Date: 2011-03-25
From: Wayah Gap

To: Licklog Gap
Miles today: 6.0

Boy, did I sleep in today. When I got up to use the bathroom at about 4:30 AM, all the stars were out and there was frost on my tarp inside and out. Good day to sleep in and let it warm up. I finally got out of bed at about 11:30 and not on trail until 1:00. I hit Wayah Gap right away and then the trail went up pretty sharply. I stopped after about 40 minutes to stretch my feet and got passed by a guy name Blue Ridge who confirmed rain all day tomorrow and into Sunday.The weather stayed nice until around 3:00 or 4:00, when it clouded over and got windy, just like yesterday. When I got near the top of Wayah, it started to sleet a little. There¢s a parking lot at the top with bathrooms and trash cans. I stopped to dump trash and put on my jacket since the rest of the way to Wayah shelter was downhill. As I was about to leave for the top, three older NC guys who¢d just driven in walked up. They were really nice, but would not stop asking questions. Since I've been out here, I¢ve dealt with nothing but thru-hikers and trail towns, so this whole thing seems completely normal. I guess it is sort of a novelty, though.As we were talking, four younger thru-hikers came up and joined the quiz show. They broke out some homemade jerky and one of the car guys asked for a piece, which I thought was pretty ridiculous. We all walked up a paved path to the tower at the top. Hikers had used rocks or something to write their names on the path, like in the Tour. Sherpa and Gipegirl were the only ones I recognized.The view from the top is something. You can see all four ways and there are maps in the tower showing which mountains are which. We all spotted Albert Mountain right away because you could just see the fire tower. It was really something how far away it was.I talked to one of the four guys, Red Oak. All of them were recently laid off. They were five, but one of them blew his knee out earlier in the day and is done. They were about to call 911 at the road, but someone came by and drove him out. That¢s the second person I¢ve heard of to drop off with a sudden knee injury and the fourth or fifth with any kind of knee problem.The shelter was just a mile or so away. As we got going, it started to rain, so I stopped to put the rest of my rain gear on, but it didn¢t last. The shelter was jammed, so I decided to push on. At the spring, I met a guy my age, Riverdance, who was doing the same. He had a page from the data book showing this gap with camping and a spring, so he didn¢t fill up. When we got here, there were two weekenders starting a fire and no spring anywhere. I went down the west side of the gap to find a spot out of the wind and scout for the spring. There was a sort of an old road that led to this big field and some more old paths. I walked back up to tell them I hadn¢t seen the spring, then said I was heading back down for the night. I¢m in a stand of big pines, and there¢s not a breath of wind. As long as I can keep mostly out of the wind, it can pour rain and I won¢t get a drop. That¢s what happened at Horse Gap when we got those crazy three inches at the beginning. I got way down out of the wind.I didn¢t stop to stretch enough at the end of the day, so my feet got a little sore. They¢re definitely better than they were, so I¢m optimistic. If I can make it 10 miles tomorrow, I can hit NOC Sunday, I think. But I¢ve also got maybe a ton of rain, so we¢ll see.