Kevin's AT Thru Hike

Day 34, Tuesday, 4/19 – It was a restless night of sleep, I kept waking up cold. I went to bed at 8:00pm, only to wake up at 9, then 10:30, then 12:00, then 3:30, then 5:00. The wind was gusting 45mph+, and my tent is well ventilated. This is a good feature for preventing condensation, but a bad feature for when it’s cold, wet, and windy.

When I finally started to mobilize for the day, I found that my shoes had frozen, my water bottles froze, my rain jacket had froze, and my gloves had froze. It took a long time for me to eat and pack up. I would do a chore then warm back up in my tent.

I hiked 14 miles to Clyde Smith Shelter, which is at mile 370. The beginning of the hike was gorgeous. I was hiking through spruce–fir forest, which is found above 5,500ft in elevation in the Appalachian Mountains. I learned it’s an endangered ecosystem and only covers 100 square miles. It was especially neat because there was frost all over the trees.

I cooked dinner when I got to camp, but ended up burning pasta in my cook pot. What a disaster. I tried to eat as much as I could, but I only ate half, it was too wretched. Fortunately I packed too much food, so I didn’t need these calories, so I dumped the other half. I attempted to clean the pot as best I could, which took forever. Dawn dish soap and steel wool would have been real convenient.

Aqua Man is staying at the shelter with us, which some of the other hikers were excited about. He is apparently an Instagram and YouTube celebrity in the hiker community. He is hiking SOBO (south bound) and started December 15th. This is truly insane. He was telling us stories of winter camping in the North East. I don’t feel like I can complain about being cold after hearing what he went through.