Gratitude on the Appalachian Trail

Day 35- 13.2 Miles today from groundhog Creek Shelter to Walnut Mountain Campsite, 3,800 Feet Up, 2,300 Feet down, Total 337 AT miles

A Hiker Mourns a Loss

We arrived at groundhog Creek Shelter early about 3:30 yesterday because I was so tired from the extra hike to retrieve our water kits. Lookout was the one who was covered in dirt digging at the shelter when we arrived. After talking with him we realized his mother had died a few days ago and he left the trail for 4 days. When he returned to the trail he had lost his tramily he was traveling with and was at the shelter creating a memorial to his mother to help him process his grief.

Lookout had dug out the water source next to the shelter and lined it with rocks and placed marbles from his moms in the stream between the rocks. He created a ledge to grab your water from using a metal “leaf”. He also cleaned up the entire area around the shelter including all the various small pieces of decades of trash he could find. He rebuilt the fire pit and stone seats around the fire and collected piles of firewood from the forest nearby to stock the fire with wood for future hikers. At dark he disappeared into the forest and we didn’t see him again. Meanwhile we all enjoyed a nice fire in a very clean shelter space thanks to his hard work. Gratitude.  

The Appalachian Thru Hiker Family

More hikers started trickling in including Crazy who grabbed our water filter kit and shuttled it to Davenport gap shelter for me a couple days ago. This morning Crazy told me that Secondbreakfast had slept with our filters that night I left the filters behind so that the filters would not freeze on that very bitter night and become useless.

To recap, I left our water kit which had 2-$40 sawyer squeezes and a $30 CNOC plus other amenities (over $100) in a shelter full of other thru hikers who were also packing their packs for that day. No one took that kit because it did not belong to them. When you are in a shelter your gear can get spread out and everyone leaves at different times. You know exactly what is in your pack as your possessions are slimmed down to only what you carry on your back.  As we pack we know which items do not belong to us and leave them behind. An empty shelter that morning with only my water kit and a Garmin Inreach left behind. No one took these expensive items because they knew they did not belong in their own packs.

As new hikers arrived the following night at that shelter, they notice the gear left behind. On Farout Viking posts that these items were left in the shelter and I contact him about the water kit. Another hiker Crazy hikes with our water kit to Davenport Gap Shelter where I hike back to retrieve it. Another hiker Secondbreakfast slept with our water kit the night I left them behind so they would not freeze and be useless. None of these people knew me but they all did what they could to help me. The trail family is amazing. Gratitude.

The Appalachian Trail Weather Is Crazy Today

There was a bear the night before but we didn’t have any bear problems or even mice problems at the shelter last night. We were the first ones leaving the shelter this morning at 9:00 am. Today we climb up and over Max Patch which is about 2,200 feet total elevation gain over 6 miles. The weather today is supposed to be overcast this morning with a little bit of rain midday today before a front moves in with nasty storms and it turns cold again.

Marie who we have been meeting at shelters since the beginning of the Smokies has decided she is going to call it quits today because of the cold and rain. She gave out a bunch of her food which of course we all accepted. Marie gave me a big bag of meat sticks which I promptly distributed to everyone at the camp.  Gratitude.

As we started our hike I set my intention today to spend the day contemplating gratitude. We kept seeing more and more Helene damage as we hiked.  Helene pushed over healthy old majestic trees but on this section the downed trees had all been cleared from the trail. Even though it was sad to see these majestic trees pushed over at the roots, I was grateful for the trail workers who had cleared paths and rebuilt the trail. Gratitude.

An Angel Appears out of the Mist

Coming out of groundhog Creek Shelter was a climb and then we dropped down into a gap before we continued to climb. As we traveled along the ridge dividing Tennessee and North Carolina the weather on one the North Carolina side looked clear but the Tennessee side looked like rain. It was hard to figure out the weather forecast because the forecasts where vastly different for each side of the ridge. It was as if the ridge was holding back the nasty weather from entering the North Carolina side so I stayed hopeful we may stay dry on the hike today.

As we traveled on top of these ridges I noticed the flowers that had braved Spring up here were all closed up. They had wrapped themselves up in their leaves as if they were predicting cold nasty weather was about to hit.

We continued the climb up to Max Patch where unfortunately the clouds had moved in over the ridge and a nasty cold rain and sleet hit along with dense fog that only allowed us to see about 20 feet around. By the time we reached the open top of Max Patch it was a miserable cold wet march through what we imagined was a spectacular view. The sting of the sleet made the misery even more painful.

Knockerz was ahead of me when a young thru hiker Dark passed me and eventually stopped to talk to her. Later she told me Dark came upon her on the ridge while she was crying from the misery of being out here today. He stopped to ask her if she was alright and she said “this sucks”. He said “yes this sucks”. He told her to yell with him “this f@*ing sucks”. She yelled “this sucks”. He said no repeat after me and yelled “this f@*ing sucks” which she then did. He said now let’s hug this out. She said let’s fist bump instead (norovirus fear), and he said no we are going to hug this out so she complied. She insists Dark was an angel set there at that very moment when she needed it most. Gratitude.

The Magic of a Weather Forecast

The weather forecast had said that the rain would hit from 11-2pm which it did. Then it said the rain would stop and the sun may appear briefly from 2-6 pm which is exactly what happened. Then it said at 6pm all HELL would break loose with lightning, heavy rain, and cold. They had predicted the weather at Max Patch would be miserable from 11-2 and after Max Patch around 2 pm the rain stopped and the sun poked out very briefly for a time or two. I knew we better be set up in our tent and be inside that tent by 6pm tonight because so far they had predicted the weather today very precisely.

As we entered the valley after Max Patch we decided it was too early to stop at the shelter so we set our goal to do one final climb to the mountain where Wilson Creek former shelter was torn down. The final climb up to Walnut Mountain was a tough one. We quickly set up the tent and ate some food before a nasty severe storm barreled down upon us exactly as predicted at 6pm. Gratitude.

“Cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously. And because all things have contributed to your advancement, you should include all things in your gratitude.”

― Ralph Waldo Emerson