Date: 2005-03-25
From: Winding Stair Gap/Franklin, NC

To: Wayah Bald
Miles today: 10.5
Weather: clear sky

The weather today was fabulous for hiking. Sunny skies all day cool in the morning, getting warm by the afternoon.We got a bit of a late start this morning, partly due to the wait for a shuttle back to the trail, plus the trip itself. We finally got our packs on and headed up the trail at 10 am, with an 11 mile day ahead of us. Almost everyone from M Company who had made it into Franklin with us yesterday elected to take a zero day, so BfM and I were the only two on the shuttle, other than Skylark who was going out to slack pack a 4 mile section that she had missed yesterday. As a result, and for the first time since we've been hiking, there were very few others out on the trail, other than the odd day hiker or two.Today's hike, although not the longest we've done, was the toughest. It was almost ALL uphill! Somehow we had missed that fact when looking over our maps last night. We did, however begin to encounter the famous North Carolina "balds." These are rather high mountains with an area of the top that is mostly grass rather than woods. The original balds were where farmers from lower down would keep their cows and sheep over the summer months, but today they have to be mowed regularly or they would return to a wooded state.The first one we encountered was Siler Bald, but by that time we were too tired to climb the quarter mile side trail to the top. The second one was Wayah Bald, and the trail goes right up to the summit where there is an old stone observation tower.The views in all four directions were magnificent. I took pictures of every part of the horizon in a clock-wise direction, and sure hope they turn out well. That would make for a cool panoramic view of the surrounding mountains. You could see as far as the start of the Great Smoky Mountains where we will be in about 5 or 6 days, God willing!As BfM and I were taking pictures, another hiker arrived, looking a bit worn out, and hobbling as bad as we were. We chatted briefly, and she said her daughter had been a through-hiker in '03. I asked her daughters name, and when she said Chim Chim, I realized it was Susan Nixon of M Company! I told her I was Longhaul, and was rewarded with a great big hug. She was hiking by herself and said she didn't relish camping over night by herself, so she was really glad to see us.With our late start and long day's hike, we reached our camp site, just beyond the summit of Wayah Bald, later than usual. To save time, I got water and filtered it while BfM did the cooking. We had dinner, set up our tents, hung our bear bags, and then had a small campfire. As we sat there we got to see a most wonderful moon rise through the trees - a gorgeous full moon.Today¢s hike is dedicated to my hiking partner of recent days, BfM. Without her slow but steady pace up and over one mountain after another, I don't think I would have made it this far today. In addition, I have to confess that she has clearly exceeded my own pace of development as a through-hiker, as evidenced by an incident I personally observed with my own eyes right there on the trail earlier today.As we were hiking along, she suddenly stopped dead in her tracks and screeched "SKITTLE!" At first I thought she had said "beetle" - and peered around her to see what kind of bug had captured her attention. What I saw was a small green piece of candy lying in the middle of the trail. Before I could stop her, she reached down, picked it up, blew the dirt off of it, and popped it in her mouth. "Mmmmmm" she cooed. "I haven't had a skittle in almost two weeks. They're my favorite." I recognized immediately that she had begun that long slide from civilization that is the hallmark of a true through-hiker. I figure she is at least, I dunno, several days ahead of me in that department. But I'll get there. I'll get there...Stay tuned, Longhaul(Editor¢s Note)I, shamefully, have made a grave mistake in my transcriber duties. If you read Longhaul¢s entry for March 23, you will see that he listed BfM¢s age as ¢2¢. Now, not but a few words later did he go on to say that she stated she will be 24 not too long from now. As I had read over this entry, I kept wondering why he listed her age initially as only 2 years of age¢¦.I kept thinking¢¦well, maybe she¢s just really youthful or is really cantankerous or something. At any rate, I left it in the journal that way, however, I should have added that ¢3¢ for Longhaul. It was all probably due to the fact he always waits to do journal entries until it¢s minus 50 degrees and he¢s trying to type with icicles for fingers. So, I will apologize to Longhaul as well as BfM, because she is a very mature 23 year old. I¢ve had the opportunity to meet her, and she is a wonderful person¢¦definitely not the cantankerous 2-year old I imagined sitting in the middle of the trail kicking her feet and saying ¢I¢m not gonna climb another mountain and you can¢t make me!¢ LOLTenacious Tanasi (Shelly Hale)