Date: 2006-10-01
From: little laurel shelter

To: stealth camp 1.3 miles past flint mtn shelter
Miles today: 14.0

(NOTE ABOUT PHOTOS : okay¢¦.how in the world do you pick just ONE?....is anyone else having this ¢problem¢?....there are several photos that could illustrate any one journal entry, so how do i choose? hmmmmmm...my present dilemma is that the entries at hand describe one of our favorite [and most beautiful] portions of the AT and i¢m trying to decide the best way to show them to our readers¢¦¢¦one particular difficulty is that the journaling of our hike this year [¢06], as you probably have noticed, has now ¢overshot¢ the ¢03 entries [i.e., we are ¢further up the trail¢ by this 27th day in ¢06 than we were in ¢03] and therefore the photos won¢t always coincide with the location mentioned in the above destination (i think!) ¢¦¢¦.is any of this makin¢ any sense?...no?....not to me either!¢¦¢¦¢¦well¢¦.i guess the best thing to do is just encourage you to click on the displayed photo on any given entry, and then go backward or forward to look at other complementary pics..¢¦.for instance, on today's entry, you¢ll get a more complete idea of what we were seeing on this 27th day on BOTH hikes, if you view BACK about 20 photos [big bald] and FORWARD about the same [to see the Pisgah forest over to miss janets¢¦these photos also include ¢trees¢ from several sections of the trail]¢¦¢¦whew!...with that said, let¢s move on to some more journaling!....allons!)======2003======thursday, march 20, day 27PASSED THE 300 MILE MARK TODAY!.....trail rather difficult this a.m¢¦..we waited till 9:30(!!!) to leave and then walked straight up forever* in the fog, cold and drizzle¢¦¢¦trail continued to be ROCKY, but ¢big butt¢ (yes, that really is ¢big butt¢) was BEAUTIFUL!....i would love to go back there some day*¢¦..maybe when the rhodys are bloomin¢¢¦it has everything¢¦.boulders, probably good views (if not foggy), grassy mini ¢balds¢*, neat plants, blueberries, blackberries¢¦.it would be a great overnight and picnic place¢¦..it was cold and super windy again when we stopped in the gap for water¢¦.but after that, it was downhill practically all afternoon¢¦it finally cleared off and was beautiful!...we stopped at the flint mtn shelter and had our supper (creole gumbo)¢¦pretty place!....steep mtns rising up¢¦hemlock forest overarching the quiet little streamlet (water source)¢¦.but we decided to walk on a couple more miles¢¦.we found this nice place to stealth camp on an old overgrown roadbed overlooking another beautiful hemlock hollow¢¦..ahhhh!...peaceful, easy feelin¢!we gotta ¢book it¢ tomorrow, though, to make it to erwin by sunday¢¦..(will we go to church there?...doubtful, but maybe¢¦ (prayin¢ about that)¢¦.well¢¦.i can¢t remember what it was i read in my bible last night¢¦.(i wasn¢t feelin¢ that great¢¦kinda headache-y*)¢¦.and we were more occupied with getting to know turbo (which was nice)¢¦..but i¢m prayin¢ the Lord will keep speakin¢ to me out of His Word¢¦.daydreamed today of having a booth at ¢trail fest¢ in hot springs next year¢¦.could our church do something like this?.....some type of ¢offering¢ to hikers¢¦help¢¦.encouragement¢¦food?...hmmmm¢¦¢¦.i also played around with a ¢skit¢ in my head¢¦..a modern day ¢woman-at-the-well¢ scenario : a woman delivering bottled spring water to a convenience store meets Jesus!....(i know, i know¢¦.i¢ve got an overactive imagination!.....just something to occupy my mind as i walk along¢¦..who knows what might come of it!)¢¦..saw lots of beech drops today and still quite a bit of gaultheria¢¦¢¦AND¢¦.there was some type of ¢hair¢grass* on blackstack cliffs!........======2006====== friday, march 10, day 27   (11 miles from spivey gap to erwin)a PERFECT, clear, spotless, delicious morning!....a wonderful walk in the woods over to miss janet¢s!....so happy, too, to realize the carolina hemlocks* still grew up on the bluffs overlooking the nolichucky!.....reaching miss janet¢s was like coming home!....(dontcha just love her smile!)¢¦..after she graciously got us all settled in, we headed up to the diner for a great big ol¢ burger! (we ordered the large size, but the waitress looked at us doubtfully and said, ¢i don¢t think you want that one¢¦.it¢s huge!¢¢¦(i defiantly thought, ¢i think i DO want that one!¢¢¦.but i remained civil and demurely went along with her recommendation of the smaller size¢¦.it was plenty!)¢¦....miss janet¢s daughter (shoot! i can¢t remember her name) has her mom¢s flare for hospitality and offered us ICEWATER !....we drank and drank all afternoon!...(one more example of how the most common things in ¢real life¢ become so much more cherished and appreciated on the trail!)¢¦¢¦..oh!.....and we met the famous baltimore jack at janet¢s! (paw-ee had tucked some of jack¢s online new hampshire ¢helps¢ into our trail info, so we were able to personally thank him)¢¦.what a joy to be ¢connecting¢ with the ¢trail community!....these folks feel like ¢family¢!.......we were also able to use miss j¢s computer, so we e-mailed* a few of our ¢adventures¢ back home¢¦.well¢¦.had a long and happy phone conversation with carli¢¦.but it¢s already 9:30¢¦.so i gotta close out and get some shut-eye¢¦..(we had a real, handwritten letter from eric [our pastor], which is always the nicest part of any maildrop!)¢¦¢¦..we have had a very nice stay here this time¢¦..God bless miss janet!....*NOTES/OBSERVATIONS/COMPARISONS*walked straight up forever¢¦¢¦this is one particular place (there are many others) that make for good comparisons of our 2 very different hiking years¢¦..this entry reminded me how dark and wet march 20th, 2003 was¢¦¢¦but days 24 and 25 ( march 7th and 8th) of 2006 describe our enjoyment of much nicer winter weather over the same section (though still very cold with difficult climbs)¢¦.it¢s almost as if two entirely different places are being described¢¦..*go back to ¢big butt¢ some day¢¦¢¦guess we did,huh!*grassy mini ¢balds¢¢¦..do any of you ¢06ers remember¢¦i think it was near here somewhere that the forest service was clearcutting the mountaintop to ¢return the area to its original historic accuracy¢ (agriculture)¢¦.seems like it may actually have been near the walnut mtn shelter just before hot springs ¢¦.i¢m not sure¢¦..i just remember being rather horrified to be walking along and then suddenly encounter a chopped down forest with the trees strewn all around¢¦¢¦*kinda headache-y¢¦..ray jardine says headaches occur as a hiker becomes dehydrated¢¦.by 2006 we had finally learned to take in more water¢¦even in winter¢¦.it really helps hard-working hiker bodies cope with the rigors of this crazy form of ¢exercise¢!* ¢hair grass¢¢¦..or ¢turkey beard¢ (a lily)¢¦.see day 24, 2006¢¦.*carolina hemlocks above the nolichucky¢¦¢¦as we approached this section this year and saw some of the devastation (just before erwin), we wondered if it was pine beetle destruction or a storm or just exactly what had brought down so much of the forest there¢¦.we also wondered if these rare and beautiful hemlocks (we had noticed and so enjoyed there in ¢03) might have met with the same fate¢¦what a relief it was to us to see that they still remained, tall and proud there on that gem of a knoll over erwin!*e-mail¢¦.in ¢03 we barely had a clue¢¦¢¦but it sure did come in handy this year (whenever we could find a computer!)