Date: 2004-05-04
From: Locust Cove Gap

To: Hike Inn, Fontana Dam
Miles today: 17.0

Last night it turned C-O-L-D, reminding me of similar nights at Muscrat Creek and Carter Gap. (I subsequently learned that temperatures fell here to the low 30's which, by my definition, IS cold!)I got up three times furing the night to put on more clothes and, even as cold as it was, each time I couldn't help but just stand there for a while and marvel at how beautiful and peaceful the gap was in the light of the full moon -- truly awesome!The morning brought a day that could not have been better suited for hiking -- bright sun in a cloudless, deep blue sky, low humidity and plenty of great views. After a little bit of labored going at the start, I found my "easy pace" and settled in, covering a little bit more than 2 miles every hour regardless of the terrain. I stopped for lunch on the trail and again around 4:00 to soak my feet in a stream and read the shelter log at Brown's Gap Shelter (only a couple of notes from Wayne, Vocal and Norway)before pushing on to arrive at Fontana Dam a full day ahead of schedule, racking up my longest hike to date: 17 miles. In the past two days I've covered 27.5 miles and, more notably, 7,000 vertical feet. Its this later statistic that makes it understandable why approximately 2/3rds of the people who start a thru hike every year drop out by the time they get here to Fontana Dam... the mountains are unrelenting and we've just begun.Now for the interactive part of today's journal -- this afternoon I stopped to watch a small, grey bird who was sitting low in a sapling alongside the trail. Soon, it was joined by 6 others, all of whom seemed to be engaged in a game of "musical branches" as they popped from spot to spot, but never left this one tree. They had dark grey bodies with white under-bellies that came up to about mid-breast (so they looked like they were wearing formal morning suits.) Their horizontal stabilizers (or whatever you call the tail empenage of a bird that appears to control both pitch and yaw) had dark, charcoal grey feathers in the middle and white ones outboard on both sides. And here's a big clue: only one of the seven birds made any noise, and it went (now get this!)-- "chirp" (which sounded more like someone trying to suck a piece of stuck corn out of his teeth (or "tooth" if you're in West Virgina) and if you don't believe me, try it and you'll see what I mean!) "Chirp." Anyway, if you think you can identify todyay's mystery beast, please write in and let me know... you too could become a "BBB... Bumpo Bird Brain!Speaking of mountain beasts, "Screamin' Steve" who spent the night at Locust Cove Gap last night must have been about 10 minutes ahead of me all day and this evening while heading down to the dam in the early twilight, he turned a corner and there, 20 yards or so in front of him was a black bear, "probably twice the size of a human" (i.e. maybe 400 pounds!) He let out a scream so loud that I heard it about a quarter of a mile behind him, and so did the bear who immediately turned and took off down the trail as fast as it could go. I must admit that I'm quite jealouse because I'd very much like to see a bear (and live to tell about it as Steve did!) While on the trail today I DID get to see what a bear can do to a log when it wants to sharpen its claws (it looked like the stuff that comes out of a tub grinder when making mulch!) and I also mustered up my nerve to get a good, close-up peek at a particularly savage-looking box turtle (incredibly brave of me!)and later, from the car that picked me up to take me to the Hike Inn where I'm staying, I saw a family of wild boar with four piglets, three white tail deer and a a dead copperhead on the road (good!)So much for one day of excitement, beauty and fun on the AT. Tomorrow is a "zero day"!