Date: 2005-10-26
From: Franklin, NC

To: Bly Gap, NC
Miles today: 31.2
Weather: clear sky

31.2 miles todayBly Gap, NCHappy 12th Birthday to Elise, my second oldest grandaughter. :-))) I woke up at 6:15am after going to sleep about midnight. I was up late, but I'm pretty much caught up with my emails I had to write. I walked about a mile to Stamey's Cafe for breakfast. It was 30 degrees and still dark out. The people passing by in cars probably thought I was crazy to be walking around in short pants. :-))) I had a good breakfast and 3 cups of coffee there, then stopped at Hardy's on the way back to the motel and bought 4 sausage biscuits to pack out with me. I stopped at a gas station and got a couple fried pies for tomorrow's breakfast and some snacks for today. I got back to the motel room and finished packing and was watching The Weather Channel when Ron Haven pulled up to take me back up the mountain to Winding Stair Gap. It was 8:15 when we left the motel and 8:45 when he dropped me off at the trailhead. I thanked him for dropping me off, then I walked over to the piped spring and filled my 2 water bottles. It was a beautiful morning with the temperature at that elevation probably in the mid 20's. The sky was blue and the wind was calm and I was ready to walk. I walked over the mountain to Walker Gap and shortly after crossing the gap, I finally saw some deer again. It's been probably a week since the last deer I saw. These 2 were both 4 point bucks that were standing in the trail. When they saw me, one went up the hill and the other went down. I stopped by Rock Gap Shelter and ate one of my sausage biscuits and signed the register before hiking on. I climbed about 800 feet before going down to Glassmine Gap. I walked by Big Spring Shelter without stopping and continued up to the summit of Albert Mountain. I sat down and drank a coke I packed out and ate the other 3 sausage biscuits. There were 4 day hikers that were there from the Haywood Hikers. I talked to them for about half an hour while I ate and then hiked on with a full stomach. :-))) I did somemore 400 and 500 foot ups and downs and in 6 miles, I stopped by Carter Gap Shelter and signed the register. I didn't even take my pack off, just stayed long enough to write my name and put a smiley face sticker in the register. I climbed Standing Indian Mountain and there was still about an inch of snow at that 5500 foot elevation that hadn't melted. I was glad when I started going downhill again to get out of that wet snow. I didn't want to get my feet wet in that little bit of snow. I walked by Standing Indian Shelter without stopping. I walked down to Deep Gap. That's where I wanted to make to today, but it was still way too early to quit walking, so I climbed another 400 feet and passed by Chunky Girl Trail, then Whiteoak Stamp and stopped at Muskrat Creek Shelter when I got there. I signed the register and will be one of the last ones to sign it there because the register was on it's last page. I got enough water for coffee in the morning and hiked on. I was planning on stopping at Sassafras Gap and tenting, but when I got there, I saw the tent site was a poor one. The sun was just setting and I knew there were some spots at Bly Gap to set up a tent. It was another 2 miles away. I got to watch a very nice sunset while I was walking and the pink in the sky lasted till way after dark. I got to Bly Gap and took my camera out and set the flash and took a few night shots of the old knarley tree. They came out pretty nice. I set up my tent and crawled in for the night. It was a bad leaf catching day because the high winds we had the last 2 days, blew all the leaves out of the trees that were ready to fall. I'm still at 41 catches. :-((( OK, I'm going to let all the people that work in offices from 9 to 5 play the game. I'm feeling pretty confident that I've got this thing just about wrapped up. :-))) Hey Moosie, that means you get to play to. He works on the 44th floor...do trees grow that tall???There's been an owl hooting while I was writing this journal entry tonight.