Date: 2007-04-17
From: Allen Gap

To: Tanyard Gap
Miles today: 8.9

Tuesday, April 17, 2007Allen Gap to Tanyard Gap, 8.9 milesUp at 6AM, drive to Allen Gap.Hello to a couple of thruhikers who are breaking camp.Hello to NOBO Dirty Ernie and Blue Sky and their dog Blue.A great trash receptacle, in from the road, along the trail. Love these. This one well-built, tight, animal-proof and lined with plastic liners. A dull green color that blends with forest colors.An inviting sign is posted which says,¢Trail MagicThru-hiker orLong Distance Section HikerBelgian Waffles with pecans and maple syrup, Stew, Vegetarianchili and much more, hot and cold drinks, ice cream and otherdessertswalk down hill on this gravel road, turn right¢east¢ about 300 yards on state highway andturn up the concrete driveway to the home at the¢Welcome to North Carolina¢ signavailableMonday & Tuesday Apr 16th & 17thArrive between dawn and 6:30 pmYour extra 300 yards will be worth it, we are home!Sincerely, Fal & Hercules, thru-hikers ¢99¢Wow, that sounds wonderful. I¢m hiking south today. I¢ll tell NOBOs about it so they¢ll know what¢s ahead and how far it¢s ahead in case they want to stop there. I just had breakfast or I¢d check it out myself.Fresh crisp blazing.Hemlock woolly adelgid is really profuse here. Some hemlocks defoliating, dying. It¢s a beautiful hemlock stand, heart-breaking to think of it gone.Clear day, low 50¢s. Some breezes, not the blast we had yesterday.Hello to NOBO¢s Worm and Scholar. Scholar, from outside of Pittsburgh, thruhiked in 2005. She met Circuit Rider and Sherlock in 2005 and thinks they¢re great. She wonders if Queen Diva is at Bears Den and I tell her yes. Then Bears Den is on my itinerary, she says. She hikes in Chacos.Hello to NOBO Birch from Pittsfield MA.First open white trillium flower.Hello to NOBO Grambo from SC.Hello to NOBO¢s Double Bird and Troll from Oxford ME.Hello again to Ziola.Wind picks up. It¢s strong, bitter and penetrating. Need to put on windbreaker.Hello to Just Steve.Hello to NOBO¢s Music Man and Hiking Pole. She¢s very slender and from Poland. A perfect trail name.Hello to NOBO Judo from near Washington DC and her friend Marcy who is just visiting and doesn¢t have a trail name.Spring Mountain Shelter Register3-27-07 Swamp Yankee.3-29-07 Windy and too cold to linger. Leonard Adkins, the Habitual Hiker.Yes, it¢s chilly. Leonard has his pack on and will leave me here if I don¢t start moving. It threatens to be a real umbrella day. Onward, the Umbrella Lady.4-5-07 Bronco Billy. I met him on the trail in 2004 and again in 2006.This shelter is right smack on the trail. It¢s even got a white blaze on its side.Up here there¢s snow in the woods but the trail is dry.Dwarf buttercups, same colors as the Girl Scout colors when I was one.Dandelions, cutleaf toothwort, dwarf ranunculus. No trees leafed out. Quite a difference between this elevation and down at the French Broad River.Hello again to Swamp Foot.Hello to Memere and Gray Feathers! We decide to alter our reservations at the spa. It¢s too cold to soak outside. We¢ll change to Officer Bungalow to the Blue Room, which has an in-room tub. Since we¢ll be eating at the diner, we don¢t need full kitchen facilities. Sink, frig and microwave will be enough. Like the other NOBOs I tell them about the Belgian Waffle sign.Hello to NOBOs Dash and two brothers, J-Beard and Mangrove. Wooden staffs.Blazing to the crossroads to Rich Mountain needs redoing.Hello to NOBO Hyde.Hello to NOBO Couch.Dragging today. By mistake I took potato salad instead of tuna for lunch.Going up Rich Mtn there¢s a nice piped spring, another one on the way down. I pass on the fire tower. Need to get down to Hot Springs to meet Myra and Randy, not a lot of time.Fatcat from the spa calls me on my cell. I change our reservation to the Blue Room.Hello to NOBO Wet Socks, who hikes in sandals.More dwarf crested iris, blossoms wilted and collapsed in the intense sun, even though it¢s cold.Hello to Pootz (¢Big¢ in Italian), Eagle Eye, Dances With Sloths and Uncle Buck.Hello to NOBO Stealth from south-central PA. Wife and son will join him this weekend for a visit. Tells me about a hiker on Max Patch in the bad weather. He lost his way and thought he was done for. Got to a road, car picked him up and took him to the fire house. 2 hikers in Walnut Mountain Shelter, all their gear was soaked, they were freezing, he doesn¢t know if they made it.Hello to NOBO Spock. Has section-hiked the AT over 2 years, now attempting a thru.Hello to NOBO Blue Yonder from St Augustine FL.Hello to NOBO Moon Goat and his 15-month old dog Otto.I see a mouse-colored lizard sitting beside the trail! It takes off quickly, burrowing under a pile of oak leaves.Hello to NOBOs Miss Graceful and Stitches. Fal and Hercules hiked in 1999. So did Stitches. She¢ll be joining them tomorrow for breakfast.Last NOBO today is Game On. A BIG crowd today.Out at the car at 1:45PM, 9 miles, 6 hours of hiking.Drive to the spa and meet Randy and Myra! We reunite with Memere and Gray Feathers. So good seeing them and being together again.I try the hot tub, it¢s way too hot for me! Not pleasant. I feel (and look) like a boiled lobster.