Date: 2004-04-03
From: Cold Spring Shelter

To: Nantahala Outdoor Center
Miles today: 11.5
Weather: scattered clouds

I am the first to leave the shelter at 7:30 am. Remembering our pact, I bid farewell by saying "Cheeseburgers Cheeseburgers, help, Cheeseburgers!" Everyone laughs, since it is quite warm, well above freezing, and bid me farewell.The ground is soft and the snow looks like Swiss cheese from holes made by falling snow from the trees. As I enter rhododendrum thickets instead of a long green tunnel it has become a low white one, the branches weighed down by heavy wet snow. From time to time some of it falls from the branches and cascades onto me. I'm glad it is still early, it will get worse as the day warms up.The snowy landscape finally relents as I descend to Tellico Gap. The clouds break and I can finally see the distant landscape for the first time in three days. It is windy and chilly as I climb back up Wesser Bald but only scattered bits of snow. I climb the observation tower for some pictures. I can still see the white through the trees on the mountains I have just crossed and to the north the Smokies are even more white. Then I start the long 3500 foot descent to the Nantahala river.As I go down it is like another part of the world! More and more wildflowers appear and I see a lizard and then three different kinds of butterflies flitting about happily as if the snow had never existed. Off in the distance I can hear the unfamiliar sound of a locomotive horn and later the rumble of railroad cars.By the time I near the end of the steep 6.5 mile descent my feet are aching. I keep looking down, hoping to see the river and listening, hoping the roar I hear is the rapids instead of the wind in the trees. At last I see a parking lot by a road. I can hear someone announcing kayak races over a PA system. A few more switchbacks and I stumble into the NOC complex just after 2pm. I check in and get one of the last few bunks available. Then I get a barbeque sandwich and lemonade and sit down to eat and watch the races. Today is NOC's Spring Splash. As it is mainly a whitewater sport center we hikers are just a tiny presence. Everywhere are t-shirt and shorts clad people, a surreal change from the frigid world I had just hiked out from.Next I look for my room. In all the dozens of journals I have read, I don't remember any saying that a railroad track goes right through the NOC. Or that the bunkhouses are high up a steep hill! Just to get to the bathroom from my room takes 70 stairsteps! Yikes! Still, a shower feels good. There are no towels and I forgot to bring my pack towel from the room so I dry off with my almost clean midweight Capilene top then put on my only remaining clean clothes, a pair of shorts and spare t-shirt.Feeling rejuvenated I head down the long hill to the outfitters to buy food for the next leg. Coming out of the store I discover Crash-Bang, Andrew, and Katie. They have arrived just too late to get bunks. They try calling other places to stay without luck, then we decide to have dinner together in the Rivers End Restaurant. Mmmmm, cheeseburgers.They prepare to return to the shelter half a mile back up the Trail and I go to my room. Someone else has arrived, because there is a large dog sleeping happily on top of my clothes and sleeping bag! When I tell her to go to the floor she wakes up and looks at me irritatedly, like that is all hers and I should find somewhere else to sleep. Finally she reluctantly gets up and settles down under the other bunkbed to go back to sleep. A momment later there is a knock on the door; it is a manager with a note for the owner to get the dog out of the room or leave. Pets are not permitted at the NOC. Not long after the owner shows up. He seems unimpressed by the note but does go out taking the dog with him.Just before 8pm comes another knock on the door. I'd heard sirens and it seems someone fell and needed taken away by ambulance. There was a dog with him and a staff person is trying to find out if it was the dog's owner. I give what description I can and promise to let them know if he shows up tonight. If not, it is probably him who was hurt.Later still, two security workers come to collect his belongings. It turns out it was him who had been hurt. They went through everything trying to find some form of ID. Just as they were about to give up, I spotted his name and address written on the outside of his pack. We had missed the obvious!