Neither snow, nor rain, nor gloom of night

Well it's been three days on the trail and I have struggled through each of these weather related problems. My first day was a decent 8 miles or so and I stopped early. It was quite rainy, foggy and storming so the shelter was welcoming, if cold. I managed to take my pack off five times within those eight miles. I had two calls of nature, a screwed up hiking pole (when taking my pack off this time cause my platypus bag to leak all over), donning rain gear and adjusting my platypus bag. Being the first person in the Groundhog Creek Shelter gave me the chance to pick the best spot. This means a wall usually and I chose the end that wasn't totally angled down. I was there quite early and still feeling poorly from the previous days looked off in the distance for long periods of time. When I cooked my dinner I managed to break my fuel pump. I fixed it with duct tape. That night a storm blew in and took a large tree down near by the shelter. We were glad to see the people tenting nearby had not been hit.
My second day out started beautifully. The sun was out, I was in a t-shirt and hiked up to Max Patch. Coming around the corner to head up the summit a cold front hit me. I hauled myself so fast off that summit I didn't say hi to the tourist. With the cold wind searing any exposed skin I took one picture and moved on my way. I ran into "L-train" in the shelter past Max Patch and we hiked to the next shelter together. That warmed me up quite a bit seeing how she was moving about twice as fast as I normally hike. This was the worst shelter I had seen so far. There were huge chinks in the log shelter the platform was short and the water source was sludge. In addition other hikers were dropping food they were snacking on in the shelter with an extremely aggresive bear nearby. With the snow coming down and the wind blowing so hard up there, I was already cold. I met with another thru hiker and she and I decided to go 4 miles furthur to a spring for water and dry camp after that. We set up camp just as it got dark ate dinner in the dark and bear bagged before running to bed. I found out my duct tape job did not work so good and spilled white gas all over. I ate the dinner I couldn't finish the night before. I figured if it was cold enough to snow, it was cold enough to eat non refrigerated leftovers. Laying in bed in the middle of the forest on an old logging road, everything seems to be magnified. I must have heard a bear 8 seperate times, and imaging the mice running down our rope eating my precious calories. Everything was intact in the morning.
Today was my toughest day and my easiest day. Mentally after hiking 18 miles the day before I wasn't up for much. I had a sore knee, sore feet, sore shoulders and soreness. It was a lot of downhill (this is the easy part) with some really tough uphill areas (that of course weren't in the book). I moved at a snail pace and lost my fellow camper from the night before. I have learned to hike my own pace, it is much more comfortable and enjoy my own time. I am doing okay, had a tough day today but after a shower and a trip to the laundromat I am feeling a bit better. Looking foreward to bed in a hostel (my own private room!!!!!) and dinner somewhere tonight. Feeling a little low, praying for good weather and a better knee. Off to Erwin with some hiker friends! This weather will not keep me from swiftly completeing my appointed rounds!

Another adventure

So, once again it has been about a year since I blogged (the horror!). Quick little update and hopefully more frequent blogs later on. I leave in a week for vacation in the Georgia mountains. I love it there. On the way back home my parents will drop me off for 9 weeks of hiking on the Appalachian Trail. I look foreward to the challenge and the experience. I spent the rest of last year in NYC and am pretty well convinced I will move there.....or perhaps not.....maybe something a little more exciting. I am bored with travel nursing and am ready for a new challenge and exciting change. Who knows. Anyway, I will be leaving frequent updates here for family to read since I won't be talking on my cell unless emergent. I will call my parents when in town to reassure them I am okay, never fear. So keep checking back for the horrors of my life as it could be on the AT.