up
and left at 9am. We left lots and lots of food for the Southbounders. We
put it in a big plastic bag and tied it from one of the mice holders. That
food is going to make someone very happy!! The sun was out for about 10
minutes and the Clouds moved back in!!!!! Just before we got to the bald we
stopped and I made us some hot drinks. My propane/butane stove started up
in 26 degree weather with no problems at all. I was very pleased with that.
We drank and forced ourselves to eat a little something and moved on. We
arrived at the top of the bald and was able to catch a peak at a view,,,the
clouds were everywhere and they lifted a bit for about 5 minutes. It was
cloudy all day and we could not see much of anything. We stopped at Doll
Flats for hot drinks. We just could not force ourselves to drink ice cold
water. As we were finishing up a man came around the corner wearing a
flannel shirt, blue jeans and tennis shoes. He had come form Roan Mt...We
could not understand how he made it across the bald like that. He said his
wife was going to pick him up at 19E around 4pm. I offered him $20 for a
ride to the motel (4 miles). He said they would give us a ride for free. He
hurried off and Beth and I packed up and headed out. We made it to 19E buy
3:50pm and they gave us a ride to the motel. We called our friend and she
came and got us. We are home again. The temp never got above 30 degrees and
most of the time it stayed around 26 degrees. The Ice/Snow/Frozen snow? was
on everything and was totally awesome!!!! I got some pictures, hope they
turn out.
	Important lessons I learned for my thru hike next year. Don't forget the
20 degree bag. I may switch to a thermarest and leave my hammock at home.
Use mittens instead of gloves. I love my stove! Bring hot drinks. Sleep
with your water bottle. Take along my down jacket,,,it worked great for
rest stops to. Get some down booties (my feet don't like to be cold). KC


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