Date: 2009-03-22
From: Carter Gap Shelter

To: Rock Gap Shelter, NC
Miles today: 12.1
Weather: clear sky

Cell NoneOG notes - In 2006 when I hiked this section it was in 3 inches of snow, also I had hiked from Standing Indian Shelter 19 miles back. Today we had excellent weather and we hiked in t-shirts.I saw this section so differently today, especially Albert Mountain. It is still a very tough climb but this time I was able to get a foothold. C6 did very well on the climb, she stayed ahead of me the whole time. We were both very tired after the climb. Another difference was we were able to take a break and not freeze when standing still.The whole day hiking went well too. It was enjoyable to be hiking and not freezing. We were able to take a few breaks today. We stopped at a stream to get water at one point and while we were stopped I discovered we were at mile 100.9 of our journey. I know "It's about the smiles, not the miles" but it's nice to know when they add up.Life on the trail is still very enjoyable. People are starting to learn that I've already completed a thru hike. It feels good to answer questions and offer advice. I respect anyone who gets out here and attempts a hike like this. Everyone is a winner just for giving it an attempt. It takes a lot of determination to drop everything in their life and hike. Some will do this numerous times as I am doing and some will find out during a hike this is not for them. Whichever category the hiker falls into he or she will take away memories of a great adventure.We are with a group that started March 15th, these people are the fast group for that day. They will leave us in thier dust, maybe one or two will slow down or need to take time off and we'll see them again. I would put us in the slower group for our day, but then again that is where we expected to be. We figure that we're up to 10 or 11 mile day range max. Our 15 mile day yesterday was a little too much for this stage of our hike.Tomorrow we'll hike 3.7 miles to a road crossing where we'll get a ride into Franklin, NC. We are planning to take a zero (no hiking) day Tuesday to rest our bodies. We'll have more time to write then so we'll make sure to fill in things we missed.Goodnight.C6 notes - Beautiful sunny day today and warm, but not so warm that we were hot hiking. Adin said it was 61 degrees today.We walked in fluffy leaves a lot yesterday and today. They are pretty, but dangerous to hike in because the leaves cover small, loose rocks and roots. It's easy to trip on those things even when you can see them, and worse when you can't see them.Full house in the shelter tonight. Adin waited for us at the shelter. When we arrived, there were 5 of us, so the shelter would have been comfortable enough, so we set up our beds. Unfortunately, a bunch of young men came and decided they could squeeze into the shelter, too. That put us extremely (and uncomfortably) close together. Adin decided to go down the hill to the campsite. OG and I are staying in the shelter. He's been in this type of situation during his last thru-hike, and I'm against one of the side wall, so we decided to stay in the shelter. We went down to the tent area and visited with Red Leg, Lil Cricket, Sue, Jason, Stretch, Tin Man, Plunger, and Mr. Right for a while. Met Plunger and Mr. Right today - she (Amanda/Plunger) and Dan (Mr. Right) passed by us today when we were eating lunch. They were kind enough to take a quick video of us. (Plunger = plunging into the woods) (Mr. Right = started the trail saying "I told you so" a bunch of times, and he's Amanda's Mr. Right.)After visiting with them for a while, we came back up to the shelter and met the group up here. "AB," (aka "Angry Beaver") "Chuckles," "Knuckles," "Unplugged," "Sam the Jam," "Half >Step," and "Prarie Dog." They hiked 19 miles today (started on 3/15). Their reactions to our trail names was fun...they had been reading our entries in the shelter logs and liked meeting us since they have seen our names so often. Chuckles and Knuckles were very active in Boy Scouts, so we had a lot of discussions about Philmont, Eagle Scouts, Order of the Arrow, and Jamborees. They each wanted a picture taken with us. That was fun. We feel so honored.OG keeps the fact that he did the whole AT before quiet until we've talked with new people for a while. This group already knew. They told us that Neal is trying to catch up with us. They also said that, unfortunately, he's having trouble with his feet and caught a ride into Franklin today with a Boy Scout troop that was heading there. We're sorry to hear he's having so much trouble. Look forward to seeing him tomorrow..at least I hope we do. We have plans to go into Franklin with Adin (Red Leg) tomorrow and have dinner with him somewhere. He'll move on the next day and we'll stay Tues for our first zero. I hope we find Neal so he can join us for dinner, too.Old Goat & Check Six