Stream Campsite to Bolden Hollow – 10.2 miles
Saturday, June 15th 2019
So today was my turn to be the goat… that’s what I get for picking on my buddy! I was up around 6:30… we took our time packing up and started walking around 8:00, crossing Snickers Gap and arriving at the Bears Den Hostel around 9:00. We took a little tour of the lovely accommodations that we’d missed out on the night before and I got my passport stamped. The caretaker was friendly and we shared a brief chat with an older female hiker and her little dog. I purchased a Mountain Dew, took too many photos, charged my phone a bit and we were on our way again. Up, down, up, down, up down… we stopped to eat and refill our water at the stream between Sam Moore Shelter and Buzzard Hill, near the thousand mile mark for northbound thru-hikers. There was a little commemoration there where someone had formed the numbers “1 0 0 0” with rocks. Being the weekend, there were more than a few day hikers out and about, and we found ourselves briefly hiking in a parade of small children. One of their parents kindly took a photo of Jeff and I at the top of Buzzard Hill… one of the few places on the Roller Coaster that had even the slightest semblance of a view, albeit still rather disappointing. I’d been managing to maintain a pretty decent pace up until this point, with Jeff and I regularly exchanging the lead position, (He often overtook me on the climbs.) but somewhere around the Morgan Mill Stream, with three miles left to go on the hellacious Roller Coaster, I really started to fall apart. Perhaps I hadn’t been drinking enough water, or perhaps I hadn’t eaten enough, or perhaps I was just no match for these mountains… but things started to deteriorate quickly for me. I was pausing to rest several times each minute while Jeff seemed to actually be gaining momentum! His body was churning up and down these hills like a machine. It was really impressive. By the time we started the climb out of Bolden Hollow it became obvious to me that I wasn’t going to make it much further. I was nauseous, dizzy, and my vision started to blur. I felt like I was going to collapse. I couldn’t keep my eyes open. I’d never felt like this in my life. My exhaustion was real and each step felt like it was going to be my last. (Sorry if this sounds so dramatic.) I began to seriously ponder myself having to be rescued. I felt embarrassed… what if Jeff eventually wandered back to find me laying unconscious? I tried to call him on the phone but no signal… I tried to yell his name but seriously couldn’t muster much more than a squeak. What was happening to me? I’d done tougher sections than this before, hadn’t I? Was the trail punishing me for picking on Jeff last night? I became more dizzy and a few times I leaned over on my poles and had to fight to keep my eyes open. I reached the top of the last peak… just over half a mile before the end of this infernal Roller Coaster, and my body said it was done. I was now able to reach Jeff on the phone, who probably by now had the end of the Roller Coaster in sight, and informed him of my situation. He immediately turned around and was at my side in just a few minutes. I don’t even think the guy was sweating! I dumped my pack in a decent clearing and immediately started vomiting. I had my tent set up in about ninety seconds and I crawled inside, closed my eyes, and waited for the grim reaper to arrive. Fortunately, he never showed up. It was somewhere around 7:30pm, I’m guessing. I felt bad leaving Jeff to fend for himself but I knew he understood. I was toast.
Wherever I May Roam 