Day 4: Cable Gap Shelter to Fontana Dam

The next morning, I eat a cliff bar and hit the trail early, before the guys pack up. It's a long climb to start and if I don't get out fast, I'll be dragging the group down. As I near a peak, I spot a hive or nest of stinging insects. Due to some poor luggage management, I am hiking without my first aid kit, so I step back, survey the situation and decide I had better wait to pass until someone else catches up. The first of our group gets there about 10 minutes later, and we discuss the problem. He decided to go for it and hikes fast past the nest. He stirs up the insects and he stops up the path. I wait for the two behind me to get there to explain the hazard, and then I hike through. We keep on going and the others follow behind us.

We press on until we get to the peak. At the peak, we learn that the last guy did not allow the stingers to settle down before passing, so he hiked through an agitated swarm and wound up getting stung. On the butt. Twice. No one really wanted to remove the stingers, but one guy stepped up to do the task. There was a little more uphill after than, and then a long, steep, rocky down to Fontana Dam. We meet a SOBO, Mr. Whiffle, who is almost done and quite ready to be off the trail. He is hiking in sneakers, supporting my arguements with the group that hiking sneakers were a good choice for me. We warn him about the swarm and continue down. It is rather cruel that as you enter the Fontana Dam area, you must first navigate one last series of ups and downs, with little canopy, before you are done. Tired girls may finish last, but we do finish. Next year, we will hike the Smokies. They look amazing from the Dam. I cannot wait!

Day 3 - Staccoah Gap to Cable Gap Shelter

This was our last morning at the NOC. The drought conditions have been unbelieveable, but we had reports of a reliable water source at Cable Gap Shelter, so tonight will be an overnight on the trail for us. When we arrived at Staccoah, there was a southbound group coming off the trail. They reconfirmed availability of water at Cable Gap, so we know we'll be OK.

We always joke that the definition of "gap" is knee jarring downhill on the approach, and steep miserable uphill on the ascent. Today was no different. It starts out easy enough, but today, with a full pack it feels a lot harder than it might normally. Day hiking is a real luxury. Because we will only be out one night, there was a lot of debate about what to carry. I am carrying my tent. No one else is, although one guy is carrying his rain fly. There are four of us going to a shelter that is listed as holding four hikers. If there are others, and it rains, there could be a problem. I've slept in a rain fly situation before, and I prefer to have the full tent.

That rainfly experience was one of those lifetime changing events. When I was 14 I had qualfied for a week at "survivial camp" having aced my participation in forestry camp. We canoed down a river to a base camp where we would be for the week. That night, we were in a frog strangler and none of the tents provided to us were up to the task - we were swamped. We were also supposed to stay in the woods for another 5 days. Sleeping in tents was not a possibility so we created one big group bed on higher ground, and strung rain covers over the sleeping area. It rained for 3 of the next 5 days. We were much drier in this arrangement, but it was not pleasant. My takeaway lessons were 1) know what you can do to make the best of a situation and 2) plan well so you minimize the chance you have to use lesson #1.

Anyway, after a long steep climb, much of which was at 45% or steeper in places, we reached a bald for a lunch break. As always, I broke first after lunch and wound up "turtling" for the first time ever. I was scooting down some rocks, slipped on some acorns or other loose nut on the ground, and wound up on my pack, limbs in the air like a turtle on its back. Fortunately, no one saw it! I quickly recovered and pressed on, making excellent time to the next major gap. I got a nice 30 minute break waiting for the rest of the guys to catch up. Hiking in this area was beautiful and amazing. Again, they took their break and I pressed on, having already rested quite a bit, and I zipped on to the next peak and waited again. After this I hiked with the full group. As we began our descent toward a forestry road, we encounter a large amount of dog poop, and unfortunately, some of a more human appearance. Three out of four of us wound up stepping in it at some point on the descent, and it was no wonder why - when we got to the road, there were multiple hunters, trucks, trash on the ground, etc.... We stopped long enough to catch our breath and drink a bit of water and kept moving. Why is it that some hunters are respectful and some are not?

I was pretty slow on this last mile or so to the shelter and the guys got there first. Wonder if it had anything do with my full pack as opposed to their light packs. Fortunately, we were the only ones in camp and I decide to sleep in a shelter rather than pitch the tent since it's just my hiking brothers, no strangers. This is the first time I have ever slept in a shelter. Not so bad, if you know your company and the bugs are not too fierce. I slept well, even though my snoring kept one of the guys up most of the night.

Day 2 - Staccoah Gap to the NOC

This was a southbound day, the first we have done on the AT. The reason we are doing this is because there are drought conditions and it is safer to do this as a day hike. It makes more sense to end at the NOC, so we are headed south. When we are picked up for our shuttle in the morning, we are running a bit late due to a misunderstanding about the opening time of the restaurant. Not a problem, our shuttle driver informs us - he took today off because it was the first day of hunting season. Yikes! Where we are dropped, there is a hunter. The hike starts with a healthy uphill, and a couple of minor drops and rises that mimic a camel back. Then there is the climb from hell to Cheoah Bald. I fall behind the group. I pass a young man out hunting with his hounds. When I get to the top (finally!) I encounter more hunters and catch up to the others. We take lunch here, and the views are breathtaking. I start down first and soon cross the path of a guy who was having breakfast at the same cafe this morning. He has covered 8 miles in the time we took to do 6, and his was mostly uphill. He will be the only hiker we see today. However, I will see another 5 or 6 hunters, all disturbing in their own ways. One has tied his dogs to trees on either side of the trail, making it difficult to pass. One is sitting on the trail, gun cocked and ready. The others are grouped on a forest service road in their trucks, talking to the member of our group who got there first in a scene reminiscent of Deliverance. Near this group, someone has made a bowel movement (human) on the trail and left the TP there as well. We are certain it is one of these men. We press on quickly. The men we saw in the morning were respectful of the trail, but these men in the afternoon were the opposite. The rest of the afternoon is uneventful, and the descent into the NOC is a rocky, but enjoyable trip.

Day 1 - Tellico Gap to NOC

This will be the shorter of our two day hikes. Last year, we had to pull out early at Tellico because of a number of issues - inclement weather, a hiking boot that fell apart, etc... We are shuttled up to Tellico and the weather is nearly perfect. I'd prefer that it be a few degrees cooler, but there is no rain in sight. In what has become a tradition with our group, I come dressed for how the weather will be, which means I may be a little chilly at the begining, but will be fine later. Everyone else layers and is comfortable to start, but needs to strip layers shortly after the hike starts. This hike is no different. I quickly summit Wesser Bald, passing some day hikers coming down. I start to climb the tower there, waiting for the rest of my group, but vertigo gets the better of me and I start to get nauseated. No tower for me. Of course, the guys arrive and they do climb the tower. We spend probably half an hour there before pushing on. We find a rocky overlook (the jump up?) for lunch, and shortly after lunch run into a southbound hiker who confirms that there is water at Cable Gap for us. It's all downhill after lunch and we spend time at the outfitter and have an early dinner before returning to the roost. Everyone is feeling good and the lighter, dayhiking option seems to agree with us.

Gearing Up

Today will be a zero day, but that's OK. I drive 5 hours to my cousin's home to visit, a benefit to being in the area. In the late afternoon, it is time to push on and I meet up another hiker in our group who lives in the same town as my cousin. We have dinner, load up the gear and head to our final destination - the NOC. We get there before the others in the group, who get lost. To help them find us on the dark road, we put on the hazard lights. One of NC's finest pulls up behind us, lights flashing. As we explain that our friends are lost, they pull up, finding us easily with the blue flashing lights helping out. We get settled into "base camp." Due to water shortage issues, we will be first doing two day hikes, flip flopping so that we end at the NOC each of those days (where there is water!) and then doing two days of regular backpacking since we hear that there is water available at Cable Gap.