Date: 2005-04-09
From: Standing Indian Shelter

To: Wallace Gap
Miles today: 20.4

8:45 am I'm standing on top of Standing Indian Mountain. My altimeter reads 5,470, which is within 34 feet of the official height of Standing Indian of 5,498. There's this one nice, flat, rocky area on top here with a magnificent view of the Northwest. I just took some pictures. It's pretty cool. I can see at least 70 miles out. It's kind of scary looking out towards the north here, thinking that in a few days I'm going to be past where I can see here.You're really looking down at all the mountains and valleys from here, almost like an airplane. Most of them are full of fog still from the morning. A beautiful sight. The sky hasn't a cloud now. The sun is bright, I had to pull out my sunglasses. It's magnificent here. I have to do some work on my backpack before I start back down. I'm going to sit here and smoke a cigar.Pretty quick walk up here.   I started at 8:00 and got here at 8:45 and it was a nice grade uphill to the top, so I made a mile and a half in 45 minutes without even trying. I was the first one going Northbound so, of course, I broke the spiderweb trail. It seems that they always catch me along the bridge on my nose, my eyelashes and my open mouth. The first one hiking always gets that. I should stay in bed a little longer. Oh man, what a view.I'm going to try to make some good miles today, it's a long downhill from here. I get to go over Albert mountain later this afternoon too, which is the second mountain. It's a crazy one, you have to use your hands, it's so steep it's practically vertical in some places. At some places it's a rock scrable going up. Alot of fun from what I remember last time.There's a fire tower up top. It was so cold that I didn't go up last time, maybe I'll go up this time.I'm under the fire tower at Albert Mountain and all I can say is, "Holy Sh*t Batman, what a freakin' climb that was!!"I had to stop about every 20 steps, if you can call them steps. Alot of it was having to grab the rocks up above and the branches and whatever to just pull yourself up. It's not that big of a deal climbing up the nose of the mountain but it's damned near 400 feet of vertical in places. Awesome view here. Last time I was here it was freezing cold and the wind blowing through and today it's nice. Looking up at the top of the fire tower I'm thinking I'd like to go up there but I'm just too damned tired. My ass is whipped after that climb. So I'm just gonna sit here and recover, then haul ass. I would have been here quicker, probably before 2 o'clock, except at the base of the climb up the nose some guys had set up trail magic. It turned out to be Barry, the manager of Rainbow Springs Camp Grounds when I went through there in 2003. I stayed and talked to him for a bit. About 2 miles back on the Trail, I had run into a gal who's name was Selina that looked like she was in poor shape. She told me that she started in February and that she had just gotten back on the Trail again with new gear and her feet were hurting. I talked with her for a while then I tried to haul ass to try to get over Albert Mountain. I ran into a guy with just poles shooting down the Trail to come get her and her pack. It turned out to be the other guy that was helping Barry with the trail magic. His trail name was Forever North, he said to just call him North. He says he's got about 6,000 miles on his legs. I walked up to the top here, and Chris, who I have given the trail name Three Ball, his head is almost bald and the red hair is starting to come up now. I believe the 3 ball is the red one in pool. I think he likes the name, he might end up sticking with it. He was up here with Grump and another hiker I have never met before. Barry had some black beans and yellow rice and homemade salsa and some Cokes here. I ate some of that stuff and talked with everyone for awhile. Three Ball said that he was screwed because it was Saturday and the post office closes at Franklin at 4, and it was 2 o'clock at the time. Now he can't get his mail drop until Monday, so now he's trying to figure out what he's going to do. He might hang out in shelters, or go into town and get a hotel room or whatever. I'm going to actually try to make a 20 mile day today. It's 3 o'clock, and I've usually be stopping around this time every day with plenty of time left over, and I've got plenty of energy left. I've done about 14 so far, and I think I'm just going to keep walking for another 3 hours or so, to see if I can get over the 100 mile mark on the Trail, and see if I can't put it over the first 20 mile mark. We shall see.I'm actually at the shelter just before Wallace Gap at Rock Gap Shelter but I figured just to make it official I walked the extra half mile to the road and back again to log in the first 20 mile day. It was a great day. I actually seriously considered going on. I got here at about 5:30. I figured going on would be kind of dumb, but I could have done 30 miles today. I was feeling great when I got here, I think the black beans and rice helped out.Just 4 of us are here tonight. I was thinking Grump would walk in because he walks all day and all night, but he hasn't made it yet, maybe he will in a while. It's 9:00 pm right now. There's an older man named Foot Notes here, and Albert, who walked in a little bit after I did, and Chris who is now officially Three Ball. It was a good hiking day. Tomorrow I'm thinking of doing 15 miles to a water source. The first shelter is too close, the next one is 20 milkes away. I don't know if I want to do two 20 mile days. It looks like it's going to be a harder walk tomorrow than today. I'm thinking 15 miles, grab some water, and walk until I find a flat enough spot to pitch a tent. Albert seems to want to do the same thing so we might end up doing it together. Looks like I will be making time, at the rate I'm going to meet Eddie to hike the Smokies.I'm having this crazy idea that if I pack just enough food for the day and hydrate really well and carry no water I can make the run from NOC all the way to Fontana Dam in one day. It's about 31 miles, but if I'm packing light I might be crazy enough to try it so I can rest one day while waiting for Eddie to get into the Smokies, rather than have to go right into the Smokies with no rest.I dont know, I have to think about it. I think I can do it if the weather is good.