Day 17 & 18: April 20 & 21, 2021
Rufus Morgan Shelter to Sassafras Shelter - 8 miles
Day 17: April 20, 2021 - Rufus Morgan Shelter to The NOC – 1 mile
We hiked for about 20 minutes before crossing the road to get into town. For breakfast, we grabbed ice cream and honey buns from a convenience store. Pickles and Mike were already at the store, I think they were planning to continue while the three of us were eager to enjoy our nero (I think to most people, this day would have been considered a zero but technically we did hike so I always thought of it as a nero). We resupplied a little bit at the NOC, but it was expensive with a limited supply. We got a ride to Ingles, the local grocery store, where we did our full resupply.
Yogi discovered a spot in town named Gorgeous Stays, a property brimming with rental options. The expansive lot featured a variety of accommodations, including tiny houses, yurts, and even a few buses, each with its own unique theme. Yogi picked a tiny house for us to share. It was white with red trim, and it was the largest tiny house on the lot. When we walked inside, we were overwhelmed by the amount of dog decor that filled the house; it became apparent the theme was “doghouse”. On the left side was a bunk bed, on the right side was a twin bed, and there was a loft in the back with two twin mattresses. Yogi claimed the twin bed while Fresh and I picked a bunk. Inside, there was a small toilet, but no shower. We had to go to the main house on the property to shower. There were also snacks up there and a place to hang out. After spending a bit of time up there, the three of us decided to retire to the house for a couple beers and a safety meeting.
We called it an early night; everyone was eager to sleep in a bed.
I tossed and turned, desperately trying to sleep, but it just wasn’t happening. The house had no airflow at all. It was stiflingly hot and muggy, making it impossible to get comfortable. I felt like I was awake all night and I’m sure that was annoying for Fresh. Every time I would move, the entire bunk bed would shake.
After hours of trying to sleep, I finally started to cool down and relax. I could feel my body get heavier with each minute until I was shocked awake, suddenly tensing all my muscles.
“AHHH! HELP ME!” Yogi yelled loudly.
I shot straight up in my bed, “What the hell?” I looked around and listened for whatever the problem was, but the room was silent once again. I paused, staring straight at Yogi, who was fast asleep. Must be a hell of a dream, I thought. I shrugged and laid back down on the bed. I wasn’t even sure if Fresh woke up.
Day 18: April 21, 2021 - The NOC to Sassafras Shelter – 7 miles
The morning was rainy and cloudy. I woke up groggy from my rough night of sleep. The three of us moved around the house slowly, drinking coffee while waking up.
“So, Yogi – “I started to say but he cut me off.
“I don’t know. It woke me up too. I think I was dreaming about saving a puppy!” he said laughing.
We gathered all our things and walked up to the lodge to check out of our house. Before leaving the lodge, we all bought our permits for The Great Smoky Mountain National Park (The Smokies). It was $20 for thru hikers, and you had to have a printed copy of your permit in case any ridge runners checked. Once that was settled, the host of the property drove us back to the NOC.
When we got there, there were all sorts of hikers hanging out including Sweet Water, Ken, Clay, Treefrog, Hamburgler, Mel, and her dog Diesel. Diesel was more wolf than dog, I’m not kidding, he looked exactly like a wolf and stood about as tall as one too. He was a gentle, sweet boy and everyone on trail loved him. Fresh, Yogi, and I got sausage, egg, and cheese French toast sandwiches while we visited.
We all gathered together and ate a couple of breakfasts each, life it too short to eat just one breakfast. During breakfast, we learned that Ken had gotten a trail name since we saw him last. From this point on, his name was Rambo.
“How’d you get it?” I asked him excitedly.
He lifted his shirt a little to show the handle of the knife he carried in its sheath. “It’s because someone saw me with my big ass knife!”
“Hell yeah, dude.” I walked up to him to give him a hug, “Congrats buddy!”
“Thanks, Feisty!”
It was my first time meeting Treefrog and Hamburgler. Treefrog got her name because she had a green backpack and a green coat, just lots of green. Hamburlger got his name because he ate a lot of burgers at trail magic one day!
I was getting far too comfortable hanging out at the NOC, so around 11:00 I forced myself to hit the trail. I opened Guthook to check the map, only seven miles to Sassafras Shelter, but the elevation was crazy! It was going to be over 3,000ft of elevation gain on a 10% grade. In other words, steep. I hiked slowly and I took breaks often, it was horrible. It felt like the damned hill would never end.
The higher I hiked, the colder it got. When there was about four miles left to the shelter it started to snow. It wasn’t light fluffy snow; it was hard little pellets. Spider webs along the trail started to collect the little frozen rain drops as the cold crept in.
Finally, when I was just about at the top of the mountain, the trail leveled out wrapping around the side of the peak. The peak was blocking the brutal wind but the second the trail shifted over, I lost my protection. Instantly I was freezing! I stopped and rummaged around in my bag to get ALL my clothes. Shit, shit, shit, it’s cold, I thought as I frantically layered up. I’ve got to get moving again, this is awful. I threw my pack on and hiked as fast as I could.
When I got to the shelter, Fresh and Yogi were already there. Fresh didn’t look pleased. “The shelter is pretty much full, the tent spots around here are shit, and to top it off, apparently tonight is supposed to get down to the 20’s.”
I let out a frustrated sigh and mentally slapped my forehead. “None of us checked the weather before leaving the NOC. Great. Is there any room left in the shelter, or is it totally full?”
“It’s going to be tight, but there might be enough space for us,” Fresh said.
We walked up to the shelter together to see if we could squeeze in. Inside were many people I recognized: Moose Shit, Mello, Supertramp, Clementine, Stormy Weather, and two twins who I called Thing 1 and Thing 2 (I didn’t know if they had trail names). Everyone was happy to make room for us. Fresh set his bed up, Yogi was next to him, and then I slid in. I ended up right next to Moose Shit. I don’t remember how she got that name; the only thing I remember is that I never particularly liked her.
After I made my bed, I started making my dinner like everyone else. Usually, it’s a rule to keep food and cooking done outside the shelter so you don’t attract bears to the sleeping area, but the cold was so horrendous though that no one cared. In fact, most people were eating in their sleeping bags. Hand warmers and packets of hot chocolate were being passed around from people who had extras. The atmosphere was tense as we all geared up for the coldest night we were likely to have. The lean-to setup was the next point of concern. As always, the shelter we were in only had three walls. In an attempt to keep some of the cold out, we all gathered any tarp-like thing we could string up to make a fourth “wall”. Luckily, there were 12 people stuffed into the double decker shelter so there was no shortage of material to cover the wall with.
“Everyone, remember to sleep with your filters!” Someone called out.
“And your electronics,” another chimed in.
I changed my clothes in my sleeping bag, between the cold and being packed together like sardines, I wasn’t too inclined to show any skin. I took my hiking clothes off and stuffed them into the foot of my sleeping bag. I had learned from another hiker that sleeping with your clothes in your bag means they aren’t freezing cold in the morning. I changed into my wool base layers, pulled up my wool socks, put on my hat and buff, my midlayer, my puffy, and my gloves. Once my clothes were sorted, I slid my sleeping bag liner on and brought in my water filter and electronics to keep them from freezing. I zipped up my sleeping bag and cinched the hood down so that only my nose and mouth were sticking out.
When camping in the cold, there are a few things you need to keep in mind:
Resist the urge to pull your whole head inside your sleeping bag. There is a shocking amount of water in your breath that will condense in your sleeping bag while you sleep, making your sleeping bag wet…which is bad. Down sleeping bags should not get wet. If they do, the down loses its loft, and it will not be able to keep you warm.
Keep movements to a minimum. Every single time you move, you fluff out all the warm air inside that your body worked very hard to warm up.
Lay on your back instead of your side, so more surface area of your sleeping pad gets heated up.
Sleep with anything you don’t want to freeze. The cold will drain electronic batteries, and it will freeze water filters which breaks them.
Keeping all of this in mind, I nestled into my bag and prepared for a long night. Needless to say, it was not an enjoyable night. The temperature wasn’t a huge deal. I wasn’t freezing but I wasn’t quite warm either. What made me uncomfortable was sleeping shoulder to shoulder with other people. That, and Stormy Weather. He must have fallen asleep the second his head hit his sleeping pad because he started to snore. It was the loudest, deepest snore I had ever heard in my life. I grabbed my ear plugs from a small pocket in my sleeping bag and shoved them deep in my ears. They dampened his baritone snoring a little, but they could do nothing about the vibrations I could feel through the floor each time he took a breath.
Next time on Packing It In: We survived the freezing cold night and carried on. We welcomed the sun any chance we got.
Did you see a word you didn’t know? Check out my Appalachian Trail Thru Hiker Dictionary for a list of hiker terminology. If you don’t see the word on this list, comment below and I’ll add it!
I turned on the fireplace just reading this 😉