Date: 2008-02-10
From: Beauty Spot, TN

To: Greasy Creek Friendly Hostel, NC
Miles today: 12.7
Weather: scattered clouds

I slept great last night...even with the gusty winds that blew in early.I decided to make coffee at 5am, just in case the others wanted to walk up to the summit of Unaka Mtn with me.I had two small packs of powdered mini donuts along with my Starbucks. :-)The temperature never dropped much after I went to bed....it stayed in the mid 20's. I was listening to a local radio station and they said the winds were blowing about 30mph.We were blocked from most of that where we all tented at last night.I was all done with my coffee and donuts by 6am and I didn't hear anyone up yet, so I went back to sleep until about 7am.Marta, David, Becki and Ronda were all enjoying breakfast, so I went ahead and walked on after I said goodbye to everyone.I get a kick out of some of Maw-ee's entries in my guestbook. You can easily get rid of Springer fever....just go up to Springer and go for a walk...a long walk...north. :-)I walked down to Deep Gap before I started the climb up to the summit of Unaka Mtn.The wind really picked up when I started that climb. It was still cold out and the gusty strong winds made it feel colder.I was glad I left a light jacket on and I added a neck gaiter and gloves to get comfortable.Unaka Mountain has a bunch of dark barked pine trees on the summit. I've walked through there before just as the sun was setting and all those dark pines gave the mountain an strange feeling to me. It's the only mountain on the AT that has those kind of pines that I know of.It was nice on the way down Unaka Mtn because I got out of the high winds for a little while.I came to a really nice spring about half way down and drank half a liter of water and filled up a water bottle for the rest of today's walk.I got down to Low Gap in about 1,300 ft, then climbed about 400 ft before descending to Cherry Gap Shelter.I stopped at the shelter and signed the register and used more smiley face stickers.I also decided to eat an early lunch while I was there and out of the wind. I had chicken salad with crackers, raisins, nuts and a chocolate bar.I made a 600 ft climb after Cherry Gap and my ol' buddy Chief called me on my cell phone when I was about half way up.He's getting ready to walk out of Hot Springs with Hopeful next week in hopes of making it to Damascus, VA.I don't think my ol' buddy Chief will make it very far. :-)He told me that he was at his cabin (a nice house) yesterday and the wind was picking up...and he didn't want to get caught in that nice cabin with high winds coming, so he headed back to his home in Garner, NC.Hey Chief...I slept outdoors in those winds last night and walked in them today...no wonder you always tell me that I'm your idol. 8-)Poor Hopeful will probably be walking alone by the time he makes it 10 miles out of Hot Springs. Ha!I walked down to Iron Mtn Gap, and then started another climb.The wind probably did get up to 50mph gusts during the day.I would stop walking when those high gusts would blow and I kept a watch up in the air for falling branches and limbs.The leaves on the ground were even being blown up the mountains. :-)I had another 4 miles to the side trail to Greasy Creek Friendly Hostel.Some of the clouds blowing through were bringing snow flurries with them.I kept walking and got to the side trail to the hostel, then walked .6 miles downhill before I got there.I knocked on the door and CeeCee answered the door and gave me a big ol' hug! :-)It's been 4 years since the last time I stopped here. I really enjoy this place, but it didn't work into my days in other years.CeeCee fixed me two big cheeseburgers and I had some chips and a couple Cokes.Walking in that wind must have made me tired today because I laid down for a short nap when CeeCee had to leave for a while.When she got back, I ate a pint of Ben and Jerry's Cherry Garcia while she made me an excellent gourmet salad with guacamole on the side...umm, ummm! :-)I laid down on the couch in front of the wood stove and started watching a program on TV and fell asleep again. :-)Sorry for being such bad company CeeCee...but I just couldn't stay awake after walking in that cold wind all day, then laying down in front of the woodstove.I finally went to bed about 9pm. I'm a real PARTAY animal! :-)Another great day on the Appalachian Trail! :-)