Date: 2007-04-10
From: Licklog Gap

To: Nantahala Outdoor Center
Miles today: 15.0
Weather: light rain

got a great start (funny what the cold can do....there is an awful moment in this deal...it is the precise second you make the transition from the cocoon of warmth within the sleeping bag to the cold reality of breaking camp in the cold)...we were on the trail at 8:30..going uphill right away toward cold spring shelter....thru a burnt out section of the trail...up.up..seemed to be the theme of the day..my feet were never right all day...but packs felt fine..cujo never bitches like i do anyway..the weather was between chilly and warm...you worked up a sweat on the ups...but never warm enough to peel off a layer..the mud was frozen..making the roots feel harder..finally made tellico gap...where my knee was thoroughly tested by the continuous downhill...the test scores are not conclusive at the present time...ouch..i have to SLOW DOWN the downhills...mud had thawed to owlshit slick black oil-like substace..ass busting was possible and prevalent...took time to resock and eat a bite before beginning the climb to wesser bald (on paper in text a tough but harmless climb that lent itself to an easy downhill slide right into the open arms of the NOC....WRONG!!) the climb was long...but steep only in parts..at the top was an observation deck some fool constructed (as if we have a difficult time finding views)..and this long climb eemed to have that scaffolded monstrosity as a goal...we wasted MUCH energy to be needed later...now here is the kicker...we are at 4630-NOC is at 1750 in 6 miles...sounds like an enjoyable afternoon of easing downhill...RIGHT!!!..notwe started our PUDs (pointless ups and downs for you sea levelers)..steep but shorts...and long story short spent an afternoon grasping the trail as it precariously held onto the mtn by its fingernails...chewing up our feet as they were split-level for miles when the trail ws not a trail but a worn path banked steeper than the track at talladega...the balls of our inside foot bearing all our weight for hours...and then there was this thingy called "jumpoff"...more rightly name would have been "FALLOFF"..we are at the top of a mtn...watching it narrow before our eyes to a point of looking left or right and seeing sheer dropoffs both places..as it continued to narrow...like we were running OUT of mtn....till we was the end....AIR....except for a life risking 180 degree turn where the trail backturns as if to eat itself...and drops ...i mean drops...over rocks god placed there for people with legs longer than cujo..this is the only time so far i have been scared...injury--no death is a real option here (hell finding you if you slipped would have been a miracle)..but we SLOWLY..SLOWLY managed it....only to be faced with a couple other "widow makers"...but we trudged onward...thinking we soon would meet the downhill easy slide to the NOC...well folks...we NEVER met that slide...it aint there...instead is a tough and seemingly never ending up and down foot-eating monster that eventually empties into the NOC after..and only after you utilize every swear word you know...and exhaust every ounce of energy you have...so here we are...checked into the motel (kinda a big house with private bedrooms--joint baths)....oh yes...to add to the day's toll...it is the freaking LAST building atop a HUGE hill...so these sillyass goofy, candyass kayakers(tons of them from wisconsin....ehh??) can enjoy a view....just what we need...an additional 1/2 mile up and downhill to get a burger,fries,beer....so we can have a view....lol