Day 1 (Part two)

After John felt better, we headed down to the Wesser Bald Shelter. John and I rested a few minutes and Jim went ahead to to the water source. We caught up with him as he was pumping water from an excellent source - a metal box that collected the water from a piped spring. The water can sometimes contain bacteria which can make you sick, so it's recommended you use a water filter before drinking the water.


Water filter

A word about water. Everyone needs different amounts of water while hiking. I, for example, do not sweat a lot. Well, that is to say I don't sweat a lot compared to most people, and consequently, I find that I don't need as much water as most people. John, on the other hand, is soaked through after only an hour of hiking. He needs to drink about twice as much water as I do when we're hiking the same distance. Jim is somewhere in between the two of us in terms of the amount of water he needs.

After we had enough water, we started toward the next shelter. I took the lead and was moving pretty quickly. There were a few ups and downs in this section. Here's one place that we stopped and took pictures:





After a while, we started on the very long down. I use two hiking sticks on the downs so my arms take a lot of the force instead of my legs. I am always trying to protect my knees.


Hiking sticks

I was soon out of sight of John and Jim. As I was moving down, I met a man and woman hiking up. The woman was out of breath and struggling. She asked how much further. I told her it wasn't too much further to the bald, which I assumed was their destination. I had the impression she was coerced into making the hike by her companion, who was carrying the backpack and seemed to be doing well. She signed and kept hiking after throwing an evil eye to her companion who seemed oblivious.

A little while later, I came across a mother-daughter hiking team. They were also headed past the Bald. The daughter and I chatted for a little while. The mother seemed happy to have a moment of rest. Both were carrying large backpacks. I remembered my pack last year and was glad I was slackpacking. It's truly the only way to hike.

I kept moving down quickly, enjoying the quiet of the trail. It was beautiful and there is something special about being alone in the wilderness with green all around you. I stopped a number of times to wait for John and Jim to catch up, but they never did. I figured they were moving slowly and stopping a lot, so I kept moving. Finally the trail opened up into a large clearing. To my left, a path lead to the water. To my right another path lead the A. Rufus Morgan shelter, named for a Reverend who helped establish and maintain the AT in North Carolina. I explored the area and them the shelter. It was nice enough and I took a short nap on the floor. I didn't have a watch, but I knew John and Jim should have caught up with me. I decided to head back up the trail to see if they were in trouble. I still couldn't believe there was really a problem, but I can't stand hanging around doing nothing. I am one of those people who always has to be doing something, so I figured the best thing to do was head back up the trail. I wasn't looking forward to it as it would be a helluva climb, but I had rested, eaten some jerky, and was feeling good enough.

After only a short way up the trail, I saw Jim heading down slowly. I called out and he said words I never thought I'd hear on the trail.

"John's down."

"Down? What does you mean, down?" I asked.

Jim was out of breath and completely out of sorts. I had never seen him like this before. See, I am the youngest brother. John is the closest in age to me and he's five years older. Jim has nine years on me. I defer to them and here was Jim looking like hell, beat down, worried; this was not good for confidence. He needed water because he had left all of his with John. I gave him what I had. Then he told me the story.

John's leg had cramped up on him as he was hiking and he nearly fell. Jim grabbed his arm and kept him from tumbling down the tree covered mountain. They rested for a while until John's leg felt better. They also switched packs. Five minutes, John's leg went out again and he collapsed. He couldn't stand. They rested again, but John's leg wasn't getting any better. Jim tried to scout ahead for a better place to rest, but there was nothing. John had fallen at the worst possible place - right in the middle of steep and narrow down. Finally, Jim decided to hike forward and find me, figuring... well, I am still not sure what the plan was. I don't think Jim had a definite one in mind. He mentioned hiking to the NOC, buying a tent, and getting back to John so we could make camp. But by the time he reached me, he had decided just to get some water, bring it back to John, and see if his leg muscles were working again. We got the water and started climbing back up. Jim stopped and said he needed to rest. He looked awful. I told him to give me his weight, but all he would give me was the extra water for John. We started up again, but Jim couldn't do it. I told him to go back to the shelter and rest. I was feeling good and would get the water to John. Frankly, I was surprised that he listened to me, but he did.

I hiked for about a quarter mile and my body was tiring out. My legs ached, my arms hurt, and the idea of John lying helpless on the trail exhausted me. Still, I kept going because what else could I do? To my surprise, just a few minutes later, I saw John hobbling down the path.

I whooped and he called out to me. When I reached him, we both drank some water. John told me he finally managed to work himself up to a standing position with the help of a nearby tree. Once up, John was determined to not fall again. He slowly, slowly started moving down the trail. Every step was a risk but he just figured he had to get down as he knew there was no way Jim and I were going to be able to carry him out. I was amazed that he made it down on his own power. I don't think I could have done it if I had been in his position.

John and Jim rested at the shelter for a long time. When John was feeling up to it, we headed out slowly. I carried John's pack for last mile hike to the NOC. We moved very slowly and carefully, but we made it. At Wesser, we ate barbeque chicken sandwiches. Then we got the cars and headed to Robinsville, where we figured we'd find a hotel. John needed a real bed to sleep in. On the way to Robinsville, John pulled over, got out of the car, and vomited. I drove the rest of the way. We got to the hotel, John went to sleep, and Jim and I grabbed a late dinner.

At the end of Day 1, I found myself in a strange predicament. For once, I was the one who was doing well and John was having trouble. This was a hell of a role reversal for me. I had no idea what the plan was for Day 2. More hiking? Home? I had no idea.