The Appalachian Trail - NC/TN Part 1

I'm afraid I won't have time for the exruciating detail of my last effort. And I'm sure you all are thankful. I'll just break down the days and give you a "good parts version" of each.

September 12, 2006
Muskrat Creek Shelter - Carter Gap Shelter (12.5 miles)

"It's good to know we aren't the only ones suffering. The day we were slackpacking, we saw a guy about a mile or two south of Dick's Creek Gap. Apparently he was so tired he left his pack there and walked the rest of the way without it. He offered two other backpackers $40 to go get the pack for him, but when one of them did, the guy had already taken off in his car! I don't know if they got their money."

September 13, 2006
Carter Gap Shelter - Big Spring Shelter (6.8 miles)

It was raining all night, and we didn't get started until 11:00. Luckily we had several easy miles ahead. The toughest part of the day was Albert Mountain, a 350 foot ascent in 0.3 miles. It was pretty steep and involved some rock scrambles, but it was short. There was a fire tower at the top, but we didn't climb it, since there was nothing to see in the rain.

Tina's raingear failed her. This was our first full day wearing it, and she got a big rip in the crotch!

September 14, 2006
Big Spring Shelter - Siler Bald Shelter (13.3 miles)

As usual the mileage tally fails to mention the extra 0.6 miles straight down an old logging road we had to walk to get to the shelter. It was a beautiful day today. The rain stopped and the sun came out. Temperatures were cool. We walked under a lot of rhododendron canopy this morning, and it was so dark it felt like we were entering Mordor.

After Winding Stair Gap, we started our 4 mile climb to the shelter. I had to stop almost right away, because one of my toes was bothering me. I took off my sock to do some bandaging, and found a blister the size of another toe! (Pictures to come.)

September 15, 2006
Siler Bald Shelter - Cold Spring Shelter (11.6 miles)

The climb back to the AT from the shelter was hell. We ascended about 800 feet in .8 miles. But the views from Siler Bald were spectacular. It was a clear day, and we finally got a 360 degree view - our first of the trip.

We reached Wayah Bald after a difficult uphill around 1 or 1:30. Again, we had some gorgeous views from a stone observatory.

This shelter is even skankier than the last one. It was built in 1933, and has no picnic table. We had to cook on a crooked shelf on the side. The floor slants, so my feet are downhill, and we've already heard mice.

September 16, 2006
Cold Spring Shelter - Wesser Bald Shelter (5.8 miles)

It was a wonderfully short day today. We didn't start until after 10, dawdled in several places, and still made it here by 2 or 2:30.

The higlight of the day and maybe the trp so far was Wesser Bald. There's a fire tower there that affords some gorgeous views in all directions. Since arriving at the shelter, we've stretched, laid out our damp clothes and sleeping bags, snacked, read. And it's not even dinner time yet!

September 17, 2006
Wesser Bald Shelter - Nantahala River (5.7 miles)

Another short day. We are going to get spoiled. The descent into Nantahala turned out not to be so bad. There were some steep parts, but there was a lot of nicely graded trail.

NOC is not as nice as expected. The bathrooms are kind of trashy, and our room, though private, looks like a prison cell. I got the top bunk tonight, which only has a few feet of headroom. They didn't give us towels, and there's plastic sheeting on the beds.

Mice got into our food package in the basement of the store. They ate all the peanuts and M&Ms out of our trail mix and left the raisins! I bought a new fleece and termarest from the store, since my thermarest hasn't inflated the entire trip!

September 18, 2006
Zero Day

We hitched into town today, ate some pizza at Anthony's, and went to the grocery store. We had to hitch 2 different rides back; Tina and I are terrible hitchers, but we managed.

September 19, 2006
Nantahala River - Locust Cove Gap (10.5 miles)

It was a blessedly perfect day for hiking. We lagged a bit this morning, because it was still raining lightly. We checked out around 9 and weighed our packs at the store. Finally, we reduced! Mine is down to 41 lbs, and Tina's was 39!

It was raining a little when we started, but we didn't even need our raingear. We were ascending most of the day. In the first 5 1/2 miles, we had a fairly steady up with few steep sections, ascending 3000'.

We planned to stop at Sassafras Gap Shelter, 6.9 miles away, but we were there shortly after 2 and still had plenty of energy. We cooked and filtered water, then packed our food and headed on. We had another nice view on Cheoah Bald - lots of balds in this area. We stopped in this gap, where there's a nice campsite.

September 20, 2006
Locust Cove Gap - Cable Gap Shelter (11.6 miles)

We had one bitch of an up today after Sweetwater Gap - 750 feet in 6/10 of a mile. We had no nice views today either, though the data book listed some we must have missed.

We estimated last week that we're taking between 40,000 and 50,000 steps a day. And our average mileage so far is 9.7. Today we finished 1/3 of our planned section hike!

September 21, 2006
Cable Gap Shelter - Fontana Dam (6.9 miles)

It was another very chilly morning, but we had a nice uphill to warm us. After the last few days, my uphill muscles feel so fatigued. We got to Fontana Dam around one, ate lunch at the "Hilton", the nice shelter near there with a beautiful view of the lake. Then we called The Hike Inn for a shuttle. Jeff and Nacy were off shuttling other people, so we had to wait awhile. The Inn is a nice break, though the 5 cats are getting to me. Nancy drove us into Robbinsville for dinner. I had a Mexican meal of 3 cheese enchiladas, but was still hungry, so I hopped over to Wendy's for a junior bacon cheeseburger and a frosty!

September 22, 2006
Fontana Dam - Mollies Ridge Shelter (11 miles)

Ugh! I hate the Smokies - hate them! It's cold, it's wet - nothing will ever dry up here - the wind is ridiculous. Who would ever put a mountain range here anyway?

OK, so I'm a little cranky. Despite checking the weather forecast yesterday afternoon, we woke up this morning to an unexpected rain. Nancy shuttled us to the trail, and we arrived at the same time as an older couple heading the same way - Chuck and Ann. They were old pros at bakcpakcing, packed light, and moved quickly. The first half of the day was chilly but the canopy of trees blocked the light rain, so we didn't need rain gear. We had some major elevation gains, going up most of the day and ending over 3000' higher.

After lunch, the rain started in earnest. We picked up our pace consdierably, but didn't get to the shelter any sooner than expected. The trail became a swamp, then a river, then a lake. We had to waddle up it along the muddy sides. No matter how far or fast we went, we didn't seem to progress. Our boots couldn't stay dry in those conditions. We got to the shelter around 3:45, a few minutes after Chuck and Ann. It was now become clear that they were annoyingly cheerful people, somcething we did not need in our current circumstances. My rain gear failed in these conditions too, soaking through and getting my clothes wet.

I really hope this rain passes. We have 5 more days of hiking, and most of what I'm carrying is soaked!

September 23, 2006
Mollies Ridge Shelter - Derrick Knob Shelter (11.7 miles)

Tina's quote: "Amy and I don't think there's anything great about the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Except for great amounts of rain. And a great lack of visibility."

The weather has not really improved, and it's been an extremely difficult day. It did warm up overnight, and that was a blessing. It made putting our wet clothes back on a little more bearable.

So I guess i can say one good thing about the day. It didn't rain much. The trail was still pretty ugly. Horses are allowed on parts of the trail, and this left lots of muddy ruts. The second half of the day began the "roller coaster", a section with lots of pointless ups and downs. Some were quite steep, and our feet - pruned inside our soggy boots - were feeling the worst effects. Tina says that the bears here probably have a high suicide rate!

Setpember 24, 2006
Derrick Knob Shelter - Double Spring Gap (7.2 miles)

The weather hasn't changed yet. In fact, it's gotten worse. We had hard rain last night and this morning, and again this evening. All the section hikers we passed swear this is supposed to clear up tomorrow.

The trail was in pretty horrible shape, but the walking itself wasn't that bad once we got moving. I was immensely pleased with the presence of a privy here, our first in three days. The trail to it is so badly waterlogged, though, that I probably won't visit it again. The whole shelter is water-logged. It poured right after we arrived, and now in addition to our bear cage, we have a moat for extra protection!

Buckeyes are dropping from the trees and hitting the roof with a bang tonight. It's not a comforting sound, since the guidebook says two hikers were struck by lightening and killed here in 1980.


----OK, so that was more detail than you wanted after all! I can't type any more today, but rest assured the Smokies got better after that 3 days and 5 inches of rain. I'll save the rest for another time!