Date: 2023-04-08
From: Carter Gap Shelter

To: Winding Stair Gap/Franklin, NC
Miles today: 15.9
Weather: light rain

To quote Charles Dickens, "it was the best of times, it was the worst of times..."I think it started raining again around 2:30am and it was still raining when I finally managed to convince myself to get up and get moving at around 8:00am. The combination of the rain, the wind, and knowing my hiking clothes were still wet did not really motivate me to start as early as I normally would. By the time I got a quick breakfast, got packed up, and on the trail it was around 9:00am or so. And it was still raining. After I got moving though I started to warm up and was actually feeling pretty good. Fortunately, a lot of the hike was on pretty level ground so even though it rained all day, I was able to move relatively quickly. There were really only two difficult sections. The first was about 6 miles from the Carter Gap Shelter. It was up Albert Mountain and it was probably my first scramble. Scrambling is more than hiking, but less than mountain climbing. From my limited experience, it seems to usually involve getting up large rocks that require using your upper body more than you normally would in order to hoist yourself up. I wish it hadn't been raining because I would have liked to take some pictures. But, I didn't want to risk it getting wet and stop working again. The rain also made the rocks really slippery, so I had to be careful and take care of my steps so I didn't slip.It wasn't a very long climb, but it was very steep. All and all though I think it was the best I felt yet about a tough climb like that. I think I had to stop once or twice, but I didn't feel as wiped out when I got to the top as before. So, hopefully that means I'm starting to get my trail legs.At the top there was a fire tower. Again, I wish it wasn't raining because I would have liked to climb it and get a picture. As it was though, I just wanted to keep moving and the rain and clouds obscured everything and wouldn't have made a good picture anyways. Though, had it not been raining and was just cloudy, I would have attempted it. I'm going to try and get a picture off the internet of what it would have looked like on a better day.The other tough section was about 12 miles into the hike right after Wallace Gap. This one was more typical of the other tough climbs that I've done in that it was just really steep and slow going. But again, I still felt pretty good after I got through it. I was definitely tired and sore by this point though. The rest of the days hike was pretty easy going. I still don't move as fast as i would like, but i seem to be able to go further without getting as tired. There was actually a section several miles in where an older hiker that I had met a few times previously caught up to me. His trail name is Seeker and i think he's in his 70s. I get the impression that he is a pretty experienced hiker, but I'll admit that when he caught up to me, it did put a bit of fire into my legs. I started to move a bit faster because I didn't want him to get so far ahead of me. We ended up getting to Winding Gap at the same time. I was always faster on the climbs, but he was definitely faster overall and would catch up to me pretty quick. Though the last couple of miles we hiked the same speed and we both decided to hike to Winding Gap instead of stopping for the evening at a shelter.The original plan had been to stop at Rock Gap Shelter for the night and get into Franklin the next morning. But it had literally been raining non-stop since the early morning and the thought of sleeping in wet clothes again motivated me to hike the extra five miles that day instead. In hindsight, it was the right decision. Once I got to Winding Gap and stopped moving (we had to wait about 20-30 minutes for a shuttle to pick us up), I started to shiver pretty violently. Since the temperature was going to drop in the evening, had I stayed at the shelter instead of getting to the hotel a day early, I would have had a very miserable (and potentially dangerous) night.The previous days depression is completely gone now. Since I got to Franklin early, I'm going to take two days off instead of the original one, but I'll be back on the trail Tuesday ready to continue. It looks like the weather is going to be a lot nicer, so that will be a plus as well.Breakfast: A Gatorade chocolate chip protein bar.I didn't eat anything else until I got to the hotel. It was a bad idea, but again the rain just made me want to keep moving. I'm going to rearrange my pack a little bit so that some of my food is more easily accessible. Had I been able to get to it without having to stop, I think I would have ate more.Dinner: KFC 4 piece chicken combo with mashed potatoes and gravy, macaroni and cheese, and a papsi