| 6/23/01 We are back on the trail after 3 days in a Franklin, N.C. hotel. We actually tried to get back on the trail yesterday but when we got to the top of the mountain it started to rain like never before. We were both horrified by the prospect of having to hike in the rain again but we decided that we needed to stay on schedule. Suddenly, the clouds in front of us started getting sucked up into the sky in a swirling motion. The woman who drove us up to the A.T. told us that she would worry about us if we left. She said that the updrafts turned into tornadoes (sometimes) and that it would be best if we went back to the hotel for the night. After seeing the scary clouds we had already decided that that would be best anyway. The woman who drove us to the top of the mountain was Gerri Lee. She is the manager at the Microtel in Franklin and is about the nicest person ever. She gave us a "hiker�s rate" on our room. She keeps a box of hiking stuff that other hikers have discarded for one reason or another and let us pick out things we could us. We scored a � roll of toilet paper, waterproofing liquid, oatmeal, and some stove fuel. She also kindly let us use the computer in her office to check our email and our website. We finally got the read the newspaper article. We like it. Way to go Mr. Green! Finally, Gerri Lee drove us not once but twice to the Winding Starr Gap where we were finally able to begin hiking today. Today we only hiked 4 miles to Siler Bald Shelter. It is a very small shelter and it is definitely not the nicest we�ve stayed in but the location is beautiful. Beside the shelter is a big open grassy field. There are bushes all around with orange blossoms on them and if you look hard enough between the gaps in the trees you can just make out the mountains. It is a surprisingly cool day up here. It is probably only 65 degrees but the sky is blue and I am sitting on a picnic table in a sunny patch to stay warm. Someone left a deck of cards and a frisbee so Gerard and I plan to make good use of our day. I bought "The Poisonwood Bible" while we were in Franklin so when we get sick of playing we can read. It is only 1:30 now but we had to stop because the next shelter is about 12 miles away. We are saving that hike for tomorrow. I am really happy to be back on the trail. People told us we would begin to miss it if we stayed in town but we had a hard time believing that at first. Now however, it is different. I feel more relaxed here, I look forward to meeting other hikers, and I like the sense of accomplishment when we are finished hiking each day. All of the sounds and smells of the trail are becoming familiar and I now feel like I am becoming a member of this outdoor community instead of a tourist. 23/06/01 Gerard�s entry Spent three days at the Microtel. A hotel that is full size but needs the sobriquet "Micro." We found out that the "Micro" was a reference to the room size. It made our tent look gargantuan. No matter - we stayed here because the weather took a turn for the worse and landed us with time on our hands in our miniature room. We bought a new tent, sleeping bags, and a stove at Kmart. We waddled back to minute luxury with all of this shopping plus a bin liner (note: I assume that is a trashbag) full of washing. This was to be a day of second comings. Because when we opened the stove we found we still needed a fuel canister, so we forlornly skipped back to Kmart and purchased the absent fuel. By now we were getting the reputation among Franklin locals as the people who hung out at Kmart and bought random pieces of camping equipment. They were suspicious. We also needed to develop some photographs which we had taken of our adventure so far. We dropped them in at the "50 Minute Photo" and were told to return in one hour which rather contradicted the business name. I returned 70 minutes later for the goods. I paid and left. When I showed Christian the photographs she pointed out to me that there was another set of pictures that had not been included, so we trundled back to the "50 Minute Photo" and got the other set. We were now getting the reputation among the locals as the couple who hung out at the "50 Minute Photo." Perhaps we spied having top secret pictures of Franklin developed for Chinese consumption. 6/25/01 128.4 miles 5.8 miles today 12.5 miles yesterday Yesterday we hiked 12.5 miles for 2 reasons. #1. We want to have at least one 12 miles day each week. #2. The next shelter was 12.5 miles away. It was a tough hike and my feet really hurt by the time we reached Cold Springs Shelter. About 6 miles into the hike we reached the summit of Wayan Bald. It was a tough uphill but the view from the top was fabulous. There was a fire tower there and we climbed it. The view from the fire tower was even better. Apparently there was a road that leads all the way to this lookout point. As a result, there is a small sidewalk, a picnic area, toilets, and a lot of tourists wearing flip flops. Everyone seemed very excited to see "real" hikers and many people talked to us about what we are doing. However, just as many people stared at us like we had just jumped out of a van wearing our birthday suits. My best guess is that our natural aroma offended them - ah, tourists. Anyway, when we got to Cold Springs Shelter we were mighty surprised to find a cold spring and a shelter right there together. Who would have known? We also met a fellow hiker named Dan. Dan, the identical twin dentist from New York who likes running, hiking, wildflowers, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. One word of warning though. He doesn�t always filter his water and he likes to taste test berries he has never seen before. The jury is still out on this one. Dan is what Gerard and I refer to as "one of those" because he can pull several 16 miles days in a row. He did about 16.5 miles yesterday and then a mere 10. Something today so that he could coast into Natahala and rest in a hotel room tonight - we will be there tomorrow. Today, as luck would have it, it is raining. We left this morning very very late because we knew we were only going to do 5.8 miles. Although it started out to be a pretty day, dark clouds quickly came rolling in. We left at 10:30 am and by 12:00 we feared we were in trouble. We picked up our pace because we noticed that it was raining on the mountains next to us and also because the thunder was getting louder and louder above us. By the time we reached Tellico Gap, we might have thought it was 7:00 pm if we didn�t know better. The thunder continued as we began to climb Wesser Bald. Wesser Bald was one of the hardest climbs we have had thus far. Nothing on our maps, elevation charts, or thru hikers handbook indicated what a monster this bald was going to be. All I could think about as I was climbing was, "I am glad we are walking higher and higher, toward a thunderstorm while I am wearing an aluminum frame backpack." When we got to the top there was another fire tower (made of metal) but we decided that we should push on to the shelter rather than climb it. We got here at about 1:45 and 10 minutes later the clouds broke and it began to rain. It was as if we were walking in a bubble all morning. It was raining everywhere except on our heads. I feel so thankful to be here and to be dry. Rain does not seem to be a big deal at home but it is every hikers worst nightmare. Wet, cold, and weighed down with water. But we missed it and now we are smiling J 25/06/01 Gerard�s entry We are dry, just. The rain failed in its attempt to make us moist. We reached the shelter and the heavens opened, after threatening, with much thunderous finger pointing, to dampen our hike to Wesser Bald Shelter. The journey to the peak of Wesser Bald Mountain was like trying to scale a series of walls all of them completely flat. Buckets of sweat poured from me as the thunder screamed louder. |
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