Day: September 15, 2020

Today I hit the milestone of leaving Georgia behind and entering North Carolina. I took a quick picture of the real border but went another few tenths of a mile to the accepted border that has a very twisted tree which is very recognizable. The tree still pretty much looks the same as it did 30 years ago but it looks like it’s a little closer to the ground now. One thing that does look very different is the area around it has grown up with trees where I remember it being an open field.

I was able to get up and get going before 7:00 and the clouds kept sunrise from happening even later than it seems like it should have. It didn’t take too long for the clouds to separate in the sun to start peeking out. I was expecting rain on and off all day long but it didn’t rain once.

I got to Bly Gap a little bit after noon so I stopped and stocked up on water and then had lunch. I had one deli tuna pack that I picked up at Mountain Crossings so I made a tuna wrap.

I kept running into another hiker on and off all morning who was out for about a week at a time with his wife meeting him at the major intersections. Normally this is called slack packing and you don’t carry a full pack since you don’t need to camp and you only need one day’s worth of food. But this guy looked like he was carrying a full pack. He was keeping up a very good pace though and would have enjoyed hiking with him except for he was carrying a radio playing music the entire time and wouldn’t turn it off.

Later in the day I stopped at Muskrat Creek shelter to make coffee and a family with four boys came rolling up to set up camp. The youngest one looked to be about 5 years old and this shelter is 5 miles from the nearest road. It looked like the little one was having trouble with the hiking. I hope they’re able to have a nice time. It seems like a bit of a large endeavor for such a young child.

The rest of the day went pretty much as planned. I started hiking up Standing Indian Mountain knowing that I would go at least to the top and camp somewhere afterward. When I got to the top it had several campers up top so I didn’t bother to go to the summit. I just kept walking down the other side of the mountain knowing that in less than a mile there was a flat spot that should probably have camping. About halfway there I found a camping site a few hundred feet higher than I intended but it looked good so I stopped and made camp.

I tried the other expensive dehydrated dinner that I bought at Mountain Crossings. I followed the directions which were quite vague and let it sit the appropriate amount of time to rehydrate but when I went to eat it many of the noodles were still crunchy. It tasted good but the texture was off putting so I doubt I will buy any more of these in the future. But it definitely tasted better than mashed potatoes so maybe I will.

As I lay in the hammock writing this blog I am realizing how different tonight is than last night. Last night was hot and muggy and miserable but tonight I’m very high up. There’s a strong breeze and it’s very, very cold. Normally I would like this just fine but fog is rolling in with the wind and everything is getting damp. I hope tomorrow that I don’t regret camping so high tonight.

Looking at the maps it’s 50 miles to Wesser. I only have enough food for 2 days (maybe 2 1/2) so it will be a stretch to try and reach there without resupply. The road to Franklin is 22 miles which is also a little too long to make in one day. So I will probably try to go ahead and make it all the way to Wesser but that will be dependent on the weather. Also depends on how long I can tolerate my own stench.

Today I finally got real rain for the first time. I wasn’t expecting the rain to start until tomorrow but it went ahead and started today.

I didn’t sleep that well in the shelter last night. I tossed and turned quite a bit. I didn’t think I was sleeping but the time was passing faster than my brain is telling me, so I must have been sleeping. I woke up 45 minutes later than I wanted to but since I was sleeping in a shelter I was able to pack up and leave about 15 minutes faster than normal. I didn’t leave the shelter till after 7:30.

The morning went by quickly. The temperature was nice and cool. There was a little bit of fog and clouds so everything got a little damp. I was able to make it to Tray Mountain shelter for lunch about 12:45. I passed the caretaker on the way to the shelter. He was clearing the brush by the side of a trail with hand hedge clippers. I stopped and chatted with him for about 5 minutes. He was mentioning that in the peak hiker season a lot of betrayal shuttles were closing down because of COVID. I don’t blame them. I wouldn’t want a stranger from who knows where in my car for 30 minutes driving into town especially if they stink like a hiker.

I finished my lunch and moved on in about 30 minutes. After I left the shelter it began raining. It wasn’t a very hard rain but I did get my umbrella out and use it for about 15 minutes. Dwayne finally stopped and not very much got wet. The pack was a little damp. My feet were a tiny bit damp but not soaking wet. About an hour later it rained the same way again for about 10 or 15 minutes but this time I didn’t bother to use the umbrella.

At about 5:00 it finally did rain and it rained hard. It rained for over 45 minutes and it rained so hard that everything got soaking wet. The trail was a river and I had to step right through it. In less than 5 minutes my shoes were sloshing wet.

My coffee kept me fueled but I needed a little extra kick so I made an energy drink as well at about 6:00 after the rain stopped. I had to keep my pace up to get to the spot where I wanted to camp before dark. I was cutting it very close. I found a ridgeline that had some big trees that I could hang from. It was just before 8:00 when I got there and it was a little bit darker than I really wanted. I had to use the light to set up the hammock and cook my food.

Now that I’m finally in the hammock I’m still a bit miserable because there’s zero breeze at all and it is very very hot. I cleaned myself as best I could before I got in the hammock but I’m still so sticky and clammy from all the sweating today. It’s not very comfortable laying here with no breeze. I’m just hoping that one picks up soon so I can cool off and go to bed. I haven’t figured out how far I want to go tomorrow but I guess I’ve got to figure that out now.

Today was the day I had to climb Tesnatee Gap. It was one of the memorable climbs in ’89 for being really steep out of nowhere, and it was exactly as I remembered it, but maybe not as long. Even the road that went up to the Gap was really steep. That should be a warning that the trail is also going to be just as steep.

I got a decent start in the morning. I woke up about 6:15, was out hiking by 7:00, and was easily hiking for 30 minutes before the sunrise. It wasn’t too cold. There was a nice cool breeze and a little bit of cloud cover made sunrise take a little bit longer than I expected.

The day as a whole was pretty uneventful. There was some climbing; there was some descending; there was quite a bit of level hiking that I didn’t expect, so that was a bonus in the middle of the day. But the end of the day had a really rocky and treacherous stretch about a mile before the shelter where I was going to stop to see if I wanted to camp there. I slipped on a rock and fell and banged my knee a little bit but nothing too bad, just a little bruise.
A mile before the shelter there was a spring, so I stopped there and filled up and washed off my legs, took a quick little bath, and then headed up to the shelter. There was a couple up there who saw a bear about an hour ago, so I decided I better go ahead and stop here and use the bare cables instead of risking not finding a tree to be able to hang my bare bag.

I tried the Peak dehydrated dinner that I bought at Mountain Crossings and it was pretty good. I was surprised that it only took one cup of water. I didn’t get my water boiling the first time so I had to restart the stove to get it hotter. After letting it set 10 minutes to rehydrate I stirred it and it was not very hot and a few pieces were a little crunchy so I stirred it and let it set another 5 minutes. A few of the whole beans were still not fully rehydrated but it was good anyway. It was a sweet pork dinner and the sweetness had a bit of spiciness to it as well. It reminded me of a Thai Sweet Pork dish. At $14 a meal I doubt I’ll buy any more but if I could get them at a cheaper price I would definitely eat them again. They were very high quality.

I haven’t looked yet to see where I want to try to end up tomorrow. Today’s 18 miles was a decent distance to go. I wanted to go a few more but the bear being here and the trail only leading to Unicoi Gap would have made it a really long night so I decided I would cut today a little short and I’ll see if I can add a few miles tomorrow. Tomorrow is supposed to be cloudy with a small chance of rain but by Friday it’s supposed to start raining and rain for three straight days and nights. I need to make sure I’m in good shape and in good health before I try to push through rainy days.

Today was the first day that I actually remembered something and had it turned out the same way as I remembered it. One of the most memorable aspects of my 1989 hike was getting hypoglycemia hiking up Blood Mountain and having to run down the mountain in the rain to make it to the hostel before they closed. As it would turn out I arrived at Blood Mountain at the same exact time as I did then, left Blood Mountain at the exact same time as I did then, and arrived at Neil’s Gap at the exact same time as I did then.

I purposely got up a little bit later than normal again today to not push too hard. Since I had camped at the top of the mountain the beginning of the hike was all downhill and quite pleasant. It was cool but not cold and the sun had not come up yet. I was able to get some good pictures of the sunrise from a rocky outcropping that gave pretty good views towards the east.

When I arrived at the first road crossing in Woody Gap I met another hiker who had just been let off by a shuttle. It turns out that he is also a Florida grad (grew up in Winter Haven or Winter garden or one of the Florida winners) but has been living in Cleveland most of his life. He is just out for a few days but he was keeping up with my pace pretty well. It turns out he is also an Eagle Scout and also went to Philmont so we talked quite a bit about that. We are 10 years apart in age so it was interesting talking about how scouting was a little bit different between our two experiences. He told me a lot about his family and his daughter who is an outdoor guide. It sounds like she is the one fueling his interest in hiking again. He is thinking about someday trying to do a thru-hike. He just recently retired and so I think he’s testing the waters right now.

We parted ways at the base of Blood Mountain before the big climb up. He needed to rest up and get some water so we talked a little bit about strategy. I wanted to summit and get into Neels Gap so I could resupply for my next hundred miles. I knew the store closed at 5:00 p.m. so I couldn’t wait around too much longer.

I remember my trip up Blood Mountain in ’89 very vividly because a lot of things went wrong. It was just above freezing, I had rain gear but no fleece, and because it had been raining all day I didn’t stop to eat and I was low on energy. The last mile up to the summit of Blood Mountain is pretty steep and I remember the vegetation changing to rhododendron as I neared the top. As I hiked it today it did indeed change to rhododendron as I neared the top.

The main thing that made the 1989 hike up Blood Mountain most memorable was because it was cold. I was low on energy because I wasn’t eating enough food and I experienced the physical phenomenon that I had never experienced before. The last 300 or 400 ft going up to the summit I remember the periphery of my vision beginning to sway around and eventually turning to gray. I kept on hiking and eventually I realized I was getting tunnel vision and could only see a cone of about 10° directly in front of my face. By that time my hands were really numb. I could hardly use them. There’s no way I could have tied my shoes or signed my name but I kept pushing up the mountain because I knew there was a stone shelter up top where I thought I could at least get out of the rain and maybe get warm.

I remember very distinctly in 1989 that I reached the shelter at 3:00 p.m. in total exhaustion and I immediately laid on the floor and just sat there for about 10 minutes without moving. There was an older gentleman already in the shelter and he was trying to start a fire with wet wood. All he really said to me was “Hey, there’s a hostile down the mountain that will give you food if you get there in time”. He didn’t say anything like “Gee, you look bad. Do you need any help?” No, he just wanted me to leave. I ate something simple, probably a granola bar, drank a little, and then I distinctly remembered getting up and leaving at 3:30 because it was 2 and 1/2 miles down the mountain and if you didn’t make it to the office by 5:00 p.m. when they close you were out of luck for the whole day. And I was definitely in need of a shower, laundry, and a spaghetti dinner that night. So I took off in the rain as quickly as I could down a really steep and rocky trail. I made it down to the store at a quarter till 5:00 and they had a good selection of outdoor gear so immediately after signing up for the hostel and the dinner I bought a few items to eat and then bought a fleece. It was a brand I had never heard of before and it was very expensive but I bought it because I knew that I had not packed enough warm clothes for the cold weather that I was experiencing in the mountains. It was a kokoda fleece and I still have it today even though Karen wears it more than I do. It’s one of the best pieces of gear I’ve ever purchased in my life. It’s one piece of gear that may have actually saved my life as well.

So on this trip everything pretty much played out exactly the same except for the weather was nice – probably in the upper 70s, breezy and sunny – so I could see a long distance and I was barely tired when I got to the top. I arrived at exactly 3:00, had a snack and a drink, and left at exactly 3:30. I had the same intentions of making it down to the store by 5:00 p.m. but I was not rushing this time. I took my normal time because I knew that there was also another camp store about a half a mile down the road in case I didn’t make it to this one on time. But as luck would have it it took me exactly the same amount of time. I got there at a quarter to 5:00. The store was still open. The hostel is closed because of COVID but I was able to get laundry and a shower and all the food I needed to get me to Wesser.

It took close to 2 hours to finish laundry so I headed up the mountain not knowing how far I would go tonight. It looks like that answer is about 3 mi so I’m comfortably in front of where I really needed to be today and that feels good. I could have made it a little farther today but I did enjoy the morning walking with the other hiker. I hope he decided to stay on the top of Blood Mountain tonight and we’ll make a more leisurely climb down Blood Mountain because it is very steep and I know he was tired. Hopefully the rest of his trip will go well enough that he will decide one day to also thru-hike.