Date: 2005-04-09
From: Miss Janet's House

To: Beauty Spot
Miles today: 10.6

Miles hiked today : 10.6I was so sore last night that I actually woke up around 2:30 a.m. I went outside to the porch to get some ibuprofen from my pack, took 2 and then went back to sleep. People began stirring around 7:00 a.m. and I was up by 7:30 a.m., albeit still very tired, though not very sore.Miss Janet made a huge breakfast for about 16 hikers. There were biscuits and gravy, scrambled eggs, and baked cinnamon apple slices. When presenting the meal, she said that it wasn't an all you can eat and that we'd have to share, but there was certainly enough to go around and I was quite full by the time I was done.I didn't do much during the day other than update my Trailjournal before headng to the post office to pick up my maildrop. In addition to the tuna and noodles I'd packaged for myself, there were many goodies from my Mom, including more cashews!While repacking my foodbag, Yardsale and some other hikers showed up. Last night, they'd stayed in the shelter 6.3 miles before town. After claiming bunk spaces, they left to go to the buffet at Pizza Plus. When they returned, Yardsale reported that the 10 hikers that went devoured a total of 20 pizzas. Wow!I walked to the grocery store to buy a couple more items: bananas, pepperjack cheese, pop-tarts, and baby wipes. I also bought a bottle of chocolate milk and a pint of Chunky Monkey, neither of which lasted very long.Back at the hostel, Miss Janet said she'd take us to the trail when we were ready and so we left around 3:15 p.m. My left bootlace has been snapping, so I stopped by the outfitter at the trail and bought a new pair of boot laces. I've still got to cut them and melt the end pieces, but at least I've got them on hand.I hit the trail around 3:55 p.m., the temperature was in the low 80s, and besides the long creek running alongside the trail, I had a rather uneventful 1,350 foot climb up to Curley Maple Gap Shelter, arriving at 6:05 p.m. During the climb, I spotted my first snake on the trail. It was only about 1 foot long and light brown with cross-hatch markings on its back. Unfortunately, it slithered away before I was able to get my camera out.I'd prevously thought about calling it quits for the day after the short 4.2 mile hike to Curley Maple Gap Shelter, though it was still early and I wanted to press on. There was a day hiker present and when I mentioned that I was thinking about hitching back into Erwin 4.0 miles further up the trail, he offered to let me use his car if I'd pick him up in Erwin. I declined his offer, ate a snack, and filtered water before leaving at 6:40 p.m.I'd figured that I'd tent on an old abandoned woods road just before the road back to Erwin at Indian Grave Gap, but when I arrived at 8:20 p.m., there wasn't really anywhere to camp. Minutes later at the road crossing, I saw what I believe to be the day hiker's car. I briefly entertained the thought of hitching back into Erwin for another night at Miss Janet's, but I decided to push on, despite the fact that it was getting darker.Cotton Joe had earlier talked about camping at Beauty Spot, a 4,437 foot tall peak. It was only 2.4 miles further and the night was very clear, so I felt fairly comfortable doing a night hike with my headlamp. I figured if he wasn't there, I'd go an additional 0.5 mile to a campsite listed in the Wingfoot book.Probably the hardest part of night hiking is that I kick so many rock and roots due to the lack of light. I also had to deal with a couple very large blow-downs. Normally this isn't so bad, but they're difficult to navigate around in the dark. One of the blow downs was in the middle of a huge boggy mud pit that I had to walk through. In fact, I hadn't seen a blaze for a bit, so I backtracked to verify that I was on the right path.The hike to Beauty Spot was a 1,367 foot climb and I arrived at what I thought was the summit at 9:30 p.m. There was no sign of Cotton Joe, so I continued on. Soon I realized there was a little more climbing to do and once I reached the top of the hill at 9:40 p.m., I saw a campfire and many tents.I greeted the people around the campfire, most of whom were new faces, except for Cotton Joe, who was among them. I set about pitching my tent and sat by it while gazing at the stars. Once it became too cold to sit there, I crawled into my sleeping bag to journal before going to sleep.Bedtime at 11:30 p.m.