Date: 2009-11-22
To: Hiawassee to Franklin 
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: moderate rain

This is a 39 mile section, and I¢ve done it as both a four day and a three day hike. In ¢05, I did: Bly Gap campground (8.8) Standing Indian shelter (7.7)Betty¢s Creek campground (11.3)and Franklin (12.3 The reason for the long day going into Franklin was the relatively short day coming out of Hiawassee. The reason for that was a weather forcast that called for high winds and heavy rain by early evening, so we stopped and set up camp at Bly Gap, cooked an early dinner, and hunkered down. It was a good decision. In ¢09, with one of the days when it DIDN'T rain, I made it a bit further out of town. The stops then were: Muskrat Creek shelter (10.8)Carter Gap shelter (12.3)and was planning to do Rock Gap shelter (12.7), with a short day four into Franklin (3.8). However, I arrived early at the Rock Gap Shelter, on another one of those (seemingly endless) rainy days, and decided to hike the remaining four miles to Franklin in order to enjoy the comforts of town ¢ hot showers, restaurant food, and a real bed! Then, having arrived a day earlier than my original plan, I took my first zero day in Franklin which really felt good. A couple of interesting points about this section of the trail: First, on the day you leave Hiawassee, you will come to a really cool spot called Bly Gap. Just before that, you will pass a small wooden sign on a tree that designates the border between Georgia and North Carolina. Congratulations - you've just completed your first state! At Bly Gap itself, there's a nice campground, and just a stone's throw north of that is the famous old knarled (spell check Ms. B!)tree which is great for taking pictures. However, just after the tree, Carolina captures your attention with a surprisingly tough climb. It's like: "Wecome to North Carolina - don't take me for granted!" But now, you'll know to expect it. Second, between Betty's Creek and Rock Gap Shelter is a place called Albert's Mountain. The guidebooks make it out to be something of a challenge, where you have to put your hiking poles away and climb hand over hand. That's true, as far as it goes, but frankly I've always found Mt. Albert over-rated. The section where you have to do a bit of pulling yourself up with rocks and roots is really pretty limited, and not at all scary (I know, as I have a well-developed fear of heights!), and the rest is just one more hill. It's more likely to be the climbs the guidebooks don't say much about that got to me -- like the first hill into N.C., or that last little mile into the Fontana Dam Hilton, or that straight up section just after the Mahoosuck Notch, but those latter two are stories for another day. In Franklin, your host is Ronnie Haven. He runs the Budget Inn Motel, plus a smallish hostel just across the street, and a couple of other motels for any overflow. He offers a free shuttle to and from the trail on an old school bus, and then gets you out for resupply to the grocery store, the outfitters, a restaurant meal (the local Mexican restaurant is excellent), etc. He¢s a really good guy who can¢t do enough for hikers -- including organizing a hiker fest in Franklin that he will shuttle you back for if you're interested.