cold springs shelter

3/9/09
the super charitable ron haven dropped me off (with 4 others) at winding stair gap this morning a little after 9. time to start again. I had planned to go about 11 miles but 16 came very easy to finish by 4 pm. it was lovely today. my thermometer showed a high temp of 70. I think I got a bit of a sunburn along some of the higher ridges during midday. there were a couple of long ascents early and a big one at the end, but most of the day wasn't too rough; although, the trail had a lot of exposed roots and smaller rocks. many times I tripped or stubbed my toes. on the highest ridge I saw a lot of bear fur/hair on logs and branches but nothing looked very fresh. passed a bunch of "bald" top mtns. from what I've read and heard, logging companies in the late 1800's and early 1900's would completely clear off top sections of these mountains and not replant. however, they were tricky about it. they would clear cut sections just in the middle of the tops. from a distance, one can't/couldn't tell anything was cut because the trees around the edges hid the damage. like male pattern baldness. hehe. anyhoo, these areas are now meadows or grassy fields. wait, maybe those two things are the same.
almost forgot, more trail magic today. 1 mile before the shelter there was a retiree with 2 huge 12 person tents set up - 1 even had a wood burning stove in it! he had fruit, cookies, hot dogs, soda, water, hot chocolate, etc. I sat for about 30 minutes and rested while drinking water and eating apples. yummy. his trail name is apple and he does this here and in Colorado on the Colorado trail and the continental divide trail. ppl who do this regularly are called trail angels - not sure if I've mentioned that before. very nice.
I'm here at the shelter with splinter (thru from boulder, co) and 3 sectioners from new hampshire. good crew. one of the guys hung a clothes line, so I washed my shirt and socks in a stream and they're drying now. probably won't do anything except make the stream dirty!
the extra hour of sunlight is great! won't have to get in my bag until 8 or 8:30. late night. now only 11 miles to the NOC. I'll grab some more food there tomorrow and then head to Fontana dam to get more food before heading into the smokies. my feet are a little sore because I bought new insoles cause the other ones were dead - mostly from being water logged and frozen, mostly.
mmmmm, eating jelly beans I bought at a gas station in franklin. sold to me by a very large southern woman named Bea. love the south!
later
L


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