Date: 2008-01-15
From: NOC, Wesser, NC 

To: North of Simp Gap
Miles today: 11.7

I woke up at 6am and had 2 hours before the restaurant opened for breakfast, so I packed up my stuff and got my bounce box ready to go.The clothes I washed last night in the shower were all dry and ready for another day.I walked down to the restaurant right at 8am and I had two breakfasts. One was a full order of biscuits and gravy with sausage links and the other was a three egg veggie omelet with grits and rye toast....and lots of good coffee. :-)It's too bad that every place can't make good coffee like here.I finished packing everything after breakfast, then took my bounce box back to the outfitter and left it there, since I'll be back this coming weekend for the SoRuck.I headed north on the Trail at 9:30am with a few very light snow flurries flying around.It was 24 degrees at NOC this morning. One guy that came into the restaurant and lives nearby, but at a higher elevation, said it was 14 degrees at his house.I climbed out of the shadows and into the sun pretty quickly.It was long into the climb that I had to stop and take my jacket off.I love walking on frozen ground and hearing the crunch, crunch, crunch all day.I started the climb today at an elevation of about 1,700 feet. I was feeling pretty good about gaining elevation until I got to Wright Gap and checked to see it was only at about 2,300 feet.I knew I would climb to over 5,000 feet to get to Cheoah Bald.I remember Mrs Gorp telling me how steep the Trail was on this side of NOC back in the late 70's.I could see parts of the old Trail and it did go straight up some of the steeper parts of the mountain.I walked through an area where the pine beetle had killed all the pine trees. There were lots of 4 to 6 foot pine trees growing to replace the dead trees.I have to finish talking about my winter walking shorts. I got an email from my ol' buddy Chief. He thinks I'm crazy to spend $45.00 on a good pair of shorts.He said, ¢Look here, I went to Wal-Mart and got two pairs of hiking shorts for less than $6.00." The only thing wrong with them is that they have writing on the butt....one says PINK and the other pair says SEXY. :-)I came to an area where I could see some large rocks on the side of the mountain and I could see a cave in them.I got above 3,000 feet high and noticed that I was getting out of the pines that were devastated by the pine beetle.I also came across a plaque for Wade A. Sutton. He lost his life fighting a forest fire here on Dec 7th, 1968.I passed by Grassy Gap and kept on climbing.The wind was kicking up more and my ears were going numb, so I got out a light weight ATC neck gaiter and covered my ears.The temperature was still in the lower 20's.I got a look at the Nantahala River a little ways past Grassy Gap. It was waaaay down below, so I have been climbing. :-)I got on a nice sunny side of the mountain and out of the wind and sat on a log and ate lunch.I had some diced peaches in light syrup, dried pineapples, Fritos and raisins.I knew it was staying chilly out. I saw some rhododendrons whose leaves were still in a tight curl. It was just afternoon and was still in the low 20's.There was also lots of hoar frost along the Trail.I got to the Nantahala Gorge overlook and went out on the edge and looked around.I could see the road by NOC and it was about 2,000 feet below me now.I got up to Swim Bald at 4,700 feet high and I was ready to give my climbing muscles a break.I did get to walk downhill a few hundred feet in the next mile before I finished climbing the rest of the way to Cheoah Bald.I ran into four large turkeys and three took off flying and the other one ran away.I kept walking and two more turkeys flew away.I stopped at Sassafras Gap Shelter in between Swim Bald and Cheoah Bald.I wanted to sign the register, but there wasn't one.I filled up both my water bottles from the great spring there because I wasn't sure how far I was going to walk today.I ran into two backpackers just before I got to Cheoah Bald. They were two Chinese guys and they were wondering how much farther it was to water.I told them about 15 minutes. They were walking from Fontana to Dick's Creek Gap.I got up to Cheoah Bald at 2:30. It was over 5,000 feet high.I originally planned on tenting up there, but it was way too early for me to stop.The views were awesome! I could see for miles and miles....all the mountains all around me.I took some pictures and even took a self portrait in front of the Cheoah Bald sign. :-)I spotted a geocache and opened the old Army ammunition case to see a small register. I finally got to use some smiley face stickers! :-)I sat around enjoying the sunshine and the views. It got up to the high temperature of the day there at 30 degrees.I looked at my map and saw that Locust Cove Gap was just 2 1/2 miles away, so I decided to head there for the night.I saw an abandoned tent when I got there. I walked over to check it out and saw they abandoned almost everything they had.There were pots and cups full of frozen water, a water bag with a drink tube that was full of solid ice, a can of ravioli and a bunch of hand warmers.I looked inside the tent and saw a blanket and a sleeping bag and a few other items.From the looks of things, it's been there for a while.I decided I didn't want to stay there at the gap, so I walked on towards Simp Gap....another mile down the Trail.I kept looking for tent sites, but there were sticky greenbriars everywhere.I got to Simp Gap and there wasn't any place to set up a tent, so I kept walking. I did find a place about 10 minutes later and set up my tent.I checked the time it took to blow up my downmat with the stuff sack...2 1/2 minutes.I ate some garlic and vegetable noodle soup, then made some chamomile tea. I also ate some cashews, a chocolate Skor bar and some Fritos for dinner.The sun was starting to set and the temp was dropping back to the low 20's again by the time I crawled into my tent.There is a half moon directly over me in the sky...should be a beautiful, but chilly night. :-)Another great day on the Appalachian Trail! :-)