Date: 2005-10-24
From: 3 miles south of Cheoah Bald, NC

To: Wine Spring, NC
Miles today: 24.4

24.4 miles todayWine Spring, NC I slept better last night. It rained and was cold and windy, but after the rain woke me up, I put cotton balls in my ears and slept good till morning. I woke up at 6:15am. The wind blew some clouds through the screen on my tent and it was all ice. My down sleeping bag was pretty wet from all the moisture. I made my coffee and ate my last 2 fruit pies. I leaned out of my tent to take the hot water off the stove and my elbow smashed one of the fruit pies to smithereens. When I was packed up and went to take my tent down, it was harder because there was so much ice on it and my guylines. I got packed and walking at 7:20am. The first 6 miles of my walk were down hill into Nantahala Outdoor Center. I had a sitdown breakfast on my mind for when I got there, but wasn't sure the restaurant would be open this time of year. As I was walking into the lower elevations, I had to keep stopping to take another layer of clothes off. I'm not sure what it is about the cold weather, but it makes the mountains look that much nicer and the clouds have different formations that lay across the peaks of the mountains...very nice. I met 2 guys just before I got to N.O.C. They were heading north and told me the restaurant was open. :-)))They have been section hiking the A.T. for 41 years and hope to have the whole trail down in another couple of years. I sent in my journal entries when I got there, then checked the outfitter to see if a care package was there from Mrs Gorp. They said there was no package for Stumpknocker. I thought about it and asked them to check for a box for Creme Puff, but there wasn't. (Mrs Gorp threatened to send it to me using that for my trail name) I went over and sat down and ordered breakfast...2 eggs over easy, homefries, sausage, toast, biscuits and coffee. When I was done with that, I ordered the same thing all over again. :-))) I guess that makes 3 breakfasts for this morning. I also ordered 3 sausage and egg biscuits to pack out for later today. I paid my $21.00 breakfast tab and left a good tip because the waitress didn't question me at all with all the food I ordered and she kept my coffee cup full. I went back to the outfitter and bought a couple food items to pack out with me, then checked one more time for the care package that was supposed to be there. It wasn't, so I walked across the street getting ready to head back into the woods, but I saw a phone and decided to check my email one more time. While I was checking it on the phone, I saw a guy walk over to the Visitor's Center with some mail. On a long shot, I stuck my head in the door and asked if there was anything there for Stumpknocker. There was. Ha!!! Thank you Mrs Gorp. That was a fantastic care package and yes, I will try your special poptarts for breakfast tomorrow morning and let you know what I think of them. I finally got back to walking after spending what seemed like all morning at N.O.C. The first 4+ miles were uphill...about 2400 feet. It felt good to have another nice climb. I walked by A. Rufus Morgan Shelter without stopping because I spent so much time not walking today already. I got to The Jumpup which is an overlook that if you were coming down the mountain too fast, you might need wings to land safely. I took a few pictures and walked on to Wesser Bald Shelter. I stopped there to sign the register, but there wasn't one. I ate a couple snacks from my care package and hiked on. I climbed another 500 feet to Wesser Firetower and climbed that. It was mid-day and there was still solid ice on some of the steps. I love the views from up there and stayed for about 10 minutes enjoying them. I walked on to Tellico Gap, then climbed 1400 feet to Copper Ridge Bald. I just enjoyed the views as I walked by without stopping because it was so windy and cold. The winds had been blowing 25 to 35 mph most of the day and the temperature seemed to drop all day, but I was still walking in my hiking shorts. :-))) I walked on down to Cold Spring Shelter and filled my water bottles and got inside the shelter and out of the wind to sit down and eat an early dinner of those 3 sausage and egg biscuits I had packed out this morning. I was getting ready to leave when a guy and his wife hiked in. We started talking and they said their names were Gabe and Shadow. They have about 3/4 of the A.T. done in sections and are doing another section now. I ended up staying at the shelter for about an hour altogether before hiking on. I wasn't sure how much farther I was going to hike today, but I was feeling good and I was doing a good job and keeping my body temperature just right, so I walked until almost dark. I passed by Burningtown Gap, Licklog Gap and then climbed up to Wayah Bald. It was snowing when I got there and the wind was still whipping around, so I didn't go up to the observation tower. I got rid of some garbage in the cannisters that were there and started hiking down the hill. In about 2 miles, I came to the first half way good spot to set up my tent. It was an established tent site by Wine Spring, so the ground was hard, but I was out of the really hard winds. It was still snowing and showed no signs of stopping. It was a lite snow though, so I wasn't concerned about having to post hole out in the morning. I set up there. My tent still had ice in it from this morning. Even my water bottle that I had filled at Cold Springs Shelter had ice in it. I got in my sleeping bag and started to write my journal for the day, but my Pocketmail device was so cold that it wasn't working right, so I just zipped up and went to sleep. I had a good day in the leaf catching game. It was windy all day and blowing leaves all over the place. I'm up to 41 now. It was amazing how many leaves I had right in my hand and before I could catch them, they were gone. I've let that large group from the desert southwest play and then the smaller group from the White Mountains in NH play (above treeline), so now I've decided to let anyone from the plains of Nebraska play. That's another large group...sure hope that's not a mistake!! :-)))