Snow, Snow, Snow

So, basically, I have completely had my fill of snow. Like, for at least another several years.



The weekend before classes started, Chris and I went backpacking in the Smoky Mountains with my dad and a friend of his. Mt. Leconte. 9.1 miles all uphill to get there. 4,500+ feet of elevation gain. In case you don't quite understand what all that means - just think intense burning in your thighs, calves, butt, back, neck, hamstrings, feet, and anything else you can think of. Yes, it hurt, but I also burned approximately 100,000 calories. Seriously.



So without boring you with the gruesome details, the story goes like this: We started around 8am (1" of snow), and hiked relatively non-stop until about 6pm (18" of snow). This means we spent the last 30-ish minutes in the dark. We reached the shelter at the top (good thing my dad knew where we were going, cause it was snowing like crazy and headlamps can only shine so far) and dumped our packs. No fires allowed due to "unacceptable use of resources." Thank you, dumb stupid campers who think that you can cut down a tree and immediately burn it. Fail. We rushed through dinner (yay freeze-dried food) and quickly dove into our down sleeping bags to get warm.



Now, our sleeping bags are made to keep you warm and toasty down to 0 degrees. Chris was warm and toasty. I was not. Well, I was warm enough to sleep some, but not warm enough to sleep well. And I immediately felt better about it when we found out that it had gotten down to -6. When we woke up in the morning, this is what we found:



It had snowed over a foot during the night and was now above our knees. Apparently, my dad had almost rented snowshoes for us, but decided not to waste the money since it wasn't supposed to snow very much. In my personal opinion, "mother nature" is a form of God's humor. We can cure diseases, perform brain surgery, predict volcanic eruptions and map the galaxies. What we can't do, however, is predict the weather. We like to think that we can, but we cannot. As a rule in Asheville, if the weatherman is calling for snow, we go the opposite way he predicts. A few inches means at least a foot. A foot or more means a few inches. It's great. So, no snowshoes for us and a day of plowing ahead.



Because of the extreme conditions, we chose to abandon our plans of hiking to another shelter and spending another night out. The caretaker on Mt. Leconte (what a job) said the snow was predicted to continue for the next 2 days. So, down we went, another 9.1 miles. I wish I could say it was super easy because it was all downhill, but it was like treading water. Just frozen water. And, unfortunately, due to the crazy cold temperatures, our lunch and our water froze solid. We had to resort to power bars that required a minimum of 30 min. in our pockets in order for us to bite/chew them. Mmmmm good stuff. I really wish I had weighed myself beforehand so I could see how much I lost. In my mind's estimate, I'm thinking like 5 pounds. That might be a bit high, but you see, I was really, really, really tired. :)

I think the knowledge that we were heading to a car (sitting down) and home (warm, warm, warm) kept me in fairly good spirits for most of the day.



I did great until the last few hours (in the dark, by the way) in which I felt very much like a plodding camel, not even thinking about my steps, or much of anything for that matter. It's amazing how your brain/body copes with things. BUT we made it!! A call to the ranger station to let us out (the road was closed due to the snow and we were inside), an hour and a half drive and a Taco Bell run later, we were doing much better. I couldn't really move my body, but I wasn't cold.



Needless to say, I do not think a trip to Mt. Leconte will be part of my Christmas break plans next year. Maybe we'll go to Florida. Or South America. Either is good with me. :)