Date: 2005-10-15
From: Franklin

To: Timber Ridge Trail cutoff
Miles today: 16.3

So I woke up and went to this breakfast buffet behind the hotel, It was an ok place, food was good but they didnt serve coffee with the buffet. Ronnie took me back to the trail around 10. Hiked up out of the Gap and then crossed another road, Stopped at Rock Gap shelter and took a small break. Then hiked 6 miles to Albert Mtn Firetower, went up the stairs to go up to the top but the door was locked so you couldnt get up there. There were still some excellent views from the stairs, but very windy. Went down and ate some food and talked to some locals that had come up there for the day. A lot of people have been out hiking to try and see the leaves change color but they arnt changing yet so they have been wasting their time. Came down a steep descent from albert mtn then was just hiking pretty fast to try and get to Carter Gap shelter, I passed a lot of section hikers along the way and stopped to talk to two older guys. Then 30 mins later I saw a younger looking boy walking alone. I stopped and asked him if he was hiking alone, he said no, there are people in fron of me im trying to catch. I knew there was noone in front of him he was with so I said no there are not. Then he knew he was lost, he was 13 yrs old and had no idea where he had started hiking from or where he was suppose to be camping. I later found out that where I had found him was almost 11 miles north of where he had started hiking that day. He had set out with a bunch of family and friends to hike up Standing Indian mtn from Deep Gap road. Once you get to the top of standing Indian mtn on the AT the summit is 200 ft to the right on a side trail, well Robert didnt turn right he just kept going on the AT untill he found me about 11 miles later. He was out of water but had food, I gave him some water and we hiked to carter shelter to see if anyone has a map. Meanwhile he followed me, I did not slow my pace at all for him, he kept up with me cause it was 6 pm and was going to get dark soon and he was not prepared at all. Got to the shelter and asked some guys if they had a map cause I had found a lost boy. The guys immediatly said ahh you found him? I said yes do you know where he is supposed to be. One of the gentleman had a mans cell phone number that was up here looking for robert, he called him but his cell phone didnt have service. Looking at the map, I decided to take robert down the Timber Ridge trail. I didnt really want to but it was the right thing to do. I took my pack with me cause I didnt really know how long I was going to be out tonight. It was 2.3 miles on the Timber Ridge trail to the road, then once we got to the road it was going to be another 6 or 7 miles to his campsite, I was prepared to walk all the way to the campsite. I let Robert lead down the timber trail to give him a break, took us almost 1 1/2 hr to hike down to the road and it was dark before we got to the road. That 2.3 miles took forever and it was all downhill. As soon as we popped out onto the gravel road, I set my pack down and asked robert if he needed some more water. Just then I heard a diesel truck coming so I moved my pack off of the road. It took me awhile to figure out what it was but then I realized it was the Search and Rescue Ambulance out looking for robert. I went up to the guys in the truck and asked him if they were looking for a young boy and they said yes, then I said well hes right here. Said goodbye to robert then the guys in the ambulance said thanks to me then I was on my way back up the 2.3 mile trail to the AT. I didnt wanna go up alone in the dark, before I left another search and rescue team pulled up and I told him that robert was safe and back with his family. I asked those guys if there had been many reports of bears or wild boars in this area, one guy said well if you see a wild boar just climb up a tree, and just pray a bear don't come climbing that same tree with ya. I hiked the 2.3 mile in under 40 mins, I don't really know how much elevation it was but am guessing it was about 1500ft at least. Got up to where the Timber Ridge trail dead ends into the AT and camped there with some people my age from Atlanta. 30 mins later 2 other guys came down the trail yelling roberts name trying to find him. I ran down the trail and told them that he was found and is safe. So my slow 16 mile day turned into a 21 mile day, but I didnt mind cause I know I would want someone to do that for my child.