Feeling rested and refreshed, Calves, J Biebs, Pige, and I shuttled back to Dick's Creek Gap after a warm night in the Holiday Inn in Hiawassee, GA Sunday night. We had a fun evening, sitting in the hot tub, catching up with other hikers we hadn't seen in a couple days. The neat thing about Hiawassee is that it can easily be accessed from Unicoi Gap (AT mile 52.3) or Dick's Creek Gap (AT mile 69) which allowed us to see a bunch of thru hikers we had passed earlier in the week. This trail brings so many different kinds of people together, you never know who you will meet. My first week on the trail I met a woman who had worked with my mom at the hospital in Frederick, MD for 18 years. It was kind of incredible.
We made the right decision going into town on Sunday because Monday was cold and snowy but at least all of our gear was dry. Snow starting falling as we approached the trail head but we were excited to get going. The winds were crazy, and snow pelted us from every direction. Every once in a while we'd go around a corner and the winds would just stop. It would start to warm up and we would start cruising along and then we'd turn the corner and a gust of icy cold snowy wind would snap us back into reality. I decided to hike in a t-shirt and my rain coat which kept me surprisingly warm and I was comforted knowing I had two warm, dry layers to put on at the end of the day. We hiked for about 8 miles before we reached the GA/NC border around 1:00PM.
Gabriel and Lone Wolf were there, celebrating with some Yuenglings. We took pictures and had our own mini-celebration for a few minutes before we got too cold to stand around and hiked on. We had gone to Hardees the previous night for dinner but I didn't finish my meal (hiker hunger hasn't kicked in yet) and I brought the left overs with me. Cold, day-old fast food chicken tenders never tasted so good. North Carolina greeted us with about 5 minutes of sunshine before turning on the wind and snow again. At least my feet stayed warm and dry.
Gutsy, the thru hiker we met at Tray Mountain Shelter on Day 4 told us there is a good stretch from Standing Indian to Rock Gap that's a doable 20 mile section that she does in one day, but warned us that Standing Indian Shelter is a very bad place to stay in bad conditions. Like the ones we were experiencing. But we did it anyway. I think the day would have been much worse if he hadn't slept in a warm bed the previous night, eaten a hot breakfast, and didn't have a state line to cross to be excited about.
We got to the shelter around 5PM after a 16.7 mile day. The shelter was already full with hikers huddled in their sleeping bags - Helen, Caitlin, Sebastian, Bling Bling, and Melon Head. They made room for me in the shelter while Calves, J Biebs, Pige, and Bobby who we met along the way pitched tents. Lone Wolf arrived and hung his hammock and Gabriel squeezed into the shelter by our feet. Everyone cooked and ate in their sleeping bags - Gabriel was snoring by 8:30PM while the rest of us were shivering.
I had been drinking from my Camelback bladder the entire day so the hose wouldn't freeze, but that meant I had to get up to pee 3 times during the night. Pretty miserable. But I woke up early as usual and woke up the rest of the crew and checked on Bobby and Lone Wolf. The wind had been relentless overnight, sometimes howling so strong and consistent that it sounded like a freight train. But the clouds moved out over night and the stars were beautiful. I got out of camp quickly with J Biebs - the rest of the hikers in the shelter were not in a hurry to get up. Tuesday was warmer and the trail started out very icy but melted into a muddy, slippery mess.
The first climb of the day was to the top of Standing Indian Mountain, which was our first time over 5,000'. May not sound like much to folks out west but here on the east coast that's a pretty decent height. Evidence of Irma's destruction is everywhere. They were limbs, branches, and tops of trees hanging precariously overhead, creaking like old wooden doors when a strong wind blew.
Caitlin and Helen both passed me, they were cruising down the trail at a quick pace. After a couple hours of hiking I stopped at Carter Gap Shelter for a snack - it was 11:45AM and people were still there making breakfast, obviously a slow morning for most. The climb up Albert Mountain was pretty tough - the climb the to fire tower was the steepest section so far, but it was less than 1/2 mile.
The view was beautiful as expected, the top of the tower was closed but we still enjoyed the scenery. Helen was there with Kindle and Serotonin, Bobby showed up just after us, and Speedy, Goldilocks, Earnhardt, and another one of their hiking partners were there and were heading to Rock Gap as well. Whiskey left the top with us and we paused for more photos at the 100 mile mark. We decided to check out Long Branch Shelter since it can hold 16 people, it was in a nice location with no wind, but we decided to push on another 3.5 miles to Rock Gap as we had planned.
Rock Gap has very few places to set up a tent because it's on a hillside, but there was room in the shelter when we got there so we decided to stay in there. J Biebs decided to hitch into Franklin because his knees were in a lot of pain. Hopefully two nights in a hotel and a zero day is all he needs to get back on the trail. My feet were in a lot of pain after that 19.7 mile day, but I soaked them in the cold river and massaged them and they felt better in the morning.
I was the first person out of camp on Day 9 and planned to push farther than Calves and Pige. The wind was still around, but it warmed up and turned into a beautiful, sunny day. About two miles in I caught up with Gabriel who was planning on hitching into Franklin. We arrived at US 64 at the same time to find the Bud Light Trail Magic Tree.
Caitlin showed up and the two of them waited for a ride while I continued on. I was moving pretty good up the trail when all of a sudden White Beard, a man with - you guessed it - a long while beard, came up behind me and I let him pass. He's in his 60's and hiking 17-23 miles a day, I don't think I'll see him again. I found Earnhardt, who had thru hiked the trail already in 2016, near Siler Bald Shelter and took a break there with him until Calves sand Pige caught up. We took the 0.2 mile side trail to the top of Siler Bald, dropping our packs halfway to the top. The trail was steep but the 360° views made it totally worth it.
Calves and I hiked most of the way to Wayah Bald together, the trail winded around endlessly until we finally arrived at a parking lot (with restrooms and trashcans!). There is a stone tower with 360° views that just seemed to go on forever. There was not a cloud in the sky. We hung out there, talking to other hikers and waiting for Pige but when 4:00 pm rolled around I had to get going, I still had another 5.7 miles to go that day. I told Calves to say bye (for now!) to Pige. It was sad saying bye to Calves, we had slept at the same shelter every night since Day 1. It had only been a little over a week but we had already been through so many ups and downs - literally - 100+ miles of them! I'm sad to part from my trail family, but we told each other that we would meet back up in the Smokies. Before parting I let Calves decide my trail name - he thought Early Bird was most appropriate.
I hustled as fast as I could to Cold Spring, most of the miles were easy. I caught up to Speedy, a triathlete from Boston, who was headed to the same place. The last mile climb really took my last bit of energy. I passed the shelter and went straight to the tentsite where I found Earnhardt, E Street, Stephanie, and Gina with her dog Atlas. I also met Roberta who I remembered from one of the AT Thru Hiker Facebook groups. She was hiking with her partner and dogs and took a lot of crap from the people in the online group. People were very rude and nasty to them and told them all their gear, food, planning was wrong. But they were still out there - day one they hiked one mile, then increased to 2, then 4, then 5 - I had to give them kudos.
I made a big dinner of instant mashed potatoes and tuna. It was good for the first 10 bites but I got full and then had to struggle to finish the rest of it. It was a little chilly and windy and it was only the 3rd time sleeping in my tent so I was still figuring the best way to stake it out. There was also a chance of rain overnight and into the morning so I woke up early (as usual) to get moving. There were a few clouds in the sky but soon the sun and blue skies came out.
I started Day 10 at Cold Spring tentsite at 4,926 feet just before 7AM and hiked the 11.7 miles to the Nantahala Outdoor Center (NOC) at 1,732 feet by 11:30. The descent was mostly gradual but there were some very rocky, steep sections - I'm glad it wasn't made slippery in the rain. I'm also grateful for the beautiful morning because the views were outstanding. I stopped at Wesser Bald tower and took in more panoramic views. I keep thinking it can't get any better and then I round a corner and I'm proven wrong - and I wasn't even in the Smokies yet.
When I got down to the NOC there were crowds of thru hikers and I asked one for the lay of the land. He told me the general store across the street sold beer but if I wanted cigarettes I would need to hitch 8 miles to the gas station down the road. I didn't want either of those things but they seem to motivate a lot of hikers to get to town. My knees were hurting from all the down hill pounding, but that's ok because I was soon sitting with my boots off, in the sun, ordering a bacon cheese burger. I tried not get to comfortable, I wanted to get in 7 more miles that afternoon to the Sassafras Gap Shelter at 4,391 feet. My goal was to get to Fontana Dam by Friday night, Saturday morning at the latest.
We made the right decision going into town on Sunday because Monday was cold and snowy but at least all of our gear was dry. Snow starting falling as we approached the trail head but we were excited to get going. The winds were crazy, and snow pelted us from every direction. Every once in a while we'd go around a corner and the winds would just stop. It would start to warm up and we would start cruising along and then we'd turn the corner and a gust of icy cold snowy wind would snap us back into reality. I decided to hike in a t-shirt and my rain coat which kept me surprisingly warm and I was comforted knowing I had two warm, dry layers to put on at the end of the day. We hiked for about 8 miles before we reached the GA/NC border around 1:00PM.Gabriel and Lone Wolf were there, celebrating with some Yuenglings. We took pictures and had our own mini-celebration for a few minutes before we got too cold to stand around and hiked on. We had gone to Hardees the previous night for dinner but I didn't finish my meal (hiker hunger hasn't kicked in yet) and I brought the left overs with me. Cold, day-old fast food chicken tenders never tasted so good. North Carolina greeted us with about 5 minutes of sunshine before turning on the wind and snow again. At least my feet stayed warm and dry.
Gutsy, the thru hiker we met at Tray Mountain Shelter on Day 4 told us there is a good stretch from Standing Indian to Rock Gap that's a doable 20 mile section that she does in one day, but warned us that Standing Indian Shelter is a very bad place to stay in bad conditions. Like the ones we were experiencing. But we did it anyway. I think the day would have been much worse if he hadn't slept in a warm bed the previous night, eaten a hot breakfast, and didn't have a state line to cross to be excited about.
I had been drinking from my Camelback bladder the entire day so the hose wouldn't freeze, but that meant I had to get up to pee 3 times during the night. Pretty miserable. But I woke up early as usual and woke up the rest of the crew and checked on Bobby and Lone Wolf. The wind had been relentless overnight, sometimes howling so strong and consistent that it sounded like a freight train. But the clouds moved out over night and the stars were beautiful. I got out of camp quickly with J Biebs - the rest of the hikers in the shelter were not in a hurry to get up. Tuesday was warmer and the trail started out very icy but melted into a muddy, slippery mess.
The first climb of the day was to the top of Standing Indian Mountain, which was our first time over 5,000'. May not sound like much to folks out west but here on the east coast that's a pretty decent height. Evidence of Irma's destruction is everywhere. They were limbs, branches, and tops of trees hanging precariously overhead, creaking like old wooden doors when a strong wind blew.
Caitlin and Helen both passed me, they were cruising down the trail at a quick pace. After a couple hours of hiking I stopped at Carter Gap Shelter for a snack - it was 11:45AM and people were still there making breakfast, obviously a slow morning for most. The climb up Albert Mountain was pretty tough - the climb the to fire tower was the steepest section so far, but it was less than 1/2 mile.
Rock Gap has very few places to set up a tent because it's on a hillside, but there was room in the shelter when we got there so we decided to stay in there. J Biebs decided to hitch into Franklin because his knees were in a lot of pain. Hopefully two nights in a hotel and a zero day is all he needs to get back on the trail. My feet were in a lot of pain after that 19.7 mile day, but I soaked them in the cold river and massaged them and they felt better in the morning.
Calves and I hiked most of the way to Wayah Bald together, the trail winded around endlessly until we finally arrived at a parking lot (with restrooms and trashcans!). There is a stone tower with 360° views that just seemed to go on forever. There was not a cloud in the sky. We hung out there, talking to other hikers and waiting for Pige but when 4:00 pm rolled around I had to get going, I still had another 5.7 miles to go that day. I told Calves to say bye (for now!) to Pige. It was sad saying bye to Calves, we had slept at the same shelter every night since Day 1. It had only been a little over a week but we had already been through so many ups and downs - literally - 100+ miles of them! I'm sad to part from my trail family, but we told each other that we would meet back up in the Smokies. Before parting I let Calves decide my trail name - he thought Early Bird was most appropriate.
When I got down to the NOC there were crowds of thru hikers and I asked one for the lay of the land. He told me the general store across the street sold beer but if I wanted cigarettes I would need to hitch 8 miles to the gas station down the road. I didn't want either of those things but they seem to motivate a lot of hikers to get to town. My knees were hurting from all the down hill pounding, but that's ok because I was soon sitting with my boots off, in the sun, ordering a bacon cheese burger. I tried not get to comfortable, I wanted to get in 7 more miles that afternoon to the Sassafras Gap Shelter at 4,391 feet. My goal was to get to Fontana Dam by Friday night, Saturday morning at the latest.
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