Date: 2011-05-05
From: Shook Branch Recreational Area

To: Iron Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 15.6
Weather: clear sky

Day 45 - With my clothes dry and food packed, Larry McKenzie and Ken Hopkins picked me up and we had breakfast at Cracker Barrel to prepare us for our hike. (Phil, sorry, we had to go to the one at Boone's Creek) We hit the trail at 9:35am and headed toward Watauga Dam. Ken asked if he could carry my pack and before I allowed him to tell me he was kidding, I was helping strap it on his back. He did great with it and carried it for 2.5 hours. This basically allowed me to slack pack with his pack on and would allow me to go more miles today. The weather was fabulous on this Thursday. Wednesday night had been cool (another blessing that I was at my place nice and dry - thanks to Larry) and the morning temperature was probably 50*F and was ideal for walking. We crossed Watauga Dam and started the ascent up Iron Mountain. It was a pretty good grade and we stopped at 12:00pm for lunch. Both Ken and Larry had brought different items, including pulled pork sandwiches from Phil's Dreampit. In addition to the sandwiches, we had chips, cookies and trailmix. Ken had brought a fourth sandwich which fit very nicely into the top of my back, which I was now carrying. We said our goodbyes and I thanked them for all the transportation, food and especially the fellowship. I proceeded on up Iron Mountain, which finally leveled out around 3,800 - 4,000 feet, after climbing up from 1,993 feet at U.S. 321. At 2:10pm I was hiking along when suddenly I was one step away from stepping on a fairly large snake. The snake was stretched across the trail, with both its head and tail hidden in the vegetation. I was uncertain which end was which, so I followed the body to the right when I saw multiple rattlers. I said, "oh my" and immediately looked at the left hand side to see the head of a Timber Rattler snake. I stepped back just a little bit more and pulled out my camera and started taking pictures. The air temperature on my thermometer was around 55*F and with the previous night being so cold the ground temperature was probably under 50*F. The snake had just lain across the trail to sun itself. After taking several photographs, I then probed the snake in the middle of its belly with my trekking pole. Nothing, no movement, and I thought, well someone had stretched a rubber snake across the trail when I probed it again and suddenly it coiled into a striking pose. Not wanting to miss this photo-op I continued to snap away, albeit, a few inches further back. The snake was so lethargic that it would not even rattle for me. We were at a standoff, the snake was obviously not going to move and I had all the pictures I needed and was ready to move on north. So, I took a 10 yard by-pass into the tall vegetation and let it have that section of the trail. I did take a few more pictures looking south at it. Now my mind starts playing games, every stick and root I saw on the trail for the next hour or so, looked liked a snake. Around 3:00pm, not wanting that fourth BBQ sandwich to go bad, I went ahead and had a mid-afternoon snack, thanks again, Ken. I arrived at Iron Mt shelter at 6:40pm and set my tent up, along side Cheap Chardonnay's and Broomstick's hammocks. I had a great day, gorgeous weather, low humidity, spent half the day with Ken and Larry and covered 15.6 miles at a pace of 1.9 mph. In total I have hiked 438.3 miles.