Date: 2011-05-03
From: Deep Gap

To: Hughes Gap
Miles today: 16.2

The day began clear and cool, a fine day for hiking. But it ended somewhat differently.After leaving my campsite at Deep Gap I stopped briefly to talk to the 3 women camped nearby. They had been in their tent already when I arrived last night. Turns out one was Juno, a 2007 thru-hiker whose name I saw a lot in registers, but never met because she was 3 to 4 weeks ahead of me the whole trip. She of course didn't recognize my name. She is a lady in her late '50's, out for a week's hike with her cousin and sister. Good to see a fellow thru-hiker from '07 who also made it all the way to ME!I really enjoyed the climb up Unaka Mt, starting right out of camp, just as I had in '07. The summit of Unaka Mt is forested in mid-aged red spruce; it has all the look, feel, and almost the smell, of a mountain peak in northern New England. I didn't notice any balsam fir in the forest, then finally realized it didn't have quite the same pungent smell of a Vermont high peak.While crossing thru the summit spruces I heard red breasted nuthatches, golden-crowned kinglets, brown creepers, and juncos. All the while there were small flocks of chimney swifts zooming past overhead in noisy talkative groups. On my way down the north slope I found a Canada warbler singing in a rhododendron thicket and got a great look at him, black necklace and all.Unfortunately, my hiker appetite seems to be kicking in. I'm becoming hungry all the time and needing to eat something every hour or so. I've only been on the trail a week and I'm starting to eat like a seasoned thru-hiker! Hopefully sometime soon I'll be able to keep up with the thru-hiker pace too.Just beyond Greasy Creek Gap I ran into Buffalo Bobby and Trolley Stop slackpacking southbound. They stayed last night at the Welcome Hostel in Greasey Creek Gap and had slack packed south from Carver's Gap over Roan Mt and back to the hostel for a second night under a real roof. Always fun to see these 2 guys! Hopefully I'll cross paths with them again, possibly at Kincora Hostel.At Clyde Smith Shelter I stopped for a snack and to look at the map. I intended to stay here but it was only 4:30 and it seemed like I could make Hughes Gap to camp and get to the base of the long and steep climb up the south side of Roan Mt. 2 women were at the shelter and had been there all day due to a very poor weather forecast. One of them was Mt Mama, Lief's mother. Lief is the developer of this Trail Journals website. I have read his Colorado Trail journal several times. He and his mother are BOTH AT 2,000 miler's!The longer I stayed the darker the weather got. However, I decided to go for it anyway. Just as my pack was on and I turned to leave, Still Steve and 3 other hikers I hadn't met before ran into the shelter. "It's going to rain, REALLY SOON!" they yelled. Foolishly, since my pack was on and the decision had been made, I headed up the trail anyway. As the line goes in the Indiana Jones movie, "He Chose POORLY". I got a quarter mile up the climb to High Rocks when it began to sprinkle. I kept going anyway. By the time I got to the overlooks at the top of the rocky knob it was dumping rain and blowing hard. Fortunately it was only about 58°, so not too cold in spite of just wearing shorts and a T-shirt.I made it the final 2 miles to Hughes Gap in a continual hard rain, but found few flat tenting options. Finally out of desperation I set up on an old woods road. Not ideal because my tent is half visible from the road. Not a good thing to camp where you can be seen from a road, too much potential to be harrassed by locals during the night, but there were no other options and with only about 1/2 hour before dark, it was too late to move on to the Ash Gap campsite near the top of Roan Mt. I managed to get my tent up and gear inside without soaking everything. After cooking dinner, I went looking for the spring shown on my map and found it a ways down the road, a wet area on the road cut bank. Thank goodness for water filters!A steady rain continues to fall. Hopefully it will clear by tomorrow mid day when I begin the hike across the long set of open Balds after Carver's Gap. This section of Tennessee Bald mountains and open ridge walking is one of the reasons I chose this section, so hopefully the weather will cooperate. Until then, just another night on the AT in a tent in a hard rain!