Astrogirl

Now I’ve hiked from Springer to Southern Mass.

I had a great time starting with potential thru-hikers, a new experience for me. I started around noon on the 9th. I was supposed to start hiking closer to 9am, but I locked my stupid keys in the car (something I have not done in at least 15 years) with my gear inside at about 6am, and I had to wait for a locksmith from Robbinsville before I could get my shuttle and get going.

Made it to Justus Creek (and it had gotten darn hot that day) and shared the area with a lovely couple who had already thrown a bear line. They said they were newish backpackers, but they seemed pretty together to me. (I *can* throw a bear line. I’m pretty decent at it too, but it was nearly dark, and there usually is not a good spot for everyone to use a different one.) Spent a comfy night in the hammock.

The next day, I hiked to Slaughter Creek Campsite and spent another great night in the hammock, though I did have to get up at around 2am to pull the tarp over due to light rain. Sadly, Blood Mtn. was fogged in for my trip over the top. If I’d known how easy the trip up there was, I would have camped up there the night before. The shelter is as bad as everyone on says, but I’m sure I could have found somewhere to sleep outside of it. I can’t believe people take the Freeman Trail around Blood without any rough weather. It looks like it would be wonderful on a clear day.

Rolled into Neel Gap early and shared a cabin with a nice couple from NH. They had stayed at Stover Creek their first night and cooked bacon for breakfast and attracted a bear. Good story, and they got the bear thing out of the way early, ha ha. There was a caretaker of sorts at the house named Storyteller, and boy was he. I think I got going by 8am or so, which is pretty stellar for me.

The next day I hiked on to Blue Mountain Shelter, stopping for lunch on top of Wildcat Mtn. Gorgeous but cold. Ditto Blue Mtn. Shelter. Slept in the shelter, if you could call it sleep, as I thought I’d be too cold in the hammock. Dumb move. I should have just pitched the hammock’s tarp and slept on the ground — less wind. I had a lot of company there complaining about the wind — everyone in the shelter, really. It was *cold* in there.

I hiked into Unicoi, then Cloud 9 slacked me to Dick’s Creek Gap, and I took a zero at their place. Met literally dozens of people, some of whom I’d wind up camping and sometimes lunching with on the rest of the trip. Fran and Laura were great and the bunks were the best I’ve ever experienced in a hostel. The smoked trout was, of course, excellent. It’s in contention for my favorite hostel on the trail.

The next day, many of us wound up at Standing Indian and it was another cold night, but I battened down the tarp and stayed out of the shelter. I slept on the ground, using the hammock’s tarp as a, well, tarp. I added a space blanket and I did just fine. I saw Yak stuff his hammock’s undercover full of leaves, and I made a pile under my groundcloth. Worked pretty well, I think.

Next day was up and over Albert Mountain, awesome view from the tower. Again, I cannot believe people by-pass it in good weather. The climb is almost comic in it’s verticality and rockiness, but it’s short. Camped at Big Spring with many of the same folks from Cloud 9.

Did an easy 9 miles to Franklin and went in for the night with Buzzard and Fred, not on a room, we just all went in to town together. I hate sharing hotel rooms. I can manage hostels because the etiquette is all very clear. Sharing a hotel room, not so much.

Saw many others there — reported that on the sightings thread. Ron Haven was terrific and the room was clean and nice. Great deal at $35.

Headed out the next day to Cold Spring Shelter. It was way too hot in the afternoon, and I thought the climb up Wayah would never end. Over all though, it was a nice day. I had a great and relaxing lunch at the new Wayah Shelter. I packed in a beer and had that, which was nice. I also had hot tea with milk. On I went, and man it was hot, sunny and lacking shade.

That night at Cold Spring, it was back to the hammock, and like a moron, I missed the good camping BEYOND the shelter. Pitched on a slope and wound up moving about 9pm when I realized how hard it was to get back down that slope or get in and out of the hammock while sliding down the hill. Got a good bit of rain and stayed dry. Started off in rain that kept up quite a while, but it was not unpleasant. After the previous day of hot sun, the 50′ and raining was…kind of invigorating.

Got to the NOC around 1pm on the 19th and had lunch with McDee and Yak. I was so wiped out from doing the 11.5 miles on a couple of handfuls of gorp that even the beer made me more rational and understandable. It was one of those things where you don’t realize how tired, hungry and thirsty you are until you sit down, drink and eat. Wesser (which was not too bad of a climb, even in the rain) was totally in the fog, but I got a lovely view from the Jump-Off, so all was not lost. The descent did seem to last forever, but except for that, the approach to town reminded me of Pearisburg and Angel’s Rest, though this was more dramatic.

The weather at the NOC could not have been more perfect. Blue skies, fluffy clouds and warm (not hot!) sun.

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 20th, 2008 at 6:49 pm and is filed under backpacking, Tennessee/North Carolina, Georgia. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.