Journey Day 208 | AT Day 31

From Vandever Shelter, you could see into the valley below.

4/21/86

Bill Prescott, the Christian Hiker, gets me motivated and he and I hit the trail at 6 a.m. in the rain, my tent soaking. Up Pond Mountain by adrenaline, the mist, clouds stop any views. Push down despite several big falls. Drink beers, chocolate milk, Pepsi, banana flips and candy bars, then take advantage of picnic area facilities. Up past the Wataugua Dam, pass day hikers, cross dam, catch up to Slackpackers at Vandever Shelter.

Clear skies, great views into the valley below. Push on to Iron Mountain Shelter, dwindling energy pushes me to shelter, where I socialize, eat with Slackpackers, Robie “Jumpstart” Hensley, of Chucky, Tenn., and Scott,  a bank president from Atlanta. Fun, but cold. Stories, jokes. Robie, 63, married a 19-year-old. Crash cold, rain leaks through, Robies snores. Little sleep. I hiked 28 miles, my longest in a day. Prescott went 51, but wound up going off the trail with an injury.