Date: 2019-04-02
From: Tellico Gap

To: Sassafras Gap shelter
Miles today: 15.0
Weather: clear sky

Long down to NOC and up again with snow, new shoes, and lots of new people.We all break the tents down at Tellico Gap, grab our food bags out of the tree over the trail, and hike out without cooking. NOC ( Nantahala Outdoor Center) has a restaurant and is only eight miles away.Also tenting or hammocking at the gap were Treebeard, Moonpie, Slow 'n Steady, and Freight Train. Don't expect to see them again. They'll be stopping at NOC for the night.Fate has elected to keep our merry band together. Last night Fast Lane and I caught Clammy just as he was leaving the gap. He had thought we were ahead of him. It was enough to convince him to stay and break his streak of not putting up his tent. For a PCT/CDT hiker who never saw a shelter before this trip he's adapted quickly to the relative luxury! Meanwhile UNICEF couldn't find a tent spot at Cold Springs so he followed us down to the gap. Looks like we're stuck with each other for awhile! We're thinking of starting a four-part harmony barbershop quartet. Look for our album to be released from the trail.It's a short hike over/up to Wesser Bald. It starts flurrying then snowing. Standing atop the firetower the view is very different from yesterday at Wayah. A wintry landscape is barely visible through the falling snow. At the bottom of the tower is a strange sight: an abandoned tent, fly torn off, snow collecting inside, leaning heavily to one side. The sleeping bags look like they were recently occupied. There are overturned camp chairs and a half-full bottle of Gatorade perched on the tower support. Did the occupants get scared off by the cold or an animal? Or go for a dayhike and leave everything a mess? No way to tell. I'm betting on alien abduction. The hike down to NOC is long and uneventful. Falling 3000 feet below Wesser Bald, the trail is often steep and rocky, but there are also long stretches of dirt switchbacks.By late morning Fast Lane and I make it to NOC. There are many hikers around but we recognize nobody. We've passed into a new group. I make a beeline for the outfitter. They've been holding the new shoes I had shipped to me. My old Altra Lone Peaks now have at least 800 miles on them and have no traction left. The new ones are the 4.0 version, bought with my REI 20% discount. They are a beautiful sight coming out of the box. The contrast is stark. I slip them on like gloves and they immediately feel comfortable. I feel like I should have a ceremonial burning of my old shoes. They're like old friends. But they're going into the dumpster because I ain't carrying them!A lesser acquisition is a new Smartwater bottle to replace one that has seen better days. They're amazingly resilient given the constant abuse they take. But they are hard to clean so must be occasionally renewed.UNICEF arrives so we head to lunch awaiting Clammy. Missing Person joins us, a medical editor from Austin who's hiked the AT three times, twice in sections, and has been keeping pace with us since the beginning. Clammy and Mudturkey eventually join too. Everything looks great, but a little pricey given the touristy area. I opt for a chicken salad sandwich. A massive stuffed sandwich comes out and I can only finish half. No worries, I'll pack it out and have no cooking tonight!Earlier there were two dozen backpacks outside the outfitters, but now the tourists have arrived and taken over. We go back in to print out backcountry permits for the Smokies. Like many national parks it is very popular with backpackers so there is a reservation system for the shelters and nightly fees. Thruhikers (defined as anyone starting and ending at least 50 miles outside the park) get special treatment given the unpredictability of our itineraries. $20 lets you stay at any shelter along the AT over an eight day period. But we must yield shelter space to other reserved hikers. Not a problem, since the Smokies shelters are notoriously crowded, noisy, and generally unpleasant places to sleep. Being forced to tent nearby is a briar patch I'll gladly be thrown in.Outside I recognize a Hawaiian guy named One Way from Cold Springs shelter. He reports the shelter was over-packed, with people rolling on top of one another. Two even slept in the privy in search of level ground. Sounds like we made the right call moving on.It's time to hike out to the next shelter, which means hiking up 3000 feet out of the Nantahala gorge. It's only seven miles but takes over three hours. It's often steep but only occasionally rocky. Along the way I meet a German hiker from Berlin named August out for a section. After one particularly steep climb I reach the highest point, called Swim Bald, and let out my barbaric Yawp! as I often do after a challenging climb. The "Bald" is forested however, so no special view. Of course with no leaves yet there are good views pretty much everywhere. A rock outcropping called the "Jump-Up" has the only unobstructed view.Approaching Sassafras Gap shelter I hear whoops and hollers. A lively crowd it seems. I'm encouraged to hike on, but the likely next sites will be on Cheoah Bald, 700 feet higher and consequently colder. Clammy has nabbed a spot in the crowded shelter, so he's happily staying put. UNICEF, Fast Lane, and I find somewhat level tent sites far apart. The area is a steep slope from a saddle between two peaks. Not a good place to host the four dozen campers here.  One hiker near me up in the saddle, where the wind is strong, says fewer hikers have dropped off this year since the weather has been relatively mild. The last two years saw blizzards in March. I guess we can expect more oversubscribed shelters for awhile.The large crowd around the fire seem to be a close-knit tramily and are not particular friendly to outsiders, so I hike over to my neighbors in the saddle. One of their tents is practically in their fire pit so we can't start a fire. One guy is David, who started a week before me and twisted his ankle walking up to Springer from the parking lot. He kept to five miles a day for the first week. Then there are two brothers Leafpicker and Canoe who started in Maine last summer and hiked to High Point in New Jersey. Now they have flip-flopped to Springer to go north and finish. They calculate they'll hit their 1000 mile mark tomorrow.The wind is penetratingly cold so I retreat into my tent for the night.One last item I forgot to report several days ago was meeting boy scout troop 564 from Atlanta near Deep Gap at the GA/NC border. The dozen boys and four leaders were finishing up an 85 mile trek from Fontana. Congratulations guys! Having just covered fifty miles of that I can say it was no easy feat.