Friday, May 29th - Got up around 6:00, very humid and raining. The creek was raging so hard we could plainly hear it from a hundred feet away. Got going around 6:35, and spend at least half an hour crossing the creek twice. The first time we skooched across (on our butts) on a large log that was way too slick to walk on; the second time we ended up taking off our boots and putting on our camp shoes and (carefully) wading it; tough going! Past the second crossing, we met one of last night's late arrivers coming back - apparently Dog #2 had taken off during the storm, and they had no idea where he was. With the rain washing out their scent, I suspect Dog #2 is in serious trouble.
Two brutal climbs today, up successive ridges, followed by two equally tough descents - we are ridge-hopping from west to east, working our way over to the Blue Ridge Parkway. Looks easy on a map; very tough to do in actuality. Got a little sun during the mid-day, but then rain again late afternoon.
There were several high points today: First, we crossed the Eastern Continental Divide (aka the Tennessee Divide - see above), where all the water falling to the east goes to the Atlantic Ocean, while all the water falling to the west (but east of the Continental Divide) goes to the Gulf of Mexico.
Next, we again walked through stretches of trail lined by blooming mountain laurels. And third, we visited the Audie Murphy Memorial (America's most decorated war veteran, and later an actor in numerous movies); the memorial is placed near the site where he died in a plane crash in 1971. In addition to the very impressive memorial itself, there were an American flag, and a Texas flag, two wreaths, and various other mementos. We ended up eating an early dinner on a sitting bench opposite the memorial.
Two brutal climbs today, up successive ridges, followed by two equally tough descents - we are ridge-hopping from west to east, working our way over to the Blue Ridge Parkway. Looks easy on a map; very tough to do in actuality. Got a little sun during the mid-day, but then rain again late afternoon.
There were several high points today: First, we crossed the Eastern Continental Divide (aka the Tennessee Divide - see above), where all the water falling to the east goes to the Atlantic Ocean, while all the water falling to the west (but east of the Continental Divide) goes to the Gulf of Mexico.
Next, we again walked through stretches of trail lined by blooming mountain laurels. And third, we visited the Audie Murphy Memorial (America's most decorated war veteran, and later an actor in numerous movies); the memorial is placed near the site where he died in a plane crash in 1971. In addition to the very impressive memorial itself, there were an American flag, and a Texas flag, two wreaths, and various other mementos. We ended up eating an early dinner on a sitting bench opposite the memorial. On the negative front, we also passed through 2 or 3 more stretches of defoliated trees. Did another descent and then a final climb to the Pickle Branch Shelter - fortunately the rain finally quit as we made this final push. The shelter was well off the A.T. (at least a third of a mile), and was hard to find with numerous side trails confusing the issue. The shelter itself was very full (10 people at a shelter designed for 8), so we turned around, came back up the access trail a bit, and found a reasonably nice tenting site. It was about 8:15 by this point, so (by necessity) we did a quick setup, got the bear-bags up, and hit the rack by 9:10, at which point it was already pretty dark. Mark's feet are really bothering him now, not the quadriceps but rather from numerous blisters. So he worked on them for awhile. I used a couple of Antibacterial Wet-Ones to give myself a wipedown - we're both filthy and smell like a landfill at this point. Been a tough stretch of days. 22 miles today, nearly 14 hours on the trail, and our various leg problems did not stop us, so it seems our ramping up the mileage discipline worked. At last, no rain tonight....
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