Date: 2003-04-03
From: Franklin

To: N.O.C., Nantahala River
Miles today: 30.4

Temperatures remained well below freezing on Monday, so we took an off-trail day in Franklin. We spent the day eating at every opportunity. Frequent snow flurries through the day allowed us to tell ourselves we were doing the right thing. The weather was to warm up over the next three days, and a local Trail volunteer, Charles McLauchlin, ran us up to Wallace Gap on Tuesday morning. Charles is originally from Pennsylvania, and always intended to move to the ocean when he retired. When he did retire, his wife's mother fell ill, and he and his wife moved to Franklin to look after her. It was a bright, beautiful morning and I didn't think fate had dealt him a bad hand as we looked at the mountains all around, covered in icing sugar. There was still a lot of snow at this altitude, but not as much of it lay on the AT itself, we were fresh, and we put in an 11.5 mile day to get to a camping area near the top of Wine Spring Bald. We were at about 5,400 feet so the area was covered in snow, apart from some convenient rectangles obviously left by campers the day before. We were joined there by two very pleasant girls from Kansas City (Kansas, not Missouri) called "Dimple Rock" and "Wrong Way Brown" whom we had passed several times over the course of the day. One of these places was at Silver Bald, where we realised that a "bald" is usually a grassy area (i.e. a field or meadow) at the top of many of the mountains, and there are NO trees. When you can go several days on end without ever being more than ten feet from a tree, this is a big event in one's day! We climbed in total about 4,250 feet, further evidence that we are getting healthy and finding our legs. It was a very cold night, certainly below freezing. I wore my "monkey man" fleece inside my sleeping bag and needed it. Next day was definitely warmer and was another big day for us. We covered 13.5 miles (our most yet) including about 2,400 feet of climbing and 3,300 feet descending over eight and a half hours. A hard day, and from mid-morning a fairly warm one with temperatures up in the mid 60s to 70 degrees F. I found a great way to keep cool was to pack snow in the crown of my hat. As well as immediate coolness, there was a lovely release of melting snow down my face for the next hour.There were more signs of Spring on the way. Two little butterflies, light grey when they are stationary, but a beautiful light blue when they fly. And a few more flowers. We were very tired when we reached Wesser Bald Shelter and decided to sleep in the shelter rather than put up our tent. Five others were already there - "Dimple Rock", "Wrong Way Brown", "Pippie" (also from KC), "Soynut" (a young lady from N.C.) and Gregg from Atlanta, Ga. Plenty of mouse deterrent devices hanging from the rafters, plus two mousetraps, were enough to put them all off using the shelter so we had it to ourselves. It was excellent, and although we could hear some distant gnawing through the night, we had no problems.The highlight of our stay at this shelter was the act of kindness of an earlier hiker (he left a note calling himself "Captain Mudflap"), who left a supply of oranges at the shelter and ten or so cans of Coca-Cola cooling in the stream that was our water supply further up the hill. How welcome they were!Today has been even warmer than yesterday - well into the 70s I should say - and, perhaps because we have come down to about 1,700 feet, Spring seems to be coming in a rush. Lots of small alpine flowers, white, yellow, blue and violet, are breaking out in profusion, and more butterflies and lizards. And when you look into the woods, there is a definite greenness starting to emerge as the trees bud. We've had a relatively leisurely day of 5.7 miles, mostly downhill, to reach the Nantahala Outdoor Centre at Wesser which is right on the AT. (We are 134.1 miles north of Springer Mountain). The NOC is also on the Nantahala River, and white-water rafting is the main activity here. But they provide great services for hikers too, including bunk houses ($15 a bed), two restaurants, bathhouse with showers, laundry, and a very good outfitters and re-supply store. And generally just a very good place to chill and rest tender feet and joints. As I write these notes, I not only feel good, I even smell pretty good as well. Most of the people we've met over the last few days have arrived and many are planning to stay for a day or two, including "Dimple Rock" and "Wrong Way Brown". Incidentally, they are Denise Cooper and Rebecca Brown, and are also maintaining a diary on trailjournals.com possibly under their real names. They have certainly earned a break. They were at Standing Indian Shelter when the snowstorm struck, the next night they camped in temperatures of 16 degrees F and didn't sleep much. Even though their stuff got pretty wet, they kept on hiking. When we first met them, "Dimple Rock" was treating a blister no doubt caused by walking in wet boots and socks. For days they've been dreaming of a hot shower, pizza and a real bed under a roof, in that order. If Verity and I can show half the courage they have then we'll do alright.We are heading off tomorrow, and the next two days will be brutal, especially tomorrow which will be one continuous climb of 3,000 feet. We hope to reach Fontana Dam, the gateway to the Great Smoky Mountains, on Sunday.