Date: 2018-11-23
From: Wilbur Dam Rd

To: TN 91
Miles today: 16.1

My cold is getting better and I can sleep and breathe through the night without NyQuil. During the day I'm constantly blowing my nose but it's a combination of the cold weather and my cold. This morning Lee cooked us eggs and toast after getting up just after 6am. I made a sandwich for lunch and filled up my water and brought a Body Armor hydration drink to the car for later. Lee dropped us off at Wilbur Dam Rd and the drive out there was pretty. Today's hike will be northbound and we'll end across from Osborne's Farm connecting to yesterday's hike. Romeo was being very vocal looking for words to express how much he wanted to hike today but he's a dog and the words came out a whiny jumble. He was distracted by treats while we slipped away and up the hill. We climbed up into the wind steadily for about 2 miles before reaching a ridge that overlooked the Watauga lake. The wind was sustained and cold featuring eye watering gusts. I pulled my buff up over my mouth, nose and face to protect it. Along the ridge we climbed up and down with the lake to our right below but never clearly visible. Between the haze, the angle of the sun and the trees it was almost impossible to get a photo worthy of the beauty I know is there. We came upon Vandevinteer shelter and stopped for hot cocoa and a snack. The view from behind the shelter was very pretty but again the sun and haze obscured it. The shelter is perched on top of the ridge and right on trail and with it's back to the wind. It was an excellent place for a few minutes protection. We drank our cocoa and schnapps and I ate my banana and a protein bar. I had peppermint schnapps today and I'll say I prefer the butterscotch. WE spilled the last of the hot water when she went to grab the pot off my stove and my skirt got wet in the process but my leggings were spared. We stepped back out into the wind continuing up and down along the ridge. There was an incredible amount of tree damage with limbs and branches scattered about the trail. For miles we climbed over piles of brush littering the trail. WE caught her foot on a limb and did a belly flop on the trail coming down hard on her knees. It became tiring wading through, over and around the brush. Along the sides of the trail many multi-flora rose vines with their sharp thorns. They twist around each other and up and around other flora along the trail making it hard to go off trail for a potty break and also hard to get around some of this brush. WE was just in front of me and had barely made it out of site when I found myself frozen in place unable to move. A rose vine had reached out in the wind and combed it's thorny fingers into the hair on the back of my head under my ponytail. I thought for a minute and turned slightly left so I could see it grabbing it with my mittened hand and pulling it. It pulled a chunk of my hair from my ponytail and let go. I stepped forward away from it and fixed my hair putting what was pulled loose back up and putting my buff up around my ears and head like a headband to keep my cold ears warm since my hat was off because it was making me sweat. I caught back up with WE just in time for us to both become assaulted by falling chunks of frozen snow. Like mini snowballs. We couldn't see it was coming from, it certainly wasn't snowing this stuff. And WE noticed the very tips of the trees were coated in it and the sun wind combination was causing it to fall upon us. More and more brush down. So much damage and all of it very recent. We crossed paths with a section hiker and then arrived at Iron Mountain shelter which wasn't as protected from the wind. I ate my lunch and got a call from Kyle with a work question. We talked for a few minutes during which I had to start hiking to keep from getting too cold. It was 36° now and the sun was out but the biting wind would not cease. We ran into southbound thru hikers Jalapeno and her partner who's name I didn't catch. They were going to try for 10 miles to Vandevinteer shelter for the night but that meant they'd have to navigate the trail and brush in the dark. We arrived at TN 91 across from the Osborne's Farm just before 4pm and ahead of schedule. Lee went right to bed when we got to the camper, still feeling miserable. WE and I showered and made burgers and baked beans for dinner and had Tate's chocolate chip cookies for dessert. We'll be off tomorrow. Rain overnight and more wind and chances of rain until 11am. Taking the direction we did today was helpful to my knee. I soft kneed down all the descent I could and I'm feeling less pain. A day of rest is in order and Sunday is our last hike up here. We'll be moving towards Fontana on Monday and hiking straight to Springer Mt from there. Exciting! Brian bought me a new neck warmer and it's being shipped to Bryson City along with some other gear I asked him to send me. I look forward to having my wind jacket, water bladder and other goodies!