Date: 2013-03-15
From: Nantahala Outdoor Center

To: Locust Cove Gap
Miles today: 20.1

" Finish the bottle Leprechaun!"Those kids in raft school were too generous. For every drink I accepted I turned down 3 but the ones I had did the job. Fly, Slapp, Dragon, and I went and printed our Smokies hiking permits off at the outfitter store, and then Moxie, Woodrow, Not Yet, and I went to the River's End restaurant for breakfast. I am probably spending too much money but the breakfast burrito and coffee was really great. Not Yet had an injured knee and seemed plenty bummed that he was gonna have to hang around another day. He only has a short amount of time before he has to fly home to Connecticut and he really wanted to go through the Smokies. He seems like a strong hiker and a great guy, I hope he is able to meet his goal. I kept Moxie, Slapp, and Dragon waiting while I packed ( sorry guys!) and we left the NOC around 10:30. I immediately started feeling ill and fell behind. I must have dehydrated myself pretty bad and just felt immensely sore. A 16.5 mile day followed by a night of drinking does not bode well for a 3500 ft gain in elevation over 6 miles the next day. I'm a moron. I took frequent breaks, going from water source to water source, which were few and far between. Road Runner came and passed me. I eventually passed him again and caught up with Moxie, Slapp, and Dragon at the Jump On which offered a fantastic view of Nantahala Gorge. Moxie had been worried about me and they had been stopped here for some time. Once they saw I was okay and I explained my situation they moved on. I almost immediately found a place in the shade to lie down. I listened to some very interesting science Friday podcasts from NPR which I had downloaded at the NOC. Surprisingly, not a single north bound hiker passed me. I got up and started moving and ran into a familiar face. A hiker I had seen several times, always walking south. I finally had to introduce myself to him and ask his story. His name was Bucky , and he explained that he uses two cars to facilitate his hike. He drives one to a point north on the trail and hikes south to his other car, then repeats the process. Pretty interesting. I finally made it up Cheoah Bald and descended down to a shelter. There I met Sonny, who told me about a recent bout he had with giardia which left him hospitalized ( unfiltered water!!). He immediately told me that his water filter had frozen two nights ago so he roasted it over a fire so he could use it again.... I told him his filter was likely not actually doing anything anymore besides removing large sediment and that he should replace it. I hope he does! I lay down in the shelter and drank plenty of water and was soon feeling better. Heart Rock came in alone and planned to stay there for the night. Soon after came G, a little girl with a big knife. Sonny and G signed my pack and I headed out just as two thru hikers named Zippy and Ann were pulling in. G told me her friend had seen a bear on this section yesterday and I was excited at the prospect of seeing one myself. I felt rejuvenated and hiked with renewed vigor. Soon I was atop a beautiful grassy bald with amazing views. Here I met Goat and Tracker. They asked if I was leprechaun and said they'd heard I'd had a rough night and that my friends were just a little ways ahead. I hiked on and after several strenuous climbs descended to locust cove gap, where I found Woodrow, Slapp, Dragon, Moxie, Joe, Fly, Road Runner, Pappi ( met at NOC the night before), and two weekenders named Ryan and Kelly. Moxie shouted, " He made it!!" And everyone proceeded to both congratulate me and give a healthy ration of shit for putting myself through such misery!Slapp spotted a large snake skin in the camp, no rattler on the tail, but big scales and a thick, wide-bodied snake. Soon Zippy and Ann pulled into camp as well. I collected water while some of the others got firewood and soon we were all sitting around the fire eating dinner. Moxie, Slapp, and I each had mountain house meals which we purchased at the NOC. Mine was spaghetti with meat sauce and was pretty good. Moxie gave me her leftovers of beef stew which she added dehydrated corn and potatoes to and it also was good. Slapp gave me some tortillas and for dessert I had a pb and honey wrap with a chai tea latte (decaf!). The weather was really pleasant and it was a terrific end to a long hard day. Soon we will be at Fontana Dam and then we will enter the Smokies. We mailed ourselves food from Franklin and will pick it up in Fontana since we heard food was in short supply at the dam. The weather forecast looks nice now, I hope it holds. ****************4:20 am updateCRACK!! Most of our camp was just woken up by the sound of the tree our food bags were hanging from crashing to the ground. It was a bad place to hang to begin with but really the only convenient horizontal tree in the area. It was horizontal because it was dead. ( and also maybe 8 yards from my tent.) Dragon and I went out in our boxers and grabbed all the food and put it in our tents..... From my cold dead hands, bear!!Lessons for the day: resist peer pressure in drinking and bear bag hanging.