Date: 2012-04-17
From: Ridge before Sugarloaf Gap

To: Whistling Gap
Miles today: 17.9

We planned to hike about 15 miles today and 15 the next in order to get to Erwin, but I mentioned that I wouldn't mind doing a few more today and a few less tomorrow. After 7 miles we got to Sams Gap US 23. This was a larger road crossing and there were two restaurants about 3 miles off the trail. Hawk and Wiffle had been talking about it all morning and by the time we got to the road I had decided that I was definitely going. Somehow, the 3 of us maintained the exact same pace all morning and it was only the first or second time where that has happened so far. Hawk leads the way w/ his shorter strides and Wiffle and I keep up w/ our longer ones. I felt as though I'm hiking at the pace I normally would and it worked well. At the road there were a lot less cars than expected and I was already starting to reconsider. The idea was to hitch a ride, but that is hard to do without any traffic. We started walking the 3 miles and about a mile in we had only been passed by one car. I decided it was time to think positive and as soon as I did a Jeep drove up behind us and pulled over without us asking. He knew what was up and Hawk and I jumped in the back where there weren't any seats and this was my first hitch ever. It was great riding down the road w/ the wind whipping threw my dirty hair. If only the ride was more than 2 miles, but then again, we would hopefully be getting a ride back to the trail as well. We arrived to the Little Creek Cafe and there were SUV's out front and the smell of grease coming from the windows. We knew we were at the right place. The guys got burgers and I got the special which was fried flounder, hush puppies, french fries, cole slaw, and a dessert for $6.50. Can't pass that up, although I was a bit jealous of the burgers. I had 3 large and I mean LARGE pepsis, washed up in the bathroom, charged my phone and iPod and we were on our way. We got a quick hitch from some other customers and were back on the trail in no time.The caffeine must've powered me up because I was ready to hike. It was 2 and we had ten more miles. We soon passed Trog, Dreamtime, Hungus, and Pace who were all wondering how we had passed them. We explained the detour and then it started to rain. I knew there was supposed to be a storm, but hadn't known exactly when it was coming. Trog made a funny comment about the only thing worse than having to poop in the woods was having to poop in the woods in the rain, so Wiffle decided now was a good time to use the restroom before the rain, and his pain, got any worse. The rain was off and on and then it slowly picked up. We were approaching Big Bald which was above tree line when we heard thunder. Great, a bald that is about .3-.5 miles long and the storm is getting even worse. We bunkered down in some trees and put our extra raingear on and thought about waiting it out. Hungus then approached and said the GPS on his phone was showing a break in the action before it got even worse. Hungus had hiked the trail in '07 so I trusted him, but he also warned us that if anyone dies its not his fault. I asked him if he had any words of wisdom, and all he said was, "Run!". We decided now was our best bet and I hiked the fastest I've ever hiked. The rain turned from 'nice, cool you down' type to the 'I'm going to slice open your skin' type of rain. I figured the bald itself would be flat, so it would be quick and easy to get across, but no. The wind was even stronger at the top of the bald and I could barely see or hear anything. I knew that Hawk was in front of me, and the other 3 were behind me, but I didn't have time to look around. This probably would have been one of my favorite parts of the trail had it been a clear day. After a few more hills than anticipated and what seemed like a mile, I finally hiked back into the trees and felt much more comfortable than before. Hawk and I waited for the others to make it and then we went to Bald Mountain Shelter to figure out what was next. Hawk said that lightning strikes was the leading cause of death on the AT last year w/ 11. There was a large group at the shelter including Croc Hunter who had seen a bear right outside his tent the night before. He said he was just writing in his journal about how he was more scared of people than bears when he opened his tent and saw two eyes glowing back at him. We hung out for a little and dried out and ate more. The next day had a 90% chance of rain and since it was before 6 we figured we could get a few more miles in today to have less tomorrow. The rain subsided while at the shelter, but less than a mile later it started to pour again. So, instead of staying at the shelter and listening to the drops pound on the tin roof, we were soaking wet again and had 2 more miles to go. I was ready to stop, so I hiked ahead of the other 4 and Watermelon was ahead of me. Luckily, we had descended a fair amount, but I had to set up my tent in the pouring rain and that was not fun. It wasn't that bad, but it wasn't fun. Most everything was wet and I didn't even bother to cook dinner I was so exhausted. The good news is that Erwin is only 13.5 miles away and there is an all you can eat pizza place that serves from 11-2. Can we make it on time???