Date: 2005-04-11
From: Cold Spring Shelter

To: Nantahala Outdoor Center (NOC)
Miles today: 10.8
Weather: clear sky

I'm still keeping track of my 'Extra Trail-estrial' mileage, mileage that's not counted on the Trail. I'm up to 7.6 miles now.8:50 I'm sitting at Tellico Gap on the wood here, taking a break before the climb, which I vividly remember as being as horrible climb. I'm not looking forward to this climb going north.I remember looking for a hostel that wasn't there in the 45 degree weather in the rain with Tuscon and Big Paw. We finally had to do the climb out of here into the shelter that was way overcrowded.I got up a little after 6 o'clock, rolled up camp, and sat on the bald face ridge and watched the gorgeous sunrise. I ate a mixture of Froot Loops, toasted nuts and powdered milk. Origami came up for a while to watch the pre-sunrise horizon, which was magnificent.I saw my first orange salamander and a small garter snake on the walk down here the morning. The snake was small so I took my trekking pole and moved it out of the way to keep it from scaring someone coming up behind me.   I have to take it easy and pay attention to my down hills more. Both of my knees are starting to build up fluid.   The right one is starting to sing to me. I noticed last night that the areas around both Achilles tendons are tender and somewhat sore.I'll try to get in to NOC early today and rest up and eat a lot of hamburgers and wait until mid-afternoon or noon tomorrow to head back out and get a couple of miles in.10:00 I dropped down into Wesser Bald Shelter to use the privy, but there isn't one, so I had to crouch over a log again. The climb out of Tellico Gap is no where as bad as I recall it.Maybe my temperament was bad at the time or maybe I'm in better shape now or maybe both. When I got to the top, I elected to bypass the fire tower again. I just don't see why I need to go another 40 feet higher to see what I already see.I've been listening to Christine's radio shows for the last couple of days.   I wish I had taped them all right now, because I'm really enjoying listening to them. Maybe next time.From here on down to NOC is about 3,000 feet of continuous descent with one nasty little uphill. I'm going to try to glide on downhill.I passed a little girl with her parents she was about 5, she said she thought I was skating downhill. That's about what I'm trying to do, glide downhill, never locking the knees ,keeping them slightly bent, keeping the up and down motion to a minimum. Going to take it easy on the downhill.I'm sitting on a bench near the Nantahala River at NOC where the bridge crosses the river. It's been a very busy, full day. The hike downhill from Wesser Bald to NOC, what can I say but "wow". The only way to describe it was a 2 and 1/2 hour controlled fall down the mountain. At the very beginning, there were actually some very cool ridge walks, you walked along the spine of the mountain and it was only 8 feet wide. You could actually see a 1,000 to 2,000 foot drop on either side. So, you were actually walking a 'stone spine' is all I can describe it as. Right after that the downhill started. Some were so steep that it took more energy to stand still than to actually roll downhill. Some places it was too steep to stand on and they had log steps or rock steps to go down. On top of that, it was not all downhill. There were at least a dozen of these nasty little 60 foot steep uphills that took your breath away and got your calves burning then the next thing you know, you go over the crest of the hill and immediately there's another sharp downhill before you get the chance to recover from having to go up. There are other places on the hike down where anyone with a healthy respect for heights would have had vertigo. The trail would be only 20 inches wide and the mountain rose steeply to the left drops steeply off to the right. I could totally see myself tripping over a rock and rolling hundreds of feet downhill and coming to a stop after slamming into a tree trunk. After about 2 and 1/2 hours of this, I popped out in front of NOC. I could barely stand, my legs were all wobbly. I sat there for a few minutes and watched the other hikers that were coming in, they were all in a state of shock.I ran over to the offices to see about getting a room. Albert and I had decided to split one. Au Pa was there, he had just walked in before me. He was trying to get a room or something and having a hard time because he had a big dog with him.   Eventually, he got a room that allowed a dog. I ended up getting a good deal, it was like $66 for the room. It was a beautiful room, a double, but it actually had 3 beds. Later on Spicy Thighs and Free Radical asked to stay with us and chip in. It ended up being $16 a piece, good deal. After I showered and did laundry and stuff I made a whole bunch of phone calls. I got a hold of Eddie and told him that I'd be getting in to Fontana Thursday afternoon and Eddie, being Eddie said, "I'm not trying to push you, but do you think we can leave Thursday afternoon when you get there?" I'm not really too interested in doing that, seeing that I'll have been hiking all day. When I get into Fontana Dam I'll want to take a shower and get my mail drops and then late in the afternoon doing a 4,000 foot climb out of Fontana Dam. I can't see that as being a smart thing. I told him I'd rather just sleep and get out the next morning, which is probably what's going to happen unless he actually does talk me into it. Au Pa and I walked down to the gas station, which was supposed to be a half a mile down the road, but turned out to be more like a mile. We were both bitching about that.When we walked into the Outfitters' this guy walked up to me and asked, "Would you like a ride to Bryson City?" Of course I wanted a ride!!It ended up being this guy named Chris, who's fiancee was also thru-hiking, her trail name is Cold Feet. Origami, Sam I Am, Lefty and I ended up jumping in his car to Engall's in Bryson City. I stocked up on all kinds of stuff. I got a pound of ham which I intended to eat right away, even though I had just had a Wesser burger an hour before. I got a whole bunch of candy bars, beef jerky and 2 roast beef subs, which I figured I would pack with me for lunch. I got Albert a cigar and 2 green peppers, which he seems to like alot. I got Au Pa and Au Ma a couple of small bottles of Merlot. When I got back, Au Pa, Au Ma and Albert were having dinner, so I ordered a BLT and joined them.When we got back to the room, Albert and I went through our mail drops and ended up trading some things. I got some beef jerky from him and he got some cereal and various other things.Then we went out to the porch out back and all of us sat around smoking our cigars and drinking beers. After everyone went to bed, a whole crowd of other hikers that were staying up at the hostel came by, including Cold Feet and Chris. We stayed up and smoked cigars and chatted.It was a fun night.I also called my sister last night. It was her birthday. I ended up singing Happy Birthday to her answering machine.