Date: 2007-03-26
From: Stealth campsite before Standing Indian Shelter, N

To: Betty Creek Gap, NC 
Miles today: 11.3
Weather: overcast clouds

Man did I have a crazy dream last nite! I've heard your dreams are very vivdwhen you are sleeping in the outdoors (and in a hammock). I drempt aboutwerewolves, and how I had 2 friends that were dating, and I found out she was awerewolf, but he didn't know. The dream seemed long, but ended with her tryingto trap her boyfriend and I in a room to "tell us something" but we escaped thrua back door and started climbing out of a third story window of a house. Crazy. The nite before, I had a dream that I was called back into the military, but Ididn't have the appropriate underclothing, and they gave me this see thru whiteshirt to wear to a ceremony! LOL Geez, I hope no one out there analyzes dreamsand is sitting there thinking I'm crazy. LOLI did hear a pack of wolves howling last nite before going to bed, so that isprobably where the werewolf dream came from.Another great nite despite the dream.It was 52 when I woke up, but I was super warm all nite. Again, used my bag asa quilt and even pitched my tarp out a little. The moon was so bright, Ithought someone had their headlamp shining on my tarp for a second. I amhanging about 10 ft from the stream and it lulled me into a deep sleep. I LOVEsleeping next to water. No surprise, I'm a cancer. My left knee was protesting the hike yesterday. I am going to get up and seehow it feels, but if it is questionable, I may take a zero day at this beautifulspot. Not sure as I lay here this morning. It is 7:39 a.m. and I guess Ishould think about getting out of my cozy cocoon.So after getting up, I realized the knee was in much better shape. Man what aday today turned out to be! I don't even know where to begin!We got started at 9:20 a.m. and decided to try our first ever double digit day.I had a bail out plan if my knee started hurting, but we picked today becausethe terrain was really gradual.First it was over Standing Indian Mt. A nice climb, very gradual. We got to thetop and decided to get water. I volunteered to take my water tank and get waterfor me, Nicole, and Sailor. I asked Nicole if this blue blaze trail was theright one, and she goes, "yup." Water was only supposed to be .2 miles down, but I kept walking and walking andwalking. Finally I gave up at probably .5 miles down and I turned around. Ilooked at my guide book and it said the water was on an unmarked trail BEFOREthe blue blaze trail. Nicole's book (Wingfoots) said it was ON the blue blazetrail. Nicole actually came down looking for me, and when I told her what happened, shefelt bad and volunteered to get the water now. LOL Lesson learned, always checkmy guidebook for notes first! haa haaSo my book also said there was a great view .2 miles East, so we decided toinvestigate. OK, so anyone hiking over Standing Indian Mt. MUST go see this. Itwas stunning. We were 4750 ft high, higher than the clouds today and it was arolling see of mountains, some close, some far away, just layered. Breathtaking.We finally got back to hiking about an hour after we stopped for water, andheaded to Beech Gap for lunch. The guidebook said there was water, and we werehoping a good stream to soak our feet, since going down the mountain was a longhaul, which kills our feet. But no such stream..barely a trickle actually.We devoured our lunches and headed on. About 10 minutes later we came to thishuge log that we had to balance on to get over a beautiful stream crossing. Well, we decided to stop and soak.Ahhh, man did it feel good! Knumbing cold water of Kilby Creek, the temps hadalready hit the high 70's. Just what the doctor ordered. I even looked downand caught a crawdad in the water! Nicole wouldn't touch it, but it was reallycool.We finally pulled ourselves away and kept on towards Carter Gap Shelter. I toldNicole I had some pepperoni stuck in my teeth, so she offered me the toothpickfrom her knife. Just before I accepted, she disclosed she had been using it toclean her toenails with though. I decided to pass at that point! LOLIt was almost 5:00 p.m. by the time we made it to Carter Gap Shelter. We gotwater and knew we still had 3.7 miles to go to Betty Creek Gap. We got going and man was it tough. My feet were killing me. I hiked the last1.5 miles in my Crocs, until the unthinkable happened.We were tootin along, it was downhill so I was leading and then Nicole yelled,"Michele!" "Stop!" I froze. I couldn't believe my eyes, up ahead about 150 ftaway were 2 baby bear cubs climbing on a tree!!! They were tiny, I could haveheld them both, one in each arm. We both took pics and they happen to beclimbing on a tree that had a white blaze on it!Then our next thought was, "Where's momma?" We knew we didn't want to getbetween her and her cubs, but we didn't see any sign of her. We just stoodthere forever trying to see if we saw her. Meanwhile, the cubs climb down the tree (one actually fell) and they crawledunder a tee and we could hear them crying for their momma. Still no sign ofher. About this time, a kid came down the trail and we told him what was up. He decided to just hike on, so we watched him, and no momma bear. Then Sailorshowed up and we told him what was up. We all decided to make lots of noise,and quickly hike by them. It was getting dark and and we needed to get to ourcampsite, so we did just that.   On my way by, the 2 cubs were halfway upanother tree, so I snapped another pic. It isn't the greatest pic but wow, howEXCITING! All the way to camp we made noise, just in case the momma was around. We never saw her. In camp, Not Guilty was there and he said the cubs were there at 3 when he wentthrough. We are all concerened that maybe the momma isn't alive, so when hehits Franklin, NC in a few days, he is going to call the Dept. of Wildlife andreport it. We did see a sign today coming off Standing Indian Mt that this areais a bear sanctuary. I sure hope the momma is alive. Those baby bears were socute!      Finally made it to camp at 7:30 p.m., and I was exhausted. I was totallyunorganized, couldn't seem to get my hang right and my feet were killing me. Nicole was laughing at me because I was so pissy for a bit, but I got over itafter eating dinner.Right now, I am trying to sleep without my hamock pad and with one side of mytarp flipped over so I can see the moon. I am chilled so I may need to add thepad and attach my tarp. It is almost 59 degrees, and it is a bit too chilly,but hey, I tried. First double digit day and BEARS!   ~Certain