Campsite before Rice Field Shelter
Well today was almost a zero but finally after a trip to Hardy's I decided I was ready for the trail. I was always planning on going out today but it rained most of the day and I was drawn in by the urge to get my journals published and up to date. As a result I spent the morning on the phone and resupplying food. Then in the afternoon I had a bad mexican lunch (My kingdom for a taqueria). I caught up Bowser and McGyver when they were going to lunch and McGyver and I took care of getting stove fuel, sending home my winter stuff, and looked around at the Andrew Johnson History Museum in town. The museum had lots of neat items but did a very poor job of making them interesting. It was interesting to see things from the civil war era. It was obvious there is a different perspective. Dairy Queen was next. Then I updated my journals. Finally it was 6:00 and I started on my way out of town. All this while it was raining outside which I think largely contributed to procrastination about getting on the trail. We while I was out the rain didn't let up a bit. The first couple miles were not bad but I was mostly on roads or fairly flat terrain. However when the hill climbing started between my full pack and rain jacket I started stewing in my own sweat. Finally I decided if I was going to get wet anyhow I should be cooled by it an took off my rain gear. I assumed I would be able to hike until 8:30 when it normally gets dark but a thick fog rolled in causing me to take out my headlamp at 7:45. I followed the trail fairly easily. However I foolishly only brought a liter of water with me from town. When I realized tonight's planed shelter's water source was .4 miles away one way I decided to pick up water along the way. I passed a stream a while before this realization that was listed but there was a campsite with a spring ahead so I pushed on through the rapidly darkening fog. I found the campsite but there was no spring to be found. I couldn't see far in the fog so I had to search the mountain around the campsite inch by inch. After 20 minutes of no luck I gave up and headed back out to AT to get to the next shelter. Almost immediately I came across the spring for the camp site! It was on the AT and about 100 yards up the trail. I filled up and pushed on. It was then that I realized I was missing my zip-lock bag with my trail data in it. With out that I wouldn't know how far away anything was. I turned around and went looking for it back by the campsites. I spent maybe 10 minutes searching the campsite but I realized the fog was so thick that I probably wouldn't be able to spot it unless I stepped on it. I decided I would camp out here and look for it in the morning light. Meanwhile it was still pouring putting my tarp pitching to the test. I am happy to report that my tarp is deflecting the wind and rain quite well and despite the fog I was still able to find a spot where the water drained away well. I decided I don't feel like a hot dinner so I am snacking and enjoying a book I picked up from a Hiker Box, "It wasn't funny when it happened". It is a collection of short travel stories.
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