Date: 2014-05-06
From: Muskrat Creek Shelter

To: Betty Creek
Miles today: 16.2
Weather: clear sky

Day 9: Muskrat Shelter to Betty Crik What a great place to sleep last night and wake-up to this morning! It was cool, not cold when I rolled out of my tent at 6:30. I started to rearrange things for the day, ate trail mix for breakfast, saw a few folks leave ahead of me and finally left with Ironhead a bit before 8. It was a pretty walk, and not strenuous at all to start. We skirted the sides of the mountains and passed through forest carpeted with different flowers. I've been seeing Trillium, but today we saw an apparently a rare flower to catch in bloom, the Trout Lily , it¢s yellow-green in color with a short flowering lifespan. ( Trout Lily )Note: as I write this journal, I've been educated that parts of this plant are edible. We breezed by Nature Bob, then caught up with Cinnamon Girl and T-Bird, not too far from the highly photographed ¢Chunky Gal Trail sign. The first 4 miles were cake, but arriving at Deep Gap, put an end to that easy walk. It would be a long 3-mile climb to the top of Standing Indian. The challenge on a beautiful day, is the sun exposure during a climb. Deep Gap is the jump is the trail-head area for Standing Indian Mountain and has a parking area and a dirt road that leads back to civilization 7 or so miles away. Travis was already there when we arrived. We talked about the hike up Sharp Top (one of the two mountains north of Bly Gap that I was cursing about in yesterday¢s journal entry). Travis cracked me up, he¢s an Army guy, does a lot of training of the National Guard and I think, active Army; needless to say, he¢s no wimp. Anyway, while talking about those mountains, Travis says: ¢I was in a dark, dark place yesterday, climbing up that mountain!¢ Yep, that was a good way to describe things yesterday. Today would not be the steep, hellacious climb of yesterday but a long, slow and steady one. We climbed the stairs that began the ascent and in about a mile stopped across from Standing Indian shelter turn-off where there was a rushing creek to our left. Snapped some photos, dowsed my bandana and grabbed some water before returning to the climb. It got hot as we neared the summit. Ironman led the way while I fell further behind until I was hiking alone. There is a lot of loose rock as you near the top of Standing Indian. I was very thirsty but kept telling myself to wait it out until I made the summit. Day 9 I finally arrived at a blue-blaze turn-off that leads you to a summit view and followed it to what appeared to be the location of an old tower (tower now gone). There was a reasonably-sized, flat area in which to tent, a fire ring, and a few logs for seats. The view from this spot was quite narrow, with trees crowding the edge of the summit, but if you walked to the small opening, you had an amazing view of the mountains. I sat at the fire ring and ate peanut butter crackers and dried fruit. Someone mentioned an even better spot for a view off a side trail, so we walked along a slightly overgrown path to arrive at an even narrower spot on the mountain. There were already people backed up along the approach path, a mini-traffic jam in the woods. We waited in line for our turn to stand for a few minutes on a small bluff peeking out from Standing Indian and granting a phenomenal view of the surrounding mountains and valley. The view was well worth it, one of those places you wish you had to yourself for a few hours. I took photos, stood there for a few minutes and tried to absorb the depth of beauty that surrounded us. Nature has a way of reminding me just how awesome it is and just how tiny I am. Yes, man has made great monuments, has built skyscrapers, has fashioned and harnessed waterways, but nature trumps it all with a kind of rugged, enduring symmetry. Man constructs while nature grows. When I lived in Germany, I loved to visit the walled towns, tour castles, walk the bridges and marvel at aqueducts, but while there is wonder and amazement at the work of human beings, there is not the emotional connection I feel when I look out at mountains or sit by the ocean, when I watch a creek skip over and around rocks or well up from the ground. There is a heartbeat, a breath here. Be silent in nature and you can feel it around and within you. This is the rhythm connecting us all to one another and to the rest of the natural world. I grew up near the ocean, that¢s where I first felt this rhythm. I think the waves make it very easy to hear but after years of living away from the ocean, I've come to see that it exists in the mountains too. I've felt it when the wind ripples tall golden-green grasses at sunset on wide meadows or at midday in old forests when the birds are quiet- in fact anywhere that man has not yet turned up the volume to overwhelm the silence. I know a few people who are capable of connecting to this rhythm, this place of flow, even during the crazy hours of work, or sitting in traffic. I¢m not so gifted yet, for me, I need to be here to reconnect and that¢s why hiking is so important to me. After Standing Indian, it was all downhill for about 4 miles (literally). It had become hot and dry out. I was grateful when we arrived at Beech Gap, a nice largish, flat area filled with Rhododendron and other trees for shade. I ate more food there, and removed my boots airing out a pair of very tired and sweaty feet. Beech Gap filled up quickly, Cinnamon Girl, Nature Bob, Superman, T-Bird, Travis and others arrived and also hung out for lunch. They were all planning to head to Betty Creek which was about another 7 miles north. I had planned to stop at Carter Gap Shelter about 3-3.5 miles from here. I kept thinking though about tomorrow¢s climb up Albert Mountain. A couple of years ago, I met a father and daughter hiking, and I recall the daughter talking about how awful Standing Indian Mountain and then Albert Mountain had been in the heat. If I stopped at Carter Gap Shelter, I would have a mid-day ascent of Albert Mountain which looked just like Sharp Mountain felt a day ago- straight up, albeit for a short rush. The idea of hitting that kind of obstacle during the height of the sun was not appealing. Still, I had been doing short-mileage days since starting the trip, was I really going to be able to step it up today?We left Beech Gap, without a clear decision about where to stay tonight. The trail was a gentle descent for about a mile before hitting Coleman Gap where we made a short climb to an intersection with Timber Ridge Trail. From Timber Ridge we descended again to Carter Gap Shelter. I was beat and hot at this point. There were two more mountains between us and Betty Creek although neither were much of a climb. Ironhead set out to find a tenting spot. I checked out the shelter (where I found a pair of cowboy boots), then went down a very steep and long path to get water. I couldn't make a decision on whether to stay. On the one hand, I just wanted to call it a day after 12.5 miles but there was a nagging voice in my head yammering about Albert Mountain. After a little food, and a bit of a break, I decided to move on to Betty Creek. I think Ironhead had already started to make camp, but he graciously agreed to go along for another ~4 miles. The rest of the day was tough; I was so tired that it took an incredible marshaling of will to keep moving forward. Thankfully, good companionship really does have a way of distracting you ¢ thank you for the great conversation, Ironhead! About 2 miles before Betty Creek we found an unmarked overlook with an eastern view of the valley and some gigantic white building that I assume was some kind of industrial plant. Two miles later, we arrived at Betty Creek, emerging from a Rhododendron archway into a small, open intersection where we saw many of the hikers we had been with at Muskrat Creek. I was definitely exhausted now as I set up my tent in a small break in the Rhododendrons and about 250¢ from Cinnamon Girl and Nature Bob¢s tarp-tent. After a long walk to find water, and a quick dinner, I gave my food bag to T-Bird who had already thrown a bear bag rope over the only logical choice in this area of short shrubby like trees. I¢m so thankful to be horizontal! Most nights I¢m up for an hour or so before crashing, but tonight, I scrambled to jot down notes from the day just so I could get to sleep faster!Goodnight from a Betty Creek tenting area, be forewarned, the creek is a bit out of the way and it is not that deep. More photos from today can be seen at: Day 9