[at-l] Red Wine and Good Friends - Hike Report

[Jan Leitschuh]

It's been a week of letters.
I got this report from Anna Huthmaker, aka "Mudbutt," who was on these lists prior to our '03 AT hikes.
She sends her love to all:


"I just got back from hiking Springer Mountain to Woody Gap (about 18 miles) and 
let me tell you what I learned!  First of all...I learned that I still have stuff
to learn!! :)  :)  I really would have thought that after 700 miles on the AT, that
I pretty much have this thing down.  However, let me tell you.....some things you
still cant predict!!  First of all, we had a blast!  Despite the misery of the trip,
and oh was there misery.....we spent three and a half days laughing!  I went with
two women named Silver Lining and HikerBikerBabe.  If you read my journal, you might
remember them as two of the women I hiked with until I broke my foot.  Well, they
have ended up being true friends, and we were so excited to get the chance to hike
together again.  
   Mostly we hiked separately, meeting every few hours for a break.  On the way 
to Hawk Mountian, we ran into a group of Army rangers that tried to pretend that
we didn't exsist and that we could'nt see them.  I cannot for the life of
me figure out how they could ignore us, cause we just sat there and giggled at them
the entire time!  Men can be so silly!  :)
    Lesson number one, I learned the second night out......be very careful with 
your platypus!!  I rolled over onto the mouthpiece of it in the middle of the night
and emptied two liters of water into the bottom of my tent!!  And effectively soaked
the foot box of my down sleeping bag!  Yep...that woud be down.....the stuff that
become useless when wet!  Then on the next day, it was cold, cloudy and wet, and
when we lit a fire to dry out my bag, it started raining.  At his point, 75% of 
everything I own is wet and it is starting to get cold.  Well, I wrapped a garbage
bag around the foot of my sleeping bag and hoped that my body warmth would dry it
some.  I wrapped an emergency blanket around the rest of me and put on the very 
last of my dry clothes.  I snuggled in for a slightly damp, but not so bad night.
   Well it poured all night and sometime around 1 am, my tent site flooded and I
literally woke to find myself in 2 inches of water. 
    This is where lesson number 2 comes in.....check very carefully to make sure
your tent spot is not in a low area.  We all looked at it carefull and determined
that we could not have told that it was an area that flooded, but I will be extra
careful of that from now on!  Also, my tent has a complely flat bottom, with the
door just being a flap of screen that you tuck under.  If I had a tent that had 
a bath-tub bottom, the night might have turned out very different.
      Everything, including my entire sleeping bag was drenched.  Talk about  miserable!!
We took stock the next morning and realized that we had to bail.  SL and I hiked
the 6 miles left to the road and HBB....in true heroine fashion....power hiked all
the way to Neels Gap to get the car.  She hiked 16 miles, and let me tell you...in
Georgia miles....that is amazing!!!  We waited for three hours at the road in the
cold rain and it is the closest to hypothermic I think I have ever been.  I was 
wrapped up in my emergency blanket looking like a big-ole burrito, and SL and I 
passed the time by singing TV themes songs to one another.  THEN...The funny thing
is....and believe it or not, this kind of thing happens all of the time on the AT....a
woman drove up at one point and asked if we needed any help.  When we told her that
our ride was on her way, she said, "Well, you obviously need some wine!",
and proceeded to pour us two big cups of red wine before driving away!!  Isn't
that funny!!  We sat there drenched and giggling while we drank our red wine in 
the rain.  
It was great!  :)  :)  Being miserable has never been so much fun!!!  
   HBB soon showed up with the car and our first stop was Wal-Mart, where we went
in and bought a dry change of clothes and a gaint container of handy wipes.  I never,
never, never shop at Wal-Mart, but I have to say, they were really great!  They 
did not mind that three muddy, be-draggled women trompped through their store looking
for dry socks and clothes!  :)  Of coourse, our next stop was a resturant for lots
and lots of Mexican food.  I was dry for the first time in over 24 hours and with
the exception of feet that were slightly mangled, felt absolutely wonderful!  Mostly,
I was so grateful to have these amazing women as friends.  I am not sure how I got
so lucky, but I sure did hit the jackpot with these two!!!"

"When all is said and done here at the ending of the day, I look out on this
world and it still takes my breath away..."
"Robin's Song" Small Potatoes