Date: 2018-11-14
From: Spivey Gap

To: Sam's Gap
Miles today: 13.4
Weather: clear sky

I heard WE's alarm at 5am but I didn't want to believe it. I layed in denial for a minute before getting up and going through the morning routine of stripping down my bed area and remaking it into the dinette. Inconvenient yes, but complaining? No. I'd much rather have to do that for the convenience of a warm dry place to sleep every night than to sleep outside in the cold wet weather! We left at 5:45 after making some sandwiches to pack for our lunch. Another luxury! We swung through the drive thru at McDonald's for breakfast and I ate a McMuffin, hash browns, orange juice and a decaf coffee. The ride to the trail was 50 minutes with the last 20 being in increasing elevation with dense fog. At the trail head we donned our rain gear and verified the southern direction of the trail before embarking. The first 1,000' climb brought us to High Rocks and we would see thru the bare trees the mountains and valleys below, some covered in a thin layer of white. As we climbed the next 1,000' to Little Bald mountain we passed thru a splendidly enchanted looking forest with feathered ice coating every branch and twig. I could have stayed all day there entranced by the uniquely formed frozen moisture and wondering how it came to be that way. I've never seen anything like that but I've seen plenty of frozen and ice coated trees. It was beautiful to walk thru this.A little further up before the summit of Little Bald the temperature rose slightly above freezing and the trees began to rain ice upon us. Sharp little buggers that laid in a heap on the trail and felt like a bed of marbles. Slippery, it felt like each step was a foot gained forward and a few inches lost sliding backwards. I'd hoped that once we reached the summit and the south side of the mountain the slippery slope would disappear. Thankfully it did and we didn't have to exercise our superb butt sliding skills! A half mile from the summit we stopped at Bald mountain shelter and ate our sandwiches on a quick 10-15 minute stop. Neither of us wanted to cool off much since we still had more climbing and another 7.7 miles to go with the threat of rain after 1pm. It was the first time I had seen bear cables though, so WE gave me a quick lesson on them. The shelter was filthy and there was no broom there unfortunately. 500' more feet of elevation over 1.2 miles brought us to the summit if Big Bald mountain at elevation 5,505'. A large grassy bald had us discussing the drastic difference between the mountains here and in NH. Some signage explained that this bald is used by raptor experts and volunteer groups to trap, band and release raptors during migration to evaluate their population and migratory habits. Being past season no one was there but this grassy bald seemed to meander along for about a mile in the a clouds. It was peaceful. A diverse day in the mountains. Around 12:30 it began to rain and by 1pm we were in full coverage rain gear as the trail meandered around mountain sides in an S-curve pattern that hugged the hills with deep valleys to the immediate left side of the trail. I lagged behind a couple of times making clothing adjustments. I'd caught up with WE but with the noise of sloshing, the rain on her hood and the rubbing of the hood against her head she didn't hear me. I was very close when she abruptly stopped and looked to her left at the trail across the valley for me. Just as I began to say "I'm right here" she caught me out of the corner of her eye and startled. I laughed so hard I almost peed myself and all she could say after she stopped laughing is that she now couldn't remember what number bottle of beer she was on in her head, singing 99 bottles of beer on the wall. Her own source of mental entertainment while hiking. The look on her face when she jumped was my entertainment for the rest of the hike down to Sam's Gap. At the Gap Lee was waiting for us and we stripped off our rain gear, grabbed a drink from the back and settled in for a rainy ride back. The winter berries and fencing at the parking area were stunning and I took some photos. Mother nature showed off diversity today and despite the rain it was a wonderful walk in the woods!At the campground I enjoyed showering at the bathhouse. It's set up as 2 very large and private 3/4 bathrooms with step in tile showers and they are the cleanest and nicest I've ever seen at a campground. Because we brought a bit of mud back on us Lee was very happy to let us know we should enjoy our showers over there instead of the camper, which I'd planned on anyway. The camper doesn't have much hot water but in the bathhouse I could linger until my bones were warm, and I did. After a dinner of hot soup and a bagel I walked the dogs. It's harder than I thought to walk 2 little dogs at the same time. I brought a flashlight so I could better locate their poops after but little did I know that they would outstretch my arms in opposite directions and both poop at the same time! I was looking left to right and left again to try to remember where they dropped their little tootsie rolls so I could find them and pick them up. So while I was doing that the little buggers wrapped their leashes around trash cans, posts, my legs and anything else in the area. I finally recovered their nuggets and unwrapped us all and headed back to the camper. Me having passed the test, Romeo curled up in my bed under the blanket and stayed the night. Tomorrow we will take the day off due to the rain, snow and cold moving thru. WE made an appointment for a chiropractor visit to see about some relief from the sciatic pain she's having.