Date: 2005-04-04
From: Rock Gap Shelter

To: Rock Gap Shelter
Miles today: 20.6
Weather: clear sky

Rock Gap Shelter20.6 miles (102.8 total miles)Today the trail was kind to us. It's almost like it wanted to make up for yesterday, or thank us for not going into town. It was a cold morning when we packed up from our campsite on the gravel road. As we headed out on the trail, we noticed that a lot of the snow had melted off the trail. I was surprised that this happened overnight, but pleased with hiking on dry ground.The ascent up Standing Indian Mountain was fairly easy. It was graded well, but went way up to 5498'. But as we made our way up in elevation, the snow started to thicken. It was still icy and crunched under our feet. As we got to the top, the snow drifts got well over a foot deep. Luckily the trail was broken yesterday, so we stayed directly in the footprints. It was slow going.Coming down from Standing Indian, the trail flattened out and dried up. There were still muddy parts, but as the day went on, the ground became more solid. We cruised along as the trail gently rolled around the mountains, and through the rhododendron thickets. We were moving fast, and extremely happy to be hiking in decent weather again. It was perfect.We knew at the end of the day we'd be faced with another big climb. As we neared Albert Mountain, we got another treat. There was a couple living in an RV at a road crossing. They had a fire going, with all the hot ingredients for burritos. They invited us to have a seat, gave us a cold soda, and told us to make ourselves some burritos. They had a bean mix in one pan, spanish rice in another, and some of the best homemade salsa you could imagine. They introduced themselves as Barry and Terry, the couple that ran the now-defunct Rainbow Springs Campground when we were through here in '03. I asked how long they'd been here, and they said for 3 weeks. I asked how long they were staying, and they said until the hikers run out, or until the Forest Service kicks them out.We thanked our great hosts, and set out for the short but crazy-steep climb up Albert Mountain. It was a true climb, using hands and feet to scramble to the top. Then it was an easy walk down to the shelter. It was almost 5:00pm, and we felt re-charged from our hot meal. We also realized that we wouldn't have to try to borrow a lighter from someone that night to cook dinner. So we decided to move on and see how far we could get.The trail was again very easy and nicely graded. We knew we could make it the 5.4 miles to the next shelter in no time. We celebrated as we crossed the 100 mile mark into triple digits. We also realized we were putting in our first 20-mile day (1/5 of our total mileage so far!) We ended the night at a great shelter with some fun hikers we had never met. We were explaining to our new friends "Motorin'" and "Free Heel" how happy we were to get a hot meal since we couldn't light our stove. They reached into one of their packs and gave us a spare lighter. How awesome! I gave them each a Snickers bar as repayment.It feels so good to be hiking in good weather again. This was by far the best day we have had since we started. We were going to stop in Franklin, NC to get a lighter, but now we can hike on past. My feet are pretty beat from putting in over 20 miles. But wow, it feels good to have a productive day like today.