Date: 2015-03-25
From: Devils Fork Gap

To: Spivey Gap
Miles today: 21.8

We are having a wonderful time here at Cantarroso Farm, Peg and Mike are great hosts. We got an early start this morning since we're planning our longest day so far. We hope to hike 21.8 miles. Mike timed our shuttle arrival so that there was just enough light to get underway when we got to the trailhead. We hiked today with WyeKnot, a very interesting fellow. Unfortunately he has retinitis pigmentosa, a progressive loss of peripheral vision. He has had the condition for a number of years and is legally blind. He describes it as looking through binoculars and he has to constantly look up and down to see the trail ahead and then what's underfoot. But it's hard to tell that it's a problem, he's a fast hiker. It's good for him to hike with someone since he doesn't always realize when the trail makes a sudden turn and may go off in the wrong direction. We had a great time with him today. He's energetic and a ton of fun and absolutely intrepid on the trail. My only issue today was that I started out in the lead on the first big hill and started too fast. Not too smart when you're facing a long hike. The highlights of the day for me were the balds. We crossed Big Bald, Big Stamp and Little Bald. Big Bald and Big Stamp are huge grassy, open peaks, above 5,000 ft. Big Bald has tremendous views in all directions and we got a reasonably clear day. But there was a strong, cold wind blowing and we only stayed long enough for photos. One other hiker was at the top with us so we all took each other's pics and then headed out. As I crossed the treeless saddle from Big Bald to Big Stamp I found Hawkeye taking a breather and grabbing a bite under a small tree. At first I didn't recognize him, but he joked that Princess caught him in a bio-break and I realized who it was. (He happened upon us a couple of days ago when I was enjoying a bio-break.) We hope that he has time to join us at Cantarroso. Another feature of the day is that we are skirting the TN/NC state line, or at least I think so. Last year when we did this section, Ranger pointed to a barbed wire fence along the trail and said that was the state line. Today we passed through the same tract and sometimes the fence was on our left, and sometimes on the right. I had just about run out of gas when we finally finished the 21.8 mile hike. I'm not sure if I could have made one more hill climb, I was pooped. The good news was that we were carrying slack packs rather than full packs, and that Mike showed up in his truck within 5 min after we finished. We had a real treat waiting for us at Cantarosso. A trail magic hiker dinner. Lotta and Ken who are serious hikers and also active trail maintainers, wanted to provide some trail magic and brought over a spaghetti, salad and brownie dinner for everyone. Jenny & Maria who were visiting from FL also helped with the magic. It was terrific. The conversation was great and after everyone was full, Mike built a fire outside and the evening continued until well after hiker midnight. Lotta was extremely interested in our impressions of the trail and we all gave her feedback on features we like and don't like. And she gave us insight on what maintainers do to improve the trail and the hiking experience. Our heartfelt thanks to Lotta and Ken for their generosity.