March 29th, 2009
Direct from my journal:
9am – 3pm —– 7.7 today / 141.8 total
No rain today, thought there might be when I had my lunch on top of swim bald, but no, it was snow. Snow! Got into sassafras gap shelter a mile later and decided to stay since it would be warmer than tenting. Supposed to be clear tonight, but… Might be good, this way I’ll know if I need to pick up any more warm gear in Fontana. Looking at doing a long day tomorrow, 15mi.
This mountain today was the first one where I’d look up and think I was near the top, but then i’d get there only to realize I had more to go. This must have happened 5 times on the same mountain. Now, I’m familiar with this because that’s how the mountains are in New Hampshire. The amazing thing was that none of the mountains in Georgia were like that, on those when you thought you were close to the top, you were.
Another strange thing I’ve noticed is mountain popping. It’s feignt, like when you have one window down in a car, and goes pop-pop-pop-pupupupupupu. The shelters in NC are a lot nicer than the ones in GA since they have tables, but they don’t sleep as many people.