Freezing Rain, May 5th

I left Greasy Creak Hostel and headed back up the steep .6 mile trail back to the AT. CC wanted a photo of me for her Facebook page of everyone who passes through. I was told it would rain around noon. My goal was to head the 10 miles to the second shelter, Roan High Knob Shelter, the highest shelter on the entire AT. If I felt up to it, mostly if it doesn't actually rain I would continue on to the next shelter 5 miles after.

I saw 2 of these adorable tiny salamanders that were bright orange. I'm wondering if these are the kind that are endangered. After seeing so many of the crazy looking milipedes be squashed I didn't want these guys to be too so I gently moved them off to the side of the trail.

 
This 10 mile stretch is almost all uphill. The uphill for miles days are really tough and tire me out. I think that I'm going to have my dog, Blue, join me. My mom will be bringing him when she comes to hike a small section with me.

While walking on the trail a bird flew out from the grass right as I got next to it, startling me. I look down and someone had written in the mud "bird nest". There was a tiny little birds nest in the grasses! I moved some of the grass to the side to get a better look. There were 3 off-white eggs with orange speckles about the size of marbles. The nest was so tiny and delicately woven out of dried grass. It was a perfect half circle.

I came across this beautiful grassy field at Ash Gap. I took a break there for lunch.

Everything changed the higher I climbed

It was a cold day and it just slowly got colder, then it started raining. I kept decently dry until I got to the shelter. The shelter is more like a two story plywood cabin. It has an overhang in the front, a door, and a steep ladder that goes up to an attic like space that extended out on the overhang. It seemed pretty cramped and dirty and I didn't feel like climbing up and down so I chose the floor. The temperature dropped to about 30. It was freezing rain. I was afraid of hypothermia. I was so cold and shivering. I just couldn't get warm. In a lul in the rain I went down to get water since I was out. I know that I was dehydeated and hungry and those play big factors in keeping warm. I ate and drank a bunch. I ended up moving upstairs because I heard it was warmer and I know that heat rises. It didn't feel that much warmer when I originally checked it out but wow did it make a difference.

There were three other people up here, a couple that goes by Straps and Babbit, and a guy named Barefoot. It was so much warmer. I stopped shivering and actually started warming up. I went and got more water and it wasn't all that bad this time around. My body just needed to really warm up. I make a hot dinner and tea and that felt great! Barefoot was on the otherside of the loft and it was drafty over there so he joined the rest of us in the back. He was uncontrolably shivering and didn't have dry clothing, a real hypothermia risk.  Not to mention he only had a 40 degree bag. We wedged him in between Babbit and myself to try to give him added warmth. He eventually stopped shivering and started warming up.

It's going to be a cold night!

Tonight at Roan High Knob Shelter I'm at mile 377.4 with 1812.4 miles left to go.