Miles: 80.8 | Wet clothes, raw feet, relentless rain, and a first state border collide with homesickness and real hypothermia math. This day forces a hard decision: keep pushing for pride, or get off trail to stay safe — and learning that knowing when to stop is its own kind of strength.
Day 12: Mile 80.8 | Muskrat Creek Shelter
Getting up this morning was annoying. I awoke before sunrise with Whisperer and began packing. I put on my hiking clothes, still wet from the night before, and immediately felt cold. Putting on cold wet clothes at 5am in the dark SUCKS. With the cold and rain today we knew that we would be fighting for a spot in the shelters today. With a plan for an 11 mile day we left at sunrise in the fog with our headlamps still on.
This day sucked. I woke up with some intense nausea. Just the smell of other people’s breakfast made me feel like I needed to throw up. It was cold, my legs were bright red and cold, my hands were wet and would stiffen and cool every time I stopped, I felt every blister on my feet (3 of which had popped in the short 4 miles stretch we did the day before), I was homesick. I put my headphones in and listened to music while Whisperer hiked ahead of me. Not far behind me were Hott Dogg, Turbo, and Pioneer.
At the first moment I got cell service I called my mom. I heard her voice and immediately started crying. My homesickness was intense, I felt sick, I was over tired (I had slept a collective 40 hours since Amicalola), and I was hungry but I couldn’t eat.
My mom told me she thought I might have a protein deficiency. She put together some meals for me under suggestion from a former thru-hiker named ‘Chronic’. She said she was sending them to Franklin for me. I felt better after talking to her. Renewed, I kept hiking.
Hott Dogg, Pioneer, and Turbo caught up to me and we leapfrogged for a while. After about another hour we made it to our very first state border!! Whisperer waited for me there. We crossed into NC with little fanfare and many photos.
After 3 peaks, one state border, and 4 hours of rain, I arrived at Muskrat Creek Shelter where Whisperer was waiting. Only 7 miles from the last place we stayed. I wanted to keep going but the wind and rain had gotten out of control and the forecasted low of 19 that night was concerning. We needed to stay in a shelter and we couldn’t guarantee a spot at the next shelter (3 more miles and an hour and a half away). This shelter had 2 open spots. With heads hanging low Whisperer and I took the last two spots. It was only noon... Cold and wet, we set up our sleep stuff. We dug out our dry bags of camp clothes and looked sadly at the flooded trail to the privy.
Hott Dogg, Turbo, and Pioneer soon showed up. We all turned away from each other in a circle and changed into dry clothes in the shelter. They all decided to stay, too. We made room for Turbo in the shelter and Pioneer and Hott Dogg thought they might stay in the covered picnic area in front of the shelter. We made our dinners and socialized with the three women who were there when we arrived. One said she was calling a shuttle to make arrangements to be picked up at the nearest forest road. She was having sleeping pad problems and all of her clothes were wet. With serious despair, we asked if we could tag along. We wanted to keep hiking, but we were cold and wet and dangerously dancing with hypothermia.
We checked the weather again. Low of 19F that night. High of 40F the next day with strong winds. All of our clothes for hiking were wet. Wind + wet clothes + low temperatures + little sun = hypothermia risk.
The shuttler called the woman back. He said the forest road we wanted to use was closed. The gates were locked for the winter. But if we were willing to walk the 5 miles down the forest road he would pick us up for $20 per car. The next access road was at Rock Gap, 25 miles ahead. We knew we couldn’t make it. We took the shuttle. We had until 10:30 to get to the second gate where Mike, our shuttle would pick us up.
With these arrangements made, we made our dinners and tried to stay warm. Some younger hikers who had hammocks and were a bit unprepared showed up. Rowdy, they took over the picnic table that Hott Dogg and Pioneer were going to move to make room to sleep on the shelter floor. Frustrated, Pioneer went out into the rain to set up his tent for him and Hott Dogg to share.
Whisperer, Hott Dogg, and Turbo called the Budget Inn in Franklin to reserve rooms for the next night. Buck ‘99 and Maverick showed up later. Maverick moved on to the next shelter and Buck stayed with us. We squeezed him in next ya on the shelter floor along with a girl called Nightmare.
We all hunkered down in our sleeping bags for the night. My sleeping pad was still not working well to keep me warm so Whisperer and I slept close together. I put my legs over his and we stayed quite warm. The storm was loud and everyone in the shelter stayed up and talked. Whisperer and I stayed up until almost 11 (far past hiker midnight) talking. Eventually we fell asleep. Once again, no mice were seen.