Date: 2013-04-23
From: Nantahala Outdoor Center

To: Davenport Gap
Miles today: 100.0

Sorry it's taken me so long to update again. I've been pretty busy these last week or so. We ended up hiking the 6 miles down into NOC the next day after the bad storm. Weather ended up being pretty nice. We immediately went to River's End Restaurant and had delicious pizza and beer! We ended up getting a cabin for two nights, and Kayla, Jason and Eli all came and met us the next day! Kayla brought boats and gear, and we got Crying Tiger, Irwin and Babysteps all duckies (the inflatable kayaks.) We had a great time and the sunshine was out. At the very end, there's a class III rapid called Nantahala Falls. Kayla and I posted up at the bottom and took pictures and video of everyones run. Babysteps went down with no problem, then came Crying Tiger and Irwin. They made it down to the bottom, then started celebrating but since they weren't paddling they got sucked back into the bottom hole and flipped! Irwin almost died, but it was still one of the funniest moments so far on the trail. The next day we mailed ahead our food to Fontana Dam and started our dreaded 6 mile climb out of the gorge. Worse than the 6 mile climb was Jacob's Ladder. It was Jacob's Hell. Never ending torturous hell. Irwin almost threw up again. We finally made it at the end of the day to Cody Gap. We ended up camping down by the water source. It was so cool! It looked like Jurassic Park down there, I'll throw up some photos of it in a minute. The next day Babysteps and I left a little earlier then the guys. I'm so much slower first thing in the morning. There was a little bit of uphill, but not too bad. You could see the Dam the whole time though, so it was excruciating to know that you were that close but sooo far away. We ended up going down about three miles to the dam, it killed me. My ankles and knees are hands down what bother me the most on this hike. I can go a tenth of a mile down hill, and they already bother me. I tape both my ankles, have superfeet insoles, and wear braces on my knees and ankles. Hopefully they don't crap out on me. When we made it to the dam, I plopped down in the grass for a while. We called a shuttle from the village for three dollars and she dropped us off at the post office. Our packages made it from NOC in one day! Ali and Rich packed the leftover beers from the cabin in their box. The lady handed it over and said, "there's something rotten in there." Bahaha. Out of the four beers, it was their cider that had leaked. We went to the gas station/bar/cafe. I ate a pepperoni pizza (personal,) Doritos, Three Muskateers, mini chips-ahoy! and two beers. Then we got dropped back off and walked to the shelter, Fontana Hilton. Hilton, shcmilton. The bathrooms were locked because apparently some asshole hiker trashed them to the point of vandalization. So, no showers and bathrooms. I was girl # 3 of about 30 guys. Finding a spot to use the bathroom was a pain in the ass because the shelter was like a picnic area, wide open. I slept like shit that night. We saw a mouse right next to us before falling asleep, and I just cant be comfortable on a sleeping pad; I move my legs too much. We eventually found out later that day that Gilgamesh, a guy that was in the shelter with us, woke up to a mouse biting him on the face!!!! He ripped it off, and this entire time did not utter a sound. His face wasn't looking too great the next day, I think he should've gone to a doctor but he seemed to think he was fine. We woke up the next morning and got to the visitors center early. Lo and behold, the showers are locked there as well. Sigh. Up the climb I've been dreading about. The climb to Shuckstack was my least favorite part when I did the Smokies back in July. It was hot this time, gnats were horrible, in my eyes, ears, nose and mouth. We ended up making it almost 14 miles that day to the Russel Field shelter. It was really nice there, the water source was a tad sketchy because it was a really shallow creek. The next morning we prepared ourselves for our longest day yet. 16.8 miles. We made it! It was super windy that day, all while we were on the ridgeline. When we made it to Derrek Knob shelter we still had 7 miles to go, but ended up making great time. Also, we ran into Uke! We hadn't seen him since Sassafrass Gap in NC. We all decided that next morning that we wanted to see the sunrise at Clingmans Dome. So, we got up at 4am, and were leaving camp by 5. It was extremely windy, turns out there was a wind advisory till eight. On top of that it was pouring rain and foggy. After the climb there we ended up not being able to see the sunrise because of the bad weather and it was cold because of the high wind. We ended up getting a ride into Gatlinburg, all soaking wet. Kayla picked us up and we all came to my house in Knoxville for two zero days!!!! I ended up getting a bad sinus infection, coughing up all that lovely stuff and ended up taking everyone back to Newfound Gap on Monday morning, and now I'm getting back on tomorrow morning at Davenport Gap. These past two days I've been so miserable haha. There's definitely no way I could be hiking with how I'm feeling, and my knees and angles could use the rest. However, it is killing me just sitting at home while everyones out there hiking! It's like I'm re-starting the AT again! I can't wait to get back on tomorrow! I'll try and update when I make it to Hot Springs on Friday!