We made a quick run to Mojo's Trailside Coffeehouse for breakfast so that we would have something in our bellies by the time our shuttle came. Wouldn't you know, our shuttle guy ended up being Lone Wolf, whom you might remember from last year's trip. Dude's a legend. It was fun to see him again.
Wolf dropped us off at the Mt. Roger's headquarters and we were on the trail by about 9:30 this morning. Here we are all clean and fresh-faced. That did not last long.
It was actually a pretty moderate day, since there weren't many big elevation changes across our 11-ish miles of hiking. (That's not usually the case on the first day of a section hike. It's more typical to have a huge climb on day one, since section hik
es often start at a roadside trailhead or town, and those are usually situated in a gap between mountains. We were at an advantage because our dropoff point was not in a gap.) Here are the guys pausing for a little trailside lunchtime break.So yeah, we kind of lucked out on the moderate elevation changes today. However, very little of the AT is what I would call easy! The second half of the day there were some decent hills, plus the trail was super rocky, which was pretty hard on our feet. It took us around 3:45 to cover our 10.6 miles. Near the end, I had to lecture Jay about eating more. He hadn't eaten anything substantial all day since the Mojo's breakfast quesadilla at 7am, and he was stumbling down the trail like a drunken sailor! Finally he wolfed down some trail mix and snacks. Gotta keep an eye on that guy.
We got to the shelter in the early afternoon which was great, because it gave us some time to relax a little before getting organized and making dinner. The shelter is stone and has a nice fireplace on the back wall, which Matt and Joe took advantage of by making a nice little fire. It's not a bad place to stay, but I did see a couple mice running along the walls. Despite that, the boys and Jay and I decided to sleep in the shelter tonight. Tim of course is tenting about fifty yards away from the shelter, since he is averse to mice.
After we ate dinner, two thru-hikers showed up and made it clear they would be using the shelter also. Which is fine of course, except that they were a little loud and somewhat potty-mouthed. Even worse, though, was that the bigger of the two of them ended up being a supersonic snorer. I feared this might happen from the moment he showed up at the shelter, because there was no overlooking the fact that the guy is hugely overweight. He regaled us at dinner time with stories about how he started hiking the trail at 400 pounds (!) and had already lost 70 in the three months he's been hiking. But people, listen: that still leaves 330 pounds, every one of which was reverberating with noise to rival a freight train by 10pm. I mean this is the worst I've ever heard. After half an hour of trying to block out the noise, Jay and I ended up dragging our stuff out of the shelter and setting up our tent in the dark, about 25 yards away. Impressively, we could still hear him, but at least the volume from that far away was easier to ignore.
We are trying to really rest up, because tomorrow will be our longest day of the trip: a little over 14 miles.
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