First day back on trail…getting in the groove again

Raining when I realized I left my umbrella in Ada’s car. Made eggs and shared them with Ice Axe. It was so cozy at Standing Bear that it was hard to leave, especially after Curtis brought us muffins (!) but I could barely sleep last night for the twitch of excitement.

I took the AT up to Davenport Gap, called in my permit from the Big Creek “ranger station” (parking lot). I hate dealing with permits, but this was super easy. I called them on their phone, told them where I wanted to go, wrote it on the permit paper they provided on the spot, and was on my way in 5 minutes.

Weather was misty and dreary, but I eventually warmed up enough to take off my down, nanopuff, 2 windshirts, and heat tech shirt so was hiking in only a t-shirt! There was 4000 feet of uphill and I must admit I forgot how much I need water–I ran out (need to get my trail wits back!). This dampened my enthusiasm enough to make me wonder why I’m hiking, until I took the 0.2 mile side trail to get water… from a piped spring! Yes! I never would’ve taken a side trail for water on the AT before, but the CDT has made me really appreciate water.

I climbed the Mt. Sterling Tower, but it was rickety and scary even by my climber standards.

The trail flattened out and water became plentiful. Made the shelter by 6 and saw 2 weekend hikers (father and son). The sun came out and I dried out my gear. Learned that the Freezer Bag Method of cooking (adding hot water to a bag of food to rehydrate) does not work if your water is boiling: in fact, the boiling water will burn a hole in your bag and food will get everywhere. Embarrassing, but hiking is all about learning. Good to learn this before starting the AT.