Date: 2018-10-21
From: Cold Spring Shelter

To: NOC
Miles today: 0.0

Crazy BritNo miles today Must apologize for the absence of my last three Journal. My excuse is, my lens of my glasses fell out and I could not see to type without it, as it¢s hard enough typing this journal into my phone in the first place. But now no more excuses, a nice lady came to my rescue, of course she had a little screwdriver to fix my problem so now all is good.I will give you a synopsis of the last three days.When I last wrote I was having a problem with mice in the Cold Spring Shelter, those bloody things drove me crazy, when I at last fell asleep I was woken by a scratching on my sleeping bag, I turned on my headlight and there was the cutest little mouse looking into my face,¢Little ain¢t got no father¢ I flicked him right out of the shelter.I am thinking of getting some cats and dropping them off in the shelters, charge the ATC a minimum sum to clean out the mouse problem.So woke up after a fitful sleep, thought that the mice might bring back their bigger brother the Bear, for the first time I was all alone in a shelter, Miles from anywhere, in Bear hunting season, so the bears are all pissed off. Thankfully I am so thin I could turn side ways and the Bear would miss me. ????? !!!!!.The Hiking is great leaves are all crunchy so you get a great sound walking, I feel good today putting in the miles North to the NOC, where I have a bunk.Thankfully I have a huge downhill to the NOC, and get there in good time feeling good, have a BLT in the restaurant, everything is good in the world.Get my Bunkroom have a shower and head into Bryson City where I Know there is a good Taproom, couple of Beers, a meal from the Taco Bus, ready for bed.Next day get a ride out to Yellow Stream Road and start to Hike South to the NOC.There are lots of bear hunters around so I take a lot of care, it¢s a great hike, the Temps are a bit cool, well cold for a Florida Boy, but I only have about 14 miles to do today to get me to the Shelter on Sassafras Mountain, going is good. I stop for lunch by a highway and there are a lot of bear hunters trucks there. I never knew how valuable those hunting dogs were, the Top dogs you can buy are $20,000 plus, of course they have GPS collars to protect them and so the Hunters can follow them and shoot the Bear sitting up in the Tree. ¢ Great Sport¢ ????.Any way I got to the Shelter after the great views of the Smokies from on top of Cheoah Bald Mountain I descended to the Sassafras¢s Shelter. Wow there were already 10 people there, 3 were tenting the rest in the shelter, good thing it¢s a big 14 person two tier shelter. Of course I pick my spot, cook my dinner have a good conversation and go to bed. Only to find out I am between two really good snorers, one a man the other a woman. Now I don¢t know if they were in competition with each other, but I had to hold myself back from giving them a dig in the ribs. The rain started at 4:27am I know that because I was awake with the snorers, it was really hard and heavy, it almost drowned out the snorers, but I must have slept, so all was not lost.It was still raining at 7:00 am so I laid in my sleeping bag and dozed, then made coffee and had my breakfast while everyone started milling around I only had 8 miles to do so no hurry.I packed my gear and started to hike, I like hiking in gentle rain, it brings out all the smells from the Forest, plus it cools you down hiking and it¢s great at this time of year NO BUGS.Had a bit of a fall on top of the NOC, stupid me I could see the center, not looking at the ground slipped on a tree root, and ended up 10 ft down a bank. No damage except a sore hip and embarrassment to myself, normally I am so careful, but I could see and smell fresh coffee and real food.The only problem I have at the moment is that my Arthritis in my Big toes have decided to have a flair up and it¢s giving me a bit of a problem. Hurts like hell, normally they hurt bad for an hour then they warm up, but now it hurts all day, Oh Hell it could be worse I could be working for a living?????.Got a bunk room at NOC and back into Bryson City to Refuel, great another Taco Truck and it¢s not even Tuesday.Sunday I have a Zero day no hiking lazy day had a good breakfast then went watching the Fly Fishing on the local rivers. Really impressed by the size of the brown Trout they were catching. Then went shopping for next week in the Smokies, being a good boy I decided to go back to my bunk room early, so on the way back I got some gas and went to pick up a beer, only to be told it¢s a dry county out side of the City limits. Well that was enough to drive a sane person right back to the tap house, alls well that ends well. So Tomorrow I start hiking thru the Smokies starting at Fontana Dam looking forward to this part of the Adventure, so will write more in the Journal when I am back on the Trail. Until then all you couch potato¢s get out there live on the Edge it will change your Life Forever. Only got the Smokies to do then I am a true thru hiker, more drivel tomorrow good night.