Date: 2017-03-09
From: Siler Bald

To: Wesser Bald Shelter
Miles today: 17.0
Weather: clear sky

3/9/17 Wesser Bald Shelter, NCMiles hiked: 131.1, Miles to go: 2058.7Today was my longest hike to date - 17 miles. I had only planned to do about 12; but, sometimes plans change. I awoke to a beautiful sunrise on Siler Bald. Courtney came down from the summit as I was finishing packing my gear and informed me that I had missed out on the best sunrise ever. I saw it just fine from my campsite slightly below the summit. The trail In the morning proved to be fairly difficult. Steep ascents and descents and rocky and rooty treadway. I continue to walk through burned out forest. The forest fire in this section appears to have been particularly bad. When I reached the top of Wayah Bald I actually had to search a bit for the trail because the trees with the white blazes had been cut down or had been burned. The stone tower on Wayah Bald used to have a wooden roof. Now all it has is four burned out posts and several melted plastic interpretive signs. Unfortunately, under our current Administration, I doubt there will be money earmarked for those kinds of repairs. I ran into Tiptoe and Right Move at Wayah Bald. I had ridden on the shuttle out of Franklin with them yesterday. Tiptoe is a skinny guy with wiry hair and a pointy goatee. He carries a plastic ukulele. His name derives from the Tiny Tim song, of course (if you don't know who Tiny Tim is, Google it). Right Move is more muscular, with a shaved head and tattoos. Both guys are really cool. I would play leapfrog with them the rest of the day. After Wayah Bald, I ran into a ridgerunner with the Nantahala AT Club. She was touring the shelters under their care picking up trash. Trash left by hikers is a big problem. I guess they figure it either doesn't matter or someone else will pick it up. I actually had trouble getting away from the woman. She really talked my ear off. The trail after Wayah Bald settled down quite a bit. The ups and downs got more reasonable and the treadway smoothed out. Coming into Burningtown Gap I saw a sign every thru hiker loves-"Trail magic ahead". When I arrived at the gap, there was a man handing out food and drinks. I had a Gatorade and oatmeal cream pie. Yum! I also took an apple for later. I dearly missed my apples since the Dollar General in Franklin didn't carry any produce. Eating healthy food is a real issue on the trail. It's hard to carry enough weight in food to meet your daily caloric needs due to the huge calories you're burning every day. So, you end up carrying calorie-dense foods, such as Snickers bars. After a long climb out of the gap, I finally reached Cold Spring Gap Shelter. I also finally caught up with Courtney. It was only 3 pm, which was too early to stop for the day. So, I decided to push on another 1.4 miles to the Big Branch Campsite on the other side of Rocky Bald. Courtney is planning to meet her parents tomorrow at the next gap past   Cold Spring Gap Shelter, so she decided to stay put. We said our goodbyes; but, I suspect as often happens on the AT, we will meet again. It was a pretty long climb up and over the summit; but, I finally reached the Campsite. I was not impressed. It was perched on the side of the mountain and there was not a flat site to be had. I looked at my guidebook and determined it was another 3.7 miles to Wesser Bald Shelter, up and over Wesser Bald. It would be pushing it, but I should be able to make it just before dark. I started hoofing it and made it just as the sun was going down. Unfortunately, the tent sites here are just as bad as at the Campsite. To top it off, I walked right into the middle of a dispute between some of the people in the shelter over whether to hang their food on the bear cables or not. The final blow was when I received a text from Blood Mt saying he and Popcorn and Sticks and Pudge were all together in Franklin having a nice evening. So, here I am in my tent which is set up on a slope. That means I'll be sliding sideways in my sleeping bag all night. It's supposed to thunderstorm later tonight. And the guy in the next tent over is snoring like a freight train. It's going to be a long night. Bummer. Sorry if this installment isn't a sparkling as the others. Some days are just better than others.