Date: 2009-07-10
From: Wayah Gap NC

To: Tellico Gap NC
Miles today: 13.5
Weather: light rain

Access:We are accessing the trail this week from the Nantahala Outdoor Center (NOC) in Wesser NC. We did this hike in 2 segments. In the first segment we went from Wayah Bald to Tellico Gap.We placed the car at Tellico Gap yesterday and hiked to NOC. The car spent the night there. See yesterday's hike.Wayah Bald--It took one hour from NOC to get to Wayah Bald. We went south on Rt 74/19 from NOC approximately 10 mi and turned left on Wayah Rd. We then went about 18 miles on Wayah Rd/SR 1310 to get to Wayah Gap. At Wayah Gap we turned left on Forest Service Rd 69 (?) and went 4.2 mi on a gravel road to the Wayah Bald parking area (room for 30 cars). The second hike involved almost 2 hr of car switching. A good break for tired legs! Hike #1--This hike was from south to north and had an elevation gain of approximately 1,200' and a descent of approx 2,550'. 5342' high Wayah Bald is not really a bald anymore. There are a few grassy areas, but if you want a view, you need to go to the stone observation tower. The Wayah Bald observation tower is a semi-tourist attraction with pit toilets and a large parking area.This morning when we started the hike, the only thing you could see from the tower was clouds...above and below...The hike starts out on a paved walk from the tower and through a grassy area heading north. The yellow-blazed Bartram Trail and the white-blazed AT share the same path for the next half mile or so. William Bartram(a botanist from Philadelphia) whose book 'Travels', published in 1791, describes the amazing animal and plant diversity of the southern Appalachians as well as the 'gentleness' of the Cherokee Indians. See the link below:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_BartramThe 71 mile, 3 state Bartram Trail honors him and provides access to some beautiful wild areas. We descended and after about 1/2 mile came to a campground with about 8 hikers that were following the Bartram Trail. It was at this point that the AT went off on its own and descended to Lick Log Gap. Coming up and out of the gap we saw some amazing brightly colored mushrooms on the side of a tree. We will attempt to download a photo tomorrow now that we've found our photo cord!After going up the trail then entered Burningtown Gap at an intersection with a forest road. You could access the trail at this point, but it would probably take a 4-wheel drive vehicle. Next we did our big climb of the day. 2/3 of the way up we reached Cold Sring Shelter which is one of the few shelters on the AT above 5,000'. This is a nice log shelter with a piped spring 20' away. We then passed west of Copper Ridge Bald (not a bald) at 5,200', our second 5,000 footer of the day. We walked the ridge for a while and then went down moderately except for the very end into Tellico Gap.Hike #2--The second hike of the day was from north to south to take advantage of the elevation change. In this hike we had a gain of 300' and a descent of 1200'. The hike was through the woods crossing the Wayah Bald gravel road several times, but without any meaningful waypoints or views.Bugsy and Burly Girl...doing the AT one day at a time