Date: 2009-07-07
From: Stecoah Gap NCRt 143

To: Yellow Creek Gap NC
Miles today: 7.6

Prelude:As we told you yesterday we are accessing the hikes from Wesser NC which is in the Nantahala Gorge (Cherokee for 'land of the noontime sun'), and we are staying at the Nantahala Inn which is part of the Nantahala Outdoor Center (NOC). This gorge has something for everybody. There's kayaking, rafting, biking, hiking, fishing, and we even saw some off-road vehicles. Plus the inevitable t shirt places and the gem museums/stores...we stopped at one of these thinking that the gems (rubys, etc) were local. The owner said 'no this is your typical tourist trap...we import all of these rocks from South America and let the tourists pan for minerals'! He also told us that the last real ruby mine here closed in 1930.   Access:At the northern end, Yellow Creek Gap, we had left our rental car there from yesterday's start.   From the south end, Stecoah Gap NC/Rt 143, Sweetwater Creek Rd, is accessed by Rt. 28 and the AT is on the crest of a hill with a large parking/picnic area. The Hike:Although this was a short day (we were done by 12:30), it was a very strenuous hike. We started at 7:30am with an easy up out of Stecoah Gap along the side of a mountain. After a mile we descended slightly into Sweetwater Gap. From there it was up very steeply for the next 3/4 mile (we would hate to have gone down this section when it was wet or icy!). We then walked along a narrow, rocky ridge until we hit the side trail at 2.4 miles to Brown Fork Gap Shelter. Coming out of the shelter side trail was Kim, our section hiker from yesterday and last week (she spent the night there). We were very happy to hear that the AZ man and his sons had caught up with her yesterday and had given her back her license, debit card and cash that she had left at the Fontana Hilton two days ago. She told us she had quite a scare at lunchtime yesterday when she realized that it was missing. We had Plan B lined up just in case the two of them didn't hook up...From there the trail descended to Brown Fork Gap and for the next 3 miles or so we walked up and down over many knobs. A knob is a mountain without a name. At 1 rocky point, we got some great views back to where we had hiked today and on the other side, to the Fontana Dam area and the Smokies.As a side note, before today, we had read a number of trailjournal.com reports that this hike had numerous ups and downs...these reports were correct! They may have minimized it!!At Hogback Gap we met the section hiker from AZ and his 2 sons. They had an interesting night in the woods...3 'bear' dogs had joined them and wouldn't leave their camp. It seems the dogs were tired and maybe not quite sure who was a bear and who was a human...finally the dogs left after getting some camp scraps. We had another decent up after Cody Gap and then it was 2 miles of rolling down to Yellow Creek Gap. This hike alternated between good, graded path and rocky sections. About a mile from the end we met a day hiker from Georgia. Like us, he plans on doing the entire AT one day at a time. His goal is to finish in 2025, which he says is the 100 year anniversary of the formulation of the AT. Wildlife:We saw a beautiful 6" box turtle on top of the highest ridge. He held his ground and never retreated his head into his shell! We saw scat that we thought was bear, but later, on two occasions we smelled skunk...Burly Girl called 'here kitty kitty'!...we didn't know which to vote for, a bear or a skunk!That's it until our BIG hike tomorrow...13 miles from Stecoah Gap down into NOC!Burly Girl and Bugsy...doing the AT one day at a time...Another day in paradise!