Day 3: Walnut Mountain to Deer Park Shelter

10/11/2010

We woke (or crawled out of our sleeping bags) as soon as it was light enough to see, around 7:30 a.m. Everyone else was awake and preparing to do a 13 mile trek into Hot Springs. Brent and I had planned to only do a 7 mile trek to a tent spot near Garenflo Gap, but we (Brent) decided to go 10 miles to Deer Park Shelter. We had breakfast (another Mountain House egg and bacon dish), said goodbye (Happy Trails) to our shelter mates, and packed our gear.

The first part of the 10 mile hike wasn't too bad. We hiked up Bluff Mountain slowly, conserving our energy and stopping to enjoy the autumn colors. Halfway up, we stopped at an old campsite for "bathroom" breaks and snacks. Let me tell you...there are NO bathrooms on the AT except at the shelters. If you want to relieve yourself on the trail, you have to find the feral side of yourself...or at least the women do. It's not easy. I highly recommend researching GoGirl.

We reached the top of Bluff Mountain and stopped briefly to enjoy the views and snap a few pictures. We didn't stay long because there were a lot of large black flies buzzing around everywhere. Once on top, the only way to go was down...down...and down. Four miles of foot pounding, knee aching descent. The trail followed the mountain around as it descending, many times with a drop off to one side. Since I am not fond of heights, I made a point of not looking down, but instead, watching the path in front of me. It wasn't hard to do this because the acorns and roots made the trail very tricky to maneuver. It was like hiking on marbles at times.

The views and autumn foliage as we descended Bluff Mountain were fantastic! We found an overlook off of the trail that offered a fabulous view of the countryside. We took a break here and Brent consulted the oracle, I mean map, to see how far we had to go before we reached Garenflo Gap, which was located at the bottom of Bluff Mountain (and signaled the end of our downward torture).

We found a pretty green glen as we hiked down Bluff Mountain. We saw a sign for a fresh water spring and Brent decided that we should fill our bladders in case the other water sources weren't reliable. (We had this problem at Walnut Mountain Shelter. Several of the water sources were barely flowing or not flowing at all). He got his water filter out of his pack and proceeded to narrate his actions so that I would know how to filter water in the future. He filters very slowly. I don't know if I would have the patience to filter as slowly as he does. While I waited on him, I snacked on my trail mix. Did I mention that I make some amazingly yummy trail mix? It's actually granola, not trail mix, but we love it because of the nutrients it provides.

We had passed Garenflo Gap (our lowest point of the day) and my knees were killing me! We had hiked around six miles when we reached a point where we could look back at Bluff Mountain. We had hiked up the mountain, down the mountain, and around the next mountain to reach the point where this photograph was taken. I was awed, knowing that I was on top of this mountain just a few hours earlier. The next two miles of our hike were varied treks of ascent and descent. I loved hiking up the hills because my knees didn't hurt nearly as bad then. The last two miles of our hike was mostly downhill, and I hobbled through it at a super slow pace like an old woman with worn out joints. Through the pain and grueling pace (set by Brent...I seriously don't think he knows how to hike slow), I made it to the sign for Deer Park Shelter. We needed water, but Brent knew I was in pain and decided to escort me to the shelter. Of course, the shelter had to be a quarter of a mile off the trail! After all, when I thought my torture (I exaggerate because I loved every minute of it) was over, I still had to hike a distance to find relief at the shelter! I think I heard knee parts clanking and dropping like old rusty car parts on a pitted road while I hiked the last mile. I was never so glad to see a shelter in my life!

There were people there with tents set up behind the shelter. This was another shelter that was built in the 1930s and this one looked dirty. Brent and I decided to set up our tent as well, near a fire pit. After arranging our camp, we met our shelter mates, a group of 3 thru-hikers on their way to Tennessee to see the Smoky Mountains, two women and a man. They looked to be in their early 20s. They were from Glenwood Springs, Colorado, which was awesome because I lived in Rifle (20 miles away) for a while during my childhood! The guy's name was Furnace and his wife was known as Little Big Wind. (She can burp very loud). They had a friend hiking with them, but I can't remember her name. Brent gave her a nickname (not to her face of course) of Big South Wind. I'll give you two guesses as to how she came by that name. They were extremely nice and funny, if a bit uncouth. They apologized, explaining that four months living on the trail had chased away all of their manners. Needless to say, they were very entertaining. After sharing a fire and dinner (more Mountain House meals) with them, we all sought sleep in our tents.