Date: 2013-04-03
From: Carter Gap Shelter

To: Rock Gap Shelter
Miles today: 12.1
Weather: broken clouds

So the beginning hike, the first 4 miles or so wasn't too bad. I flew down the mountain towards Betty Creek. There were several people cutting large switchbacks, not just several feet but practically straight down the mountain. All my group caught up to each other at Betty Creek. I didn't need water so I went on. We traversed across more and more rocks, black squishy mud and roots. And that wasn't even Albert Mountain yet. I approached the road and the blue blaze that goes around Albert. I didn't come this far to blueblaze so I head towards Albert Mtn. I'm soon climbing hand over hand, huge sheer rock faces and set of 10-15 stairs which are all tall too (over my knees). It's a nice day, I'm in no hurry so I take my sweet time. I stop every 10 steps or so to catch my breath and to see if I can see out over the tree tops yet. After only 20minues (or so it seems), I see the fire tower. I climb a few more rock faces and soon I'm standing under the tower. I shrug my backpack off and just chill for a minute, not eating, not drinking, just satisfied I made it up the mountain without getting frustrated or injured. Soon, Meg, Adam and Penthouse join me at the top and we start up the firetower. It was a nice one, all metal, not rusty and no missing steps. As we ascended, the wind picked up and it got cold. We reached the top or as high as we could go and started snapping pictures. The view from the tower was amazing. All around me were mountains! The lovely blue ridge...and I just hiked a lot of that. After taking a few more pictures, I descended the tower. Looking down, I realized quite high up. It's a good thing I'm not afraid of heights. Amazon, Chuckwagon and Lola arrived and we all had lunch. Some had cheese and sausage, which I thought was heavy. Chuckwagon pulled out chili powdered mangoes. He's a chef so he has lots of interesting food, a lot of which I can't pronounce. Him and Lola (Whiskey & Women) are from NYC. Meg, Adam and Penthouse are from Philly and Amazon is from Myrtle Beach. After I ate my lunch of trailmix, a powerbar and buddy fruit bites, I headed down the mountain. Time went by fast as the trail was fairly nice. I wasn't sure how far ahead I was of the guys so I didn't want to stop behind a tree close to the trail. So I decided to check out the newly built Long Branch Shelter and its privy. The shelter was real nice, smelling of fresh cut wood. It was a double decker but it didn't have any tent sites around. I signed the register and continued on. I met Amazon on my way back to the Trail. I took several more steps around the bend and scared Chuckwagon out of his mid. He was chilling on a mossy log getting water. The trail turned into an actual creek for several yards which was strange. My destination now seemed really far...the next 4 miles were a bit tough. I finally saw the shelter but the trail wanted to go all the way around before it let me go to the shelter. I set up my spot in the shelter and cooked up dinner. It started to rain around 2am and it was still dark when my 6:15 alarm went off. I stayed snuggled until about 7 when I forced myself to get up and ready. The rain turned into foggy drizzle and I got going around 7:50.