Date: 2014-03-27
From: Rock Gap

To: Wayah Bald Shelter
Miles today: 14.7
Weather: clear sky

I woke up early, packed, and waited for the 7:00 AM Shuttle to the Franklin Baptist Church, which provides a free breakfast to all thru-hikers everyday. The church ladies said RW stood for: Righteous Walker.   The church fed about 30 of us with all-you-can-eat pancakes and sides. I don't care for pancakes but ate 6 of them anyways. Most of the group that I shared the shelter with during the storm were there. I learned the German's name was Simon, Cornwall's name was William, the girl was Bree from N.H., and the fourth guy was Wesley from Florida. The five of us sat together and recounted our storm adventure. Colorado didn't make it. He got very drunk the night before and said he wasn't leaving town until he finished all the beer he purchased. The motel shuttle dropped us off at the trailhead. The other four had hiked a little further the day earlier so they started 3.7 miles ahead of me that day. They are all very strong hikers and I don't expect to ever catch up to them or see them again. I was dropped off at Rock Gap with Blue. Blue at 46 is a retired Marine with lots of combat experience. He is a mountain of a man. He said he started two weeks before me and was in total combat with the trail. Three days in he was hit with a double ear infection and took 10 days off, then just before Franklin he fell and twisted an ankle. He told me to go without him because he would be slow until his ankle healed. As I rounded the switchback I looked back and Blue was standing upright and marching north behind me using his trekking poles as a cane.The day was cool and sunny, and the melting snow made the trail muddy. The mountains were all high now, consistently over 4,000 feet. During the storm I climbed Standing Indian Mountain at 5,498 feet. All the mountains were higher in North Carolina than Georgia. The air was still and the trees peaceful. Their limbs raised up to the heavens giving thanks for surviving the storm. During the storm the trees creaked and moaned and their limbs banged against each other. Many times during the storm I looked around believing someone was calling me only to find it was the trees straining to survive the winds.As lunch approached, I came across a 71 year old man called Walking North. In 2013 he hiked 2,035 miles of the AT. He skipped 150 miles because of bad weather and jumped to the end so he could make sure he climbed Mt. Katahdin. He had planned to go back and do the remaining 150 miles, but didn't. He was practicing now, with plans to go back in June and complete the section he skipped last year. We hiked together and he told me many stories about his trail experience last year. We climbed Wayah Mountain at 5,342 feet and walked the short distance to Wayah Bald Shelter. While crossing the bald, I climbed a tower and in the tower were signs naming the mountains. One sign said Clingmans Dome, the highest peak on the trail and in the middle of the smokey mountains. The clouds were too thick to see it. Russ, the homeless trail Yogi I met at Muskrat Creek Shelter was there cooking dinner on a fire. Later, Paul, 53, and his daughter Tortoise (20) from Boston showed up. Just before dark, Guy-On-a-Buffalo and his mother, Mom, arrived and then a young girl named Meticulous came in. We enjoyed dinner together in the shelter. I stayed in the shelter because tomorrow's forecast called for rain, and I didn't want to set up the tent. Later that night I sat and talked to Russ for an hour or two and he told me his sad life story. He is 53 but looks 80, and has lived in the woods for 20 years, he thinks. He is a kind man and takes it upon himself to help hikers when he can and asks only for some brief company and no trouble. Eventually Paul and Walking North joined me for a few minutes but they didn't want anything to do with Russ.