August 2, 2018 by BoobOnARock

AT – NC Max Patch to Garenflo Gap

July 20, 2018 – July 21, 2018

After hiking into the NOC and staying the night, most of the Dames went home. Lola, “Akela” and I scooted up to do another micro section before doing the I-81 shit show north to Maryland. OH, WHAT A SECTION!!!!!

We drove up to Garenflo Gap to park my car first thing in the morning. The last short section of “road” to the parking area is more like a rutted out driveway up to someone’s mountain hideaway, but the parking area itself was great! However, Akela vowed to never drive her Toyota minivan up it again. 😀 No worries there, my RAV4 made it just fine.

Off to Max Patch!

Oh my! This is my new favorite place on the planet! I’m sure it was made even more memorable with the fabulous weather. Big puffy clouds in a blue, oh, so blue sky, floated with the breeze as we reveled in the fresh cool air which had settled on the bald.

Glorious!

There was a lovely campsite just over the high point of the bald, then several more after we descended off the bald into an area that looked very park-like. Lush green grass, tall trees, almost Eden. We made note to include this section when we come back to head south into the Smoky Mountains. A little further down the trail is Roaring Fork Shelter which also looks to be a delightful place to make camp!

All the way to Lemon Gap the trail was just a delight to walk. So different than the trail between Fontana Dam and the NOC! We were ready for a change and the trail delivered!

img_20180722_101018

After Lemon Gap, we started back uphill and discussed hiking past the next shelter to the campsite listed on Guthook’s App. It seemed logical, I mean we weren’t tired and, add to that, big storms were moving in tomorrow. I would like to be out of Garenflo Gap, and down that sketchy rutted road before those storms moved in!

Well, of course, once we made the first campsite, we kept on to the second. The trail was overgrown waiting for that controlled burn we read about on a sign at Lemon Gap!

20180720_173310

Now we were pooped! It was about 6??? Time doesn’t mean a whole lot to me on the trail, but I know it was after 5 o’clock when we pulled into the campsite. We had filtered water at a very low running stream that crossed the trail on the way down the mountain, my Katahdin sucked it right up, but Akela had to take a few more minutes to fill up her bag to use, oh what was it, a Sawyer? Anyway, it took a while. I love my Katahdin in times like these!

We set up camp, made dinner, enjoyed the sunset, then crashed!

Sleeping soundly into the night, ahhhh!

*sleeping soundly*

*possible snoring*

*dreaming of bears*

“Kylena…”

I was surprisingly not startled by Akela kneeling outside my tent in the middle of the night.

“What?” *notices wind has picked up*

“There’s a really big storm moving in.”

“okay.”

“A really big storm.” *lightning flashes…rumble of thunder*

“okay.”

I’ll just say here, that I am not at all bothered by storms. I grew up in the Midwest and tornado warnings were just part of life. We lived in the woods and I loved a good storm. I don’t really want to be in a tornado, but a good thunderstorm is weirdly comforting to me.

The thunder rolled over the mountain singing me to sleep. I did keep track, for a while, to the time elapse between lightning and thunder and quickly realized, while a good lightshow was upon us, the storm itself wasn’t right ON us.

Akela wasn’t so sure. However, she eventually got back into her hammock. Maybe she went to sleep eventually. 😦

I was up early as usual, still raining, then another storm moved in. Akela and I texted back and forth…nice to have cell service at times like this! I packed up everything in my tent, except the pad I was sitting on, waiting to make my exit as soon as the rain let up.

I have been through this before…everything in the pack, pack cover on, rain poncho on…rain slows, then stops. Go time! Back out of tent with poncho on, place pack so cover keeps somewhat dry, deflate pad, disassemble tent…shove into pack pockets and get the heck off the mountain!

Nearing Garenflo Gap (thanks Akela for the pic!)

The rain did not return as we hiked down the mountain to my car waiting at Garenflo Gap. Sunlight coming through the trees filtered down in rays creating an almost postcard like scene. Thunderstorms don’t last forever! Hike on!

July 30, 2018 by BoobOnARock

AT – NC Fontana Dam to the NOC (part 2)

7/18 – 7/19/2018 Stecoah Gap to NOC

After a night at the Hike Inn, we were smelling good, feeling rested, and ready for another overnight on the trail. I had looked forward to this section all year…Cheoah Bald!! A real bald!

Breakfast could have been fabulous. I dreamed of scrambled eggs, toast, hash browns, and coffee. Alas, nothing was open when we wheeled out of the parking lot headed to Stecoah, so I made do with trail bars and Gatorade. 😦

Let’s Go!

It did the trick somewhat. My stomach was not in its best form today. The restaurant we went to the previous night did not have any viable vegan options, so I chose what I thought was a dairy-free meal, since that is the big culprit to my system. Regrettably, it was not dairy-free! I tried my best to scrape off all bits of dairy…but no luck and as I climbed out of Stecoah Gap I was feeling it. It did not keep me back, but it kept me in check all the way up to Cheoah! Not my best day hiking!

They said there would be water somewhere at the gap. This is totally true if you want to climb down like 700 feet to get it. I’ll pass!

My hiking gals were none the wiser, thank goodness! I climbed, and climbed. That is one long uphill! It got a bit hot, so we stopped and used my backpacker fan (which I procured for free at the Summit). That fan was a BIG win!

Then as the trail leveled out, I caught a glimpse of something amazing through the rhododendron bushes.

The bald, the bald!!!! We HAVE ARRIVED! 😀 😀 😀

Amazing, and just like that, all memories of that hard climb evaporated into the bright blue sky! I pulled out my big red poncho to spread on the ground, then sprayed myself down with bug spray…no ticks on me, please. Falling back on the poncho I undid the laces on my boots and kicked them off, perfect!

Now it was time to relax a bit. Big climb over, I took it all in. The blue of the sky, the big, white puffy clouds that drifted lazily from right to left. The breeze as it made its way through the towering grasses, the bees as they hummed about me, the soft scent of hay and clover, the birds chirping to each other, the butterflies as they floated by, and me. I was able to hear, no, …really hear, and see, and feel, and smell! Oh, what a day! What a place! I felt I was a lucky person, indeed!

After the bald, it was a short downhill roll to the shelter. And guess who was waiting for us?

No guesses?

Uncle Charlie’s crew…sans Uncle Charlie…who had, indeed, ditched out due to his bum leg and hitched his way into the NOC. Who was, according to brother and son, currently rafting down the river loving life! Oh, Uncle Charlie! So happy you were having a great time! 😀

I pitched my tent down the hill, then immediately had to visit the privy, which was like a kazillion feet above me on the hill. Oh, the humility. Ugh.

It was a good sleeping night! haha 😀

Making our way down to the NOC!

The walk downhill to the NOC was not as bad as I thought it might be after my experience coming into the NOC last summer on the opposite side (which had major erosion due to fire damage). This side of the hill was a piece of cake compared to that! I kept waiting for the “jump-up” listed on the map. I finally decided to check Guthook’s App…turned out we were sitting just downhill from the “jump-up” taking in a lovely view while eating some snacks! Wow, didn’t think anything about it…I mean does it even warrant a nickname like “jump-up”???

The rest of the way down took a long time, for sure! and our feet were beat! For the last two miles, I fantasized about soaking my feet in the river. We could hear the happy din of people playing on the river as we made our way around and down the mountain. It added to my desperate fantasy! I needed to be at that river like a mile ago!

The Dames 🙂

And then we were there. And if you have ever backpacked into the NOC, then you know how good it is for your morale…people treat you like a superstar! They want to talk to you about the trail, they are in awe that you are carrying a backpack, on and on…All the good vibes! Hike On!

July 27, 2018 by BoobOnARock

AT – NC Fontana Dam to NOC (part 1)

7/15/2018 – 7/17/2018 Stecoah Gap to Fontana Dam

Trail Dame Summit is history! So I rushed to Sylva, North Carolina to meet up with everyone at City Lights Cafe for lunch, then off to the mountains! Highly recommend City Lights Cafe and may need to go back to check out the book store upstairs. They had a few wonderful vegan options…which gives them 5 stars in my book! 😀

The weather forecast indicated possible thunderstorms that evening but we stayed dry until we hit Jacobs Ladder after Sweetwater Gap.

“Oh, hello, North Carolina, I see you waited up for me.”

Sweat soaked us as we laboriously lifted one foot over the other to make slow forward progress. It was up, straight up, and boy, was I glad the rain held off as this was one of THOSE hills! Rain would have felt amazing, but it would have resulted in each step forward being followed by two steps sliding back. Thankfully, it was a short hill, and we quickly finished our big 2.4 mile day to Brown Fork Shelter.

Yes! Made it and no rain yet!

Brown Fork Shelter…The site of the Mice Massacre

Brown Fork Shelter is a nice shelter. It is up off the ground, seems clean enough, sturdy. In the early morning, I got up and walked toward the privy in the deep fog that had descended on the mountain, beautiful until I almost stepped on a mouse. Then, *quick inhale*, I saw that it was dead. “Oh my gawd” I had glanced around and could not unsee the littering of dead mice as I arrived back at the shelter. Creepier still was the trash bugs were crawling under them to make it appear they were still moving and a huge bullfrog sitting on the side of the shelter looking down on the massacre as if he had ordered it. UGH.

So, I have a question. Do trail maintainers ever put out mouse poison to cull the herd, so to speak? We found the powdered stuff under the back of the shelter. I was livid. Mice eat the poison, bugs eat the mice, birds eat the bugs…you get it. Yes, the mice are sometimes the most annoying opportunists, but humans made this problem. Sloppy humans who left food around. 😦

I took my irritation down the trail with me that day and had to hike it out.

Tallahassee Tom … did you kill those mice?

Bully Bullfrog…did you order those mice killed? (oh, and please don’t eat the bugs)

The hike was pleasant as we rolled along the AT to Cable Gap Shelter. Wildflowers lined the trail in places and after getting to the top of one hill we were blessed with a view of the peaks of distant mountains rising above a sea of valley fog. With each breeze, spanish moss lifted and swayed, floating with the wind for just a few seconds before falling back to cling to the bark of its tree. And it was quiet, so quiet. You can hear yourself think up here.

There were some rocky spots 🙂

Coming down a hill!

Akela…most valuable player on any hiking trip!

I was apparently fully recovered from the mice massacre when we arrived at Cable Gap since I decided to again sleep in the shelter. The threat of rain was imminent…and I wanted to keep my tent dry for at least one more day. I could feel the stillness, the humidity. I could see the leaves tipping over. Yes, it was only matter time. I got my pad set up just in time to watch the skies open up and dump. Time for a relaxing afternoon in the shelter!

Uncle Charlie, brother of Uncle Charlie, and son of brother of Uncle Charlie came trooping into the shelter area from Fontana Dam about then. These three were a comedy of errors and had us both shaking our heads and laughing. Uncle Charlie had injured his leg early in the day leaving his nephew, son of brother of Uncle Charlie to carry two packs…his own and Uncle Charlie’s. The son wore one on his back and one on his front…

Leave no trace was not part of their dinner plans, apparently. Uncle Charlie dumped his left over stuff on his plate right in front of the shelter… I totally called them out on that! OMG, dead mice and now this! As they headed up the hill to their hammocks, the son asked if he could leave his pack at the shelter (he left it outside on the ground). No problem as long as there is NO FOOD IN IT. He came back in about 15 minutes, sheepishly, and took out a couple of trail bars to hike down to their “bear bag”. Good Lord, still shaking my head!

During the night, something…maybe a possum, maybe a raccoon, or maybe an army of mice turned his pack over scaring the living bejeezus out of me. I turned on my headlamp and shot it out to his pack. The light met with a wall of fog…I saw nothing, but did not sleep particularly well the rest of the night!

I was one sleepy hiker the next morning! No matter, we were headed to Fontana Dam, then to the Hike Inn for a shower and real bed for tonight…I vowed to pop a benedryl.

All the things that go bump in the night show in our eyes! *yawn*

It was a gorgeous hike into Fontana, but a little demoralizing after we got to the Marina and found we still had about a mile and a half to go. It was hot as Hades down around Fontana Dam and that last mile *whew* the cool waters of Fontana Lake mocked me. I just wanted to jump in, but it was so far downhill!

Lucky for me I had gotten a second wind at the Marina and was charging … well okay, I am not really capable of charging, but anyway, keeping a swift pace to Fontana Dam. Then came the stairs, and the road walk, and it was hot…I got to the Dam and literally sunk to the ground to feel the cool grass. I tore my boots off and let my feet go “ahhhhhh”!!!

I wanted to get a good look at the Smoky Mountains just on the other side of the dam. They were intoxicating and pulled me in. I got up from my shady spot and with my bare feet started across the parking lot. In the middle of the sun blasted lot I broke out into a slight jog, then, dang it! a run for the grass on the other side as I felt the asphalt burning into the underside of my feet, hahaha, flashbacks to my wonder years growing up in Texas!

Fontana Dam

Yeah, and after I gazed at those lovely Smoky Mountains I had to run back to the other side… 😀 ouch, ouch, ouch…Hike on!

July 27, 2017 by BoobOnARock

AT – NC Wayah Bald to Winding Stair Gap

Day 6: June 29, 2017

A quiet morning to hike. Ten miles, then boom, my trip to North Carolina would be over. Back to Maryland, back to everyday life. I was looking forward to getting back home even though the mountains in NC have been delightful to hike.

This hike had Momma Puma shuttling me to a trail head for the last time. Afterwards, she would be off on her own adventure and we planned on meeting up at Google’s cabin in the evening.

Wayah Bald

A quiet morning with sounds of grass brushing against my hiking pants broken by the occasional cry of a bird or crunch of tires on the fire road. I watched as the sky clouded up, to the point I thought rain was imminent, then, in a blink, the sun would break through and make the forest glow.

The trail passed by a campsite before the Bartram trail diverged to the right. I took a little break there. I sat back against a tree and thought about the week I’d had hiking here in NC. The mountains are just so darn dramatic!

Rounding a corner near Wilson Lick trail, I heard a crash and looked up to see a bear butt running up hill! How exciting!

I moved on down the trail with a smile…yes, wildlife, finally!

The AT crossed the fire road a few times before reaching the paved road at Wayah Gap.

Now, I was going to be headed uphill for awhile and hopefully, hopefully I wouldn’t miss the turn-off for Siler Bald! More people, actually a lot of people were on this stretch of trail. That made the trip up seem shorter and the variety of body types made me think this “up” wouldn’t be too bad. The uphill did go up for a good ways, though! Definitely break worthy, so I found a nice log and had a snack. It was getting humid, whew!

And I missed the turn-off for Siler Bald!!! Unbelievable. I saw the sign for the shelter, but nothing for the bald. So I backtracked. ugh! But I knew I would regret not going to the bald!

This is why I missed the turn-off. So overgrown! It got worse, before better…and I was separating grasses with my hiking poles to check for snakes before plowing through!

Once climbing to the top of Siler Bald, I was happy I had backtracked! What a view! I didn’t stay long because it was unbearably HOT in that field!

Having had my most excellent view from Siler Bald, I was ready to hoof it down to Winding Stair Gap. However, I had to cross through Panther Gap first…and I was in a silly mood by then as I was on a very warm and humid mile 8. Coming down into Panther Gap, I thought, “why do they have to call it Panther Gap? Why not kitty cat gap? or Hello Kitty gap?…what if there really are panthers in Panther Gap? Wait, is a panther the same as a cougar? a mountain lion? I wonder if they are black?…”

Then I stopped to stretch my neck…too much looking at the ground.

OH. MY. GAWD. I looked hard, not believing what I was seeing. Tan color…Is that a bobcat? No, that is a long droopy swinging tail!!! The cat, kitty, panther, cougar, mountain lion, whatever you want to call it was about 25 yards in front of me casually walking down the AT away from me!!! Holy moly!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He paused for a moment to look over its shoulder at me. A sweet little head with rounded ears, no tufts, definitely NOT a bobcat,…I quickly inhaled then clicked my hiking poles together. (No need for him to get too curious.) He turned back around and began to trot down the trail. I waited, gave him time to find a safe spot before I walked on.

He was no where to be seen when I passed through.

I felt so blessed, wow, so, so blessed to have this cat make his presence known. exhale. We all share this one world. All creatures great and small.

Hike on.

July 18, 2017 by BoobOnARock

AT – NC Wayah Bald to Tellico Gap

Day 5: Wayah Bald to Tellico Gap, June 28, 2017

“I’ll just hike a little ways with you”

Words from Momma Puma as we pulled into the Wayah Bald parking area. I barely heard her as my senses were overtaken by the sheer jaw-dropping vista this morning at Wayah Bald.

20170628_092934

The Wayah Bald fire tower, substantial as it is, sustained a clear amount of damage from the fires. It’s majestic nature has not been affected in the slightest, I am happy to report! The interior chamber of the fire tower on the ground level would be a great hiding place in a storm.

20170628_093151

Done exploring at the fire tower, we headed north on the AT and downhill. We passed the sign for the shelter, then promptly, went the wrong way! I figured the sign for the shelter meant it was a blue blaze, twenty minutes later I am shaking my head as it seemed we were headed around the mountain and below the fire tower. The one time I have used technology on the trail to actually check my location…and a good call! Guthook’s guide app showed that we were indeed off the Appalachian Trail…it didn’t show what trail we WERE on (a drawback to the app is that it doesn’t show all the intersecting trails) but we knew we were on the Bartram Trail. It was encouraging to see that I was correct in where I thought I was…anyway, we backtracked…ugh.

You know some people get off trail because there is no signage…me…sign right in front of me, but I assumed it meant a blue blaze to the shelter. 😀 Extra credit miles today.

Once back at the intersection, Mama Puma, decided she didn’t want to climb back up the hill to her car. Too funny! So she joined me, for better or worse, to Tellico Gap.

The woodsy trail was a delightful change from the rugged, eroded trail into the NOC I’d hiked the day before. Lush green engulfed us all of the way to Tellico Gap.

It was a long hike with my pesky blisters making themselves heard with every step after four miles. At the shelter I sat down for a break…a real break…and changed the bandages on the blisters. After about 25 minutes, Momma Puma indicated we needed to get moving, so I regretfully pulled on my boots.

Momma Puma

The new bandages were helpful, but as we neared Tellico Gap I was singing “Tellico, Oh Tellico, these old boots have got to go” as my feet screamed for freedom. You do whatever gets you down the trail!

Yes! The light at the end of the tunnel was NOT an oncoming train!!! After being teased with peeks at the fire road for a mile or so, we reached the parking area at Tellico Gap. Flip flops here I come!

In my trusty RAV4 once again, we drove down the not scary side of the mountain, then made two more stops: 1) back to Momma Puma’s truck at Wayah Bald, then 2) repark my car at Winding Stair in preparation for my last hike for this trip…Wayah Bald to Winding Stair.

Blisters be quiet because I am hiking on!

July 11, 2017 by BoobOnARock

AT – NC Tellico Gap to NOC

Day 4: Tellico Gap to Nantahala Outdoor Center 6/27/2017

Backpack between Deep Gap and Winding Stair complete, Momma Puma let me know that she could not continue hike due to the knee injury she acquired climbing up Albert Mountain.

hmmm…

You know that sound a video game (and I am so dating myself right now), the sound right before the end, …

Insert deep foreboding voice, GAME OVER!

Anyway, that was what played in my head as Momma Puma told me this news.

***

Then I started planning for how I could continue the trek. I came down to NC to complete the section from Deep Gap to the Nantahala Outdoor Center, or NOC, and gosh darn it, I would find a way! Momma Puma graciously extended the offer to shuttle (thank you, thank you).

I was willing to backpack it alone, but needed more information on the trail. I sent out feelers to hiker friends in the area. Ann L. texted back, stating there wasn’t anything harder ahead than I had already encountered and no more Albert Mountain-like stuff. My hiker friend Google (remember her from my GA, MD, and PA sections?) got back to me with a sweeter offer. Stay at her cabin in Hiawassee and day hike from Winding Stair to the NOC. She had split it up into three sections that would make the shuttling easier: 1. Tellico Gap to NOC (leaving my car at Tellico Gap), Wayah Bald to Tellico Gap (pick up my car at Tellico Gap and repark at Winding Stair Gap), then the last section would be Wayah Bald to Winding Stair.

Great plan, Google!

So here we were climbing the fire road (Tellico Road) to Tellico Gap, me in my RAV4, and Momma Puma in her big ass truck. Holy Moly, people…that road is ridiculous! I kept thinking “jees, this should be a one-way stretch. God forbid, I meet someone coming the other way!” It was one lane, dirt/gravel, with a massive drop off that became visible at every hairpin turn. Momma Puma had to actually back up to maneuver around one particularly tight turn in the road. Pretty sure she was holding her breath!

At the top, we parked the cars, exited our respective vehicles and silently (well, almost silently) mouthed “Holy shiiiiiiiiiit” to each other. That was crazy!

Look! Another RAV4 🙂 🙂 🙂 Great little mountain climbers

Gathering my day hiking gear, I set off headed north to Wesser Bald Fire Tower. It was a gorgeous day, sunny with a temperatures that were going to climb no higher than the mid-70s. 🙂 🙂 🙂 Lucky me!

And off I go!

The climb was a long one, but not especially strenuous. The trail was flat, not a lot of rocks, and it moderately climbed to the fire tower. I pulled over for a break under the fire tower. The fire towers I passed in this section of North Carolina are so cool. I love climbing up and taking in the view from the top.

However, something weird happened on this trip that is new to me…vertigo on the fire tower steps. Never had that happened before. At Albert Mountain, I got to the second platform and stopped. Here at Wesser Bald, I made it half way up the second flight of steps, then had to sit down. I could of butt climbed the rest of the way to the top, but since I had a good view where I sat, I decided to stop there.

Wesser Bald Fire Tower

After my break I headed down towards the shelter. The trail started to narrow dramatically after passing the shelter. Fire damage and erosion has taken an immense toll on this section of trail. Most of the day I was on a narrow strip of trail, the sides of the mountain falling off on either side of me. I watched my step!

Skinny trail just past the shelter

The damage to the trail came to a head at the “jump-off”. I was flabbergasted at the condition. I had thoughts running through my head like, “I shouldn’t even be walking on this.” and “Holy mother of God, is this the trail???” Just below the jump-off, the trail was about 10 inches wide on an otherwise precariously steep slope that had seen some slide damage due to erosion. There was a place where a tree had fallen or shifted, leaving a gaping hole in the trail that needed to be stepped over.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

I was happy to leave that part of the trail behind as I continued steeply downhill! I found a nice log to sit on down the trail a bit and had some lunch, while texting Momma Puma my approximate time of arrival to the NOC. The rest of the trail down to the NOC was steep in places, and there were signs of erosion, but nothing like what I experienced at the top. I was soon down and headed across the Nantahala River to don my flip flops and relax in an Adirondack chair while waiting for Momma Puma to show up. Bliss, I tell you!

The NOC has free Wifi, so I tapped into it. After sending another message to Momma Puma, I checked out Facebook. and there I saw it…Momma Puma was having a beer somewhere here at the NOC! What???? Beer??!!

Apparently, even though I had Wifi, my text messages weren’t reaching her…travesty when there is celebratory beverages concerned! …oh, I found her pretty quickly after that… 😀

Grab a cold one and Hike on!

July 5, 2017 by BoobOnARock

AT – NC Deep Gap to Winding Stair

Day 1 Deep Gap to Carter Gap Shelter 6/24/2017

Oh how fitting, how absolutely perfectly perfect in a way that is just not cool, not cool at all!! When I finished the Georgia section (a few years back) I ended by splashing down the trail turned creek into Deep Gap.

On Saturday morning, my hiking buddy, Momma Puma, and I set off for Deep Gap in a heavy, dripping fog. You know the kind. It wets the roads, damps down sound, and makes mountains disappear. I dropped my car at Winding Stair, then jumped in with Momma Puma for the ride down to Deep Gap on the fire road. We wound around on that road so long that we both were convinced we had somehow missed Deep Gap!

A magical, if a little messy, start to our traverse from Deep Gap to Winding Stair (then eventually the NOC). “Welcome back” I heard the woods whisper as I slipped past the first white blaze.

I glanced back at Momma Puma a couple of times. This was her first long distance backpack and she was visibly excited! I remember that feeling…the awe, the nervousness, then the reality of climbing the first big hill. The loss of confidence, the gaining of confidence, then the reality that every hike, every backpack, no matter how many I have completed, brings the loss and gain of confidence…every.single.one. ! 😀

Momma Puma

The first day was a gain in confidence for me. Standing Indian is not as hard a climb as it looks on the map.

credit to Momma Puma for this pic!

Before we knew it we were cruising into the Carter Gap Shelter while still early in the afternoon. And just in time…soon after we arrived so did the rain. A few others came in after us and then…Torrential for about 10 minutes. I was feeling pretty dry, happy, and quite literally, smug, until I realized the shelter was leaking ON MY BAG. Could this get any better?

Cozy until my bag got wet. 😦 Darn drippy shelter!

After the rain, a few more hikers showed up. And let me tell you, this was the worst bunch of shelter mates I have ever had, in terms of bear safety, that is. No one was going to hang their food. These two younger guys were literally going to leave their dirty dishes in the shelter (near to where I had put my sleeping pad, mind you!). A man with a dog was throwing chunks of cheese to his dog…who missed several times and would not eat the crumbs off the ground. SERIOUSLY??? NO. NO. NO!!!!! Momma Puma and I were incredulous. Speechless. Are these people for real????

We, Momma Puma and I, contemplated putting up our tents down the hill…but with the rain threatening, decided we would stick with the shelter.

We began reciting every story we knew of a bear coming in because someone had barely sneezed cheese crumbles in their tent. hahaaaa! 🙂 🙂

Bad hiker leaving dirty plates in shelter until we told so many scary stories they were at least shamed into getting this crap out of the shelter.

Thank you to Laralee Bliss for the recent story about the tent snooping bear in Shenandoah NP. It did the trick. I don’t know how they hung their bags and don’t care. They all got their food out of the shelter. And we had a quiet night…for the most part. There was talk of an animal crashing through by Momma Puma, but I heard nothing in my Benedryl induced slumber.

Day 2 Carter Gap to Long Branch Shelter 6/25/2017

We were up and moving the next morning as others in the shelter were just starting breakfast and I was happy to move on…hoping the food offenders would not show up at the next shelter!

The trail was quite exciting between Carter Gap and Long Branch. I was hoping to walk through some of the fire damage from last fall’s fire and boy, did we ever. Miles of burned out areas left us in an indescribable state. I was floored. I have never seen anything like the fire damage we hiked through.

View from the charred ridge

Just after Mooney Gap, there is the area I will just refer to as the land between the fire roads. It started off innocently enough with a nice climb through rhododendron bushes, but then circled the mountain and became a cliff side walk…one wrong step…haha! And then, the big event of the day…Albert Mountain! I was looking forward to this in the same way I was looking forward to Lehigh Gap when I hiked Pennsylvania. However, I knew less about Albert Mountain. Was it really a rock scramble? It was fitting that I was set to climb it on my dad, Albert Cross’ birthday! What a way to celebrate, too bad there was no birthday cake at the top for me! 🙂

Momma Puma in the land between the fire roads

View from a slightly scary place on the trail in the land between the fireroads.

Albert was a combination of rock scramble and stairs. Without a backpack on, it would have been a lot more fun, for sure! With the backpack, it made me nervous, then made me feel like a badass. I would definitely climb it again! At the top, sans birthday cake, was a great fire tower with great views. Wonderful payoff!

Hugging the white blaze on Albert. Happy Birthday Daddy! (credit to Momma Puma for this pic)

Momma Puma on Albert Mountain

A just reward!

It began to sprinkle while we were taking a break at the fire tower. To don the rain poncho to not…

We descended the mountain, passing the old location of the shelter. It was a rough, but exciting day of hiking!

We were plum tuckered out when we reached the Long Branch. Thoughts of my dinner kept me going…I packed an avocado! Downright exciting! Dinner was Capellini with tuna and avocado…and it was exceptional!!! Afterwards I crashed in this most beautiful of shelters. 🙂

Day 3 Long Branch to Winding Stair Gap

Morning came and I set out to retrieve our bear bags. No one else was awake so I sat out on a stump and watched far off mountains go from black to purple to pinkish to blue. I stretched out my legs and my arms. I felt so at home here in the woods this morning. It was so quiet.

Greeted with new blooms this morning!

We made the last day of our first section without incident. We were both sporting new aches…Momma Puma strained her knee on Albert… and I had a few raw spots on my heels from blisters. The blisters irritated me. I had hiked several miles on rockier terrain than this with no blisters before this hike. The only thing I can think is that the added weight of the pack caused my feet to rub differently. Oh well, the NOC is calling…wrap them up, put on those boots and hike on!

The end of the first leg of our hike

Girl Gone Hiking

One step, then one step more

Category Archives: AT -Tennessee and North Carolina

AT – NC Max Patch to Garenflo Gap

AT – NC Fontana Dam to the NOC (part 2)

AT – NC Fontana Dam to NOC (part 1)

AT – NC Wayah Bald to Winding Stair Gap

AT – NC Wayah Bald to Tellico Gap

AT – NC Tellico Gap to NOC

AT – NC Deep Gap to Winding Stair

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this: