Date: 2010-03-27
From: Betty Creek Gap

To: Rock Gap shelter
Miles today: 8.4
Weather: clear sky

We got some frost last night, and I had some condensation on the inside roof of my tent this morning. I knew it was going to be cold last night, so before dozing off I spread out my pack rain cover along the bottom of my vestibule to help keep the wind out. The effect, I think, was to prevent air flow through the tent, causing the condensation. Also, I heard Lucky, Tom Thumb, and Smokey coming through the campsite during the middle of the night. It turned out that they stayed out of the weather back at Standing Indian Shelter until late afternoon. Then, they hiked all night and passed me during the night. I woke up to a chilly morning and didn't get out of the tent until almost 8:30am. After my usual breakfast, I got on the trail and made my way to Big Butt Mountain (I'm not making this up), where I encountered some trail magic. A couple of guys were offering hot coffee and making blueberry pancakes. There were several thru hikers there taking advantage of the magic, including Lucky, Tom Thumb, Smokey, Noodles, and Abe. Unfortunately, I had just had two servings of oatmeal for my breakfast, so I wasn't hungry. I took a short break and then got back on the trail, heading north. Next up was the climb up to the fire tower on Albert Mountain. That was some hike! The trail up to the Peak of Albert Mountain was steep, and involved scrambling over boulders. Some hikers stowed their hiking poles and climbed using both their hands and feet. I kept my poles out using them to stabilize myself on the boulders. Lucky, Tom Thumb, and Smokey were just ahead of me, and Tom Thumb kept yelling, "Come on, King!!" from above. I responded feebly several times, but I finally made it to the peak. We all climbed the steps up the fire tower but were unable to take a group photo because the railings we tried using for the time delayed photo was too unstable. Unfortunately, Abe dropped his nice camera while trying to hand it off to Noodles to take a picture of himself. He couldn't get it working again and when he tried, it just made some pathetic whirring noise. A shame. Albert Mountain Fire Tower I hiked most of the rest of the day by myself along a nice trail, and stopped next to a rushing mountain stream during one of my longer breaks. I finally made it to Rock Gap Shelter; however, almost everyone else had gone on to Winding Stair Gap, where they caught one of Ron Haven's shuttles to Franklin. Ron is a legend of sorts in this area, and owns three motels in Franklin. He has a great reputation of taking care of thru hikers; whether they stay at one of his motels or not. I found a level spot about 70 yards downhill from the shelter, and set up my tent. J.B. came down too, and introduced himself. We started from Springer the same day. He mentioned that his wife was driving up from Georgia tomorrow morning and offered me a ride into town with them from Winding Stair Gap. That fit perfectly into my plans, and I gratefully accepted his offer. After dinner, it started getting cold again, so I went ahead and climbed into my sleeping bag. I have just 3.8 miles to do tomorrow to Winding Stair Gap. Also, I passed the 100 mile mark today. So far, so good. No chronic injuries, aches, or pains; gear all working nicely; things are good. I have made a couple neophyte errors here, though. For example, when I camped at Bly Gap several nights ago, I had to hang my food bag to prevent it being carried away by black bears. Some call this bear bagging. Anyway, one ties a line to a rock or other item, and while holding the other end, tosses the rock over a tree branch at least 10 feet off the ground. I identified a perfect branch about 30 feet off the ground from a big oak tree. I looked at my pack rain cover all balled up in its stuff sack. Perfect! About the size of a baseball. So, instead of a rock, I tied my pack cover onto one end of my line. I tossed it in a perfect arc over the branch; first try. Unfortunately, it got hung up on a lower branch, and I could neither raise or lower my pack cover. You know what I did next. Yanked it hard. You know what happened. Line broke, leaving my pack cover dangling from the branch. To make matters worse, I had an audience of two hikers who had stopped for a break. I couldn't shake the tree. I couldn't climb the tree, so I stood there for about 5 minutes pondering my options. Finally, I picked up a rock, tied it to one end of my now broken line, took aim at my pack cover, and hurled it. Strike! The rock hit the pack cover and dislodged it. It came tumbling down to my feet. The on looking couple applauded, and I cracked up laughing. I then tied a ROCK to my line, tossed it over the branch, and hung my food bag like I should have the first time. Lesson learned. Stay tuned for other lessons I have learned the hard way.