Date: 2021-08-28
From: CarverÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs Gap

To: Unofficial Campsite on Unaka Mountain 
Miles today: 22.01
Weather: clear sky

After returning from yesterday¢s hike, I recontacted Zpacks about my frame issue, as I hadn¢t had an update from them in 24 hours. Their customer service rep responded that her ¢repair team¢ had been ¢in meetings all day¢ and I wouldn¢t get an update until Monday. Hmmmm.  Color me suspicious. I emailed back that if the answer for assistance was ¢no¢, just tell me, no worries. I didn¢t get an answer before 5 o¢clock Friday hit. Ah well. This is fine. The folks at Mountain Harbor dug up a travel sewing kit and after I ate and had a couple Two-Hearted Ales I set to work. The hardest part turned out to be threading the dang needle, which took me 15 minutes. Then I just started to stitch back and forth until the needle was too bent to continue (the frame strapping is thick stuff) then tied off the thread. There was a safety pin in the kit so I threw that through and taped it closed for good measure. If I¢d had access to a hot glue gun or an acetylene torch, I would¢ve used that too. After a second go at the fantabulous Mountain Harbor breakfast (to call it breakfast is really a disservice in a world where a gas station donut can be called the same) we got a ride to trailhead from section hiker Brad who was on his way back home to Wilmington, NC. Thus saved us $10 each, got us to the trail 20 minutes sooner, and gave us a chance to chat with him as well. Another helping of trail magic!We climbed out of the gap and over Roan Mountain at 6200 feet, then we just set our sights on putting miles behind us and enjoying another near perfect weather day.  Temps were in the 80¢s and it was a bit humid, but it's dry and the trail was as well. With so much good food in us, we only stopped twice for water until we reached the Cherry Gap Shelter after 19 miles of hiking. We had clicked right along, covering the distance in about 6 1/2 hours. After a 30 minute break, we decided to hike another three miles up 1200 feet to Unaka Mountain where there¢s an unofficial campsite.I did see deer today for the first time in 5 days, both times the animal had frozen at my approach, likely due to my music playing (Rage Against The Machine in heavy rotation - I¢m fickle).  Strangely, we haven¢t heard many birds over the last two weeks. Must be they¢ve already moved on from the higher elevations. In other gear news my remaining hip belt pouch broke today (the other broke off 1000 miles ago) and I got my bear hang rock bag stuck in a tree (no one tell Iceberg, it was his).  So I had to cut the line as high as I could and execute a non-standard bear bag hang. I may wake up to a missing food bag. On the bright side, my pack weight would be 8 pounds lighter! (I¢m such a Pollyanna).After we had hiked 26.3 miles out of Damascus, I had thought our 20 mile days were behind us. But after today we still have three more planned over the next four days as we try to stay in front of the approaching hurricane and get to Hot Springs next week for a zero. One last interesting point: I mentioned earlier to my friend Mark that I was camped at 5000 feet tonight. He said that is 2 1/2 time higher than the highest point in Michigan.  Wow.