Date: 2013-04-13
From: Beech Gap Campsite

To: Betty Creek Gap Campsite
Miles today: 6.9

I was so appreciative of Nightingale's offer to let me sleep in her tent with her last night. She is a very kind and generous person. It was, for me, the coldest night yet on the trail. I have to get my sleeping system perfected, before the Smokies. I was very cold in her tent, because I don't have a pad or mat, and the cold ground under me crept into my bones all night long, and I just could not get warm. In a hammock, you don't need a mat if you have an underquilt, or at least you are not supposed to need one. And a mat or pad in a hammock negates some of the comfort that makes a hammock more comfortable in the first place. But since I am such a cold sleeper, I just need another layer. I have a good underquilt, and a top quilt. But I think I am going to add a pad, much as I hate to carry one more thing, for the warmth that it will provide in the hammock, and for the flexibility it will give me to be able to sleep in a shelter on the rare occasion that I need to (like the night of the storm). Here is what I sleep in: wool long john pants, my regular wool short sleeved hiking shirt, wool socks, long sleeved synthetic shirt, down jacket, fleece hat, gloves, fleece sleeping bag liner, down top quilt and down underquilt. And still cold. It's just me. But while I was lying asleep in the tent last night wishing I could get warm enough to sleep, guess what I heard? Coyotes! What an eerie sound! They don't sound like I would expect coyotes to sound like. Not little barks and yips and howls, but weird sounds, kind of like a pack of monkeys. I couldn't tell how far away they were, or even what direction the sound was coming from. I wouldn't have known what they were, but another hiker had heard them the night before and described the sound to me. So cool. For those of you who don't know, I own a small business called Coyote Cove.Hiking, hiking, hiking today, but the main concern was trying to get cell service. We are hoping my husband St. Mike will be able to come to Franklin, NC, to meet us, but we need to talk to him to make a rendezvous point. So on the top of every mountain for the last couple of days we have been looking at both phones, Nightingale's and mine, and sadly saying "No bars," as we put our phones up and trudge down the mountain. Finally today she said excitedly, "I have two bars!" and she called her husband, and then I called mine. We made plans to meet tomorrow evening at Wallace Gap, near Franklin. I can't wait to see him! And get a shower! And a cheeseburger! And an ice cold Mello Yello! And see my sweetie!So we made our way to the last campsite before Albert Mountain, which we are both afraid of, because we have been hearing for days about how hard it is, with hand over hand climbing up the mountain. So we want to tackle it in the morning when we are fresh, not late in the afternoon. This is a pretty little campsite, all rhododendron bushes. I got water and hung the bear bag and hung my hammock. I will be so happy to sleep in my hammock again tonight. I am going to add a second pair of socks and my hiking pants to my bedtime ensemble, to see if it helps me stay warm. A good day. Yay, tomorrow is a town day!