More Cold and Snow

I believe this to be the coldest night yet on the trail, possibly in the teens if the weatherman is right. I'm sure our water will be ice by morning. As we climbed Big Bald Mountain, some snow drifts were ankle to calf deep. It's slowing us down, but it should warm up by tomorrow. There is a nice fire crackling. We've been circling it much of the evening, with our damp socks held out over it to dry. I'm comfortable in my sleeping bag as I type this out on my cell phone, so I'm not as worried about the cold weather anymore. Unless I fall in a river.

That giant snowball pictured is one-third of a snowman from last night. It was too cold for anyone to want to finish it. As you use your imagination to picture what the finished product would have looked like, don't forget to picture it awesome, because it would have been.

Caught Up To Red

I caught up with Red! This is him posing so Sixgun and Thumper can see how his beard is coming along. I'm sure they are as upset as me that he isn't allowing his Bob Ross afro to grow in. To have that ability and not use it... I just don't get it.

Soon after meeting Red and the others with him, I realized how much I miss out on when I don't hike in a group. For example, when you are alone and you see a flyer in town for amateur pro wrestling (Iron Cross vs. Scotty Rocker) at a local high school, you keep hiking south. When you are in a group with Red, you go to the store to buy markers and poster board, make signs and a cardboard iron cross, then go to the school pretending to be the world's biggest Iron Cross fans. I saw a video of this. The 5 of them made up 20% of the crowd, but 99% of the noise. They screamed made up slogans, chanted "Iron Cross! Iron Cross!" and yelled at the ref when Scotty Rocker cheated and won the match.

I think I'll stick with them a while and see what else happens.

Goat Info

A cold front has been moving in. And not slowly like when you open a freezer and the cold air pours out. It's more like someone opened a window in an airplane mid-flight. It's not that cold yet, but the wind is so strong it nearly knocks me off my feet. When hiking across Jane Bald (pictured) I hiked at an angle, leaning on the wind, while gusts tried to push me off the trail.

I was happy to see the trail heading into a less windy tunnel of trees, but I had to stop to take a picture of this mailbox first. It wasn't in a place where you'd expect there to be a mailbox, one labeled "Goat Info" or otherwise. I assume there were mountain goats in the area, but I liked it because I know that eventually someone will walk by it while coincidentally pondering a question about goats. They will be walking with their head down and thinking, "I wonder if a goat would make a good pet," or maybe, "Is there a goat heaven?" Imagine how stunned they will be to look up and see this. I can't think of a better reason for it to exist.

I hope this gives you a better idea of the quality of thoughts that go on in a person's head after walking over 1,800 miles.

I'm going into Erwin,TN today to resupply and get a much needed shower. In the morning, I'll climb back up to over 5,000 feet, for more rain, snow, and strong winds.

Hump Mountain

Yesterday was a good day. The views from Hump Mountain and Little Hump Mountain were spectacular, the weather as pleasant as you could hope for in late November, my home last night was an old barn in Yellow Mountain Gap, and someone gave me a free turkey sandwich. A good day indeed, since any one of those things would have made it a good day.

Also, I passed the 1,800 mile mark, which seems like a lot for some reason. I only have 380 miles to go and just about three weeks left. If you're wondering if I'm excited to be nearly done, the answer is no, not really.

I saw in a registry that Red was only three days ahead of me. He was fifteen ahead two months ago, so I'm confident I can catch up. We got separated in mid-August, but we may get to Springer at the same time afterall.

Thanksgiving Saved

This photo taken from Watauga Dam has nothing to do with this post, but it's the only other one I took today with my phone. Anyway, I hiked into Hampton, TN, mostly to resupply for the next four days, but also to find a restaurant open on Thanksgiving. I walked out of the store with my pack weighed down by enough food to get me to Erwin, TN.

"You hiking the trail?" a woman called out.

I went over to talk to her. In our conversation, I mentioned that my next stop was McDonalds. I suppose nothing is sadder than a Thanksgiving McFeast, because she invited me over to eat some of their Thanksgiving leftovers. She was at the store buying zip-loc bags to put the food away, so everything was still on the table. There was so much food, it was hard to believe they fed eight family members before me. I ate a large plateful and finished it off with a generous slice of pumpkin pie topped with whipped cream.

To my hosts, thank you for saving me from a fast food thanksgiving for one!

Happy Thanksgiving!

What a great sunrise this morning! The low clouds filled the valley like a bowl of mashed potatoes or the whipped cream on top of grandma's peanut butter pie. Alright, so maybe my thoughts this morning are drifting onto the thanksgiving feast with my family that I will miss, and knowing that under the thick blanket of clouds there will be happy overstuffed people sleeping off their gluttony in reclining chairs. As wonderful as that sounds, I'm not jealous. It's hard to feel anything but joy when perched on a rock high above their cloudy sky, which at 4,103 feet was clear, and the sun rose to cast its rays onto a sea of pillowy white vapor. Even without a belly full of peanut butter pie and a lazy afternoon in a food-induced coma, I have plenty to be thankful for today.

That being said, I wouldn't mind it if some left over peanut butter pie happened to find its way to a nearby post office :)

Hello Tennessee

Goodbye, Virginia. I loved my stay. Now I'm off to hike along the TN and NC border for two or three weeks.

A Fondness For Beetles

Sometimes I fail to get the number of miles in that I plan the morning prior. If not due to stopping in town longer than expected, you can bet it's because I'm stopping for photos. Sometimes I spend a fifteen minutes laying on the ground getting shots of a single bug or amphibian. This guy was right in the middle of the trail. I carefully stepped around him, but had to go back for a photo shoot. 

There are over 350,000 known species of beetles in the world. As a point of comparison, I think there are less than 5,000 known mammalian species, half of which are rodents. Theologians once asked the geneticist and evolutionary biologist, J.B.S Haldane (which should be a household name), "What can be inferred about the mind of the Creator from the works of His Creation. 

J.B.S. Haldane said, "The Creator, if He exists, has an inordinate fondness for beetles".

  

A Backpacker's Life List by Ryan Grayson is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.   

AT Day 150: The Grayson Highlands

AT Day 150: The Grayson Highlands, a set on Flickr.

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AT Days 145-149: Atkins to Marion

AT Days 145-149: Atkins to Marion, a set on Flickr.

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AT Days 143-144: Chestnut Knob

AT Days 143-144: Chestnut Knob, a set on Flickr.

Click thumbnails to enlarge photos.