Date: 2007-04-13
From: Iron Mountain Gap

To: Indian Grave Gap
Miles today: 10.8
Weather: overcast clouds

We got up this morning and decided we needed to hike since it is to be a nice day and not so nice this weekend. Amoeba, Memere, and Gray Feather have already left--they were leaving very early--so we went to Miss Janet's, the owner of a home in town that caters to hikers--and asked her to take us to the trail. So at about 11AM we are at the trailhead ready to hike south to Indian Grave Gap. Chelsea is also doing this section. She is a young girl that has been at Miss Janet's for a week trying to rest her foot that has been bothering her. Miss Janet is to be at Indian Grave Gap at 4PM to pick us up. So we had 5 hours to finish. In many ways it was harder than yesterday. The highest we were was 5180 feet at Unaka Mountain. There was a little frost on the trail at the beginning making the trail crunch underfoot. The climb up the north side of the mountain was long and full of rocks and roots. On top of the mountain the companion book says there is a large stand of red spruce trees. We thought they looked like hemlock trees. But in the dense woods on top it was very dark and cold. When we started down on the south the sun felt very nice. We stopped for lunch for only enough time to eat something quickly. Then I started out first so I could get a head start as we had several miles to do and less than 2 hours to do it before 4PM. I am slower than Toto on the climbs so I did not want Miss Janet to have to wait for me. We went over Beauty Spot, another bare mountain spot that has a wonderful view. It was a little windy but sunny and beautiful. We met Jonah resting on top--we had met him at Hemlock Hollow Cabins a few days ago when we were waiting for the cold spell to break. The first hiker we saw today as we were hiking south was 60. She was having lunch at Cherry Gap Shelter, the first and only shelter we passed on the trail today. It was so good to see her again. She is very near our youngest daughter's age so enjoy seeing her and talking with her. She is a hiker that hikes her own hike and we like that about her. She gave us some info on some of the other young hikers: No Problem bought a goat in Hot Springs, several young men bought mu-mus and were wearing them, and Drip-Dry bought a boom-boxthat she was carrying. Apparently they had visited a thrift store.Later we met Pooch, Tom Dooley, and their dogs. We had not seen them since Hot Springs. Then Calamity Jane, M.A., Marshall, Bucket, Fly Away, Signage, Bonnie-Carolyn, Mountain Mike, and finally Stubble and his 2 cousins that are out hiking with him for a few days. Stubble was planning to only hike to the shelter 4 mikes from Erwin, but here they were about 9 miles from town. He said his cousins wanted to keep hiking. Their plan now was to hike just past Beauty Spot to a campsite. After getting back to town we decide to go to a laundromat to get that taken care of before it rains, so walked a mile out away from town to get to one. A Chinese   restaurant is just across the road but there is no buffet. A BBQ place nearby where we ate 2 years ago is no longer open. I start up a conversation with a woman in the laundromat when she asks me a question about which button to push for cold water (of course, I don't know) and after she hears about us being hikers and having no car she offers to go up the road to Hardy's to get something for us and then she offers to drive us back to the motel. She was surprised we had walked all the way out there!! A lovely woman about our age that has only lived here for a year. She came from Arkansas and before that, Memphis. Thanks to Jean Mann for her friendliness.A great day it has been. It has not rained here except for a few rare drops on us as we were walking to the laundromat. The TV said it would rain in the mountains before any of the drops reached the ground down here. So I am happy to be down here dry and warm and do not envy those we passed on the trail today as they head toward Roan Mountain at 6200 feet.Life is Great!Dorothy & Toto