Date: 2014-05-01
From: Beech Gap

To: Rock Gap Shelter
Miles today: 15.3
Weather: clear sky

We awoke this morning around 7 but stayed in our warm bags a while before having breakfast (bacon and eggs) and venturing out of the tent. When we did, we were glad to see that the sun was shinning on the mountains to the west, though not on us yet as we were in the shadow of Standing Indian mountain which peaks at 5498 feet above sea level. It was a cool, crisp North Carolina spring morning. As we broke camp, a number of people who had spent the night at Standing Indian shelter passed by us, some stopping to chat for a while before moving on: Titan, Fifty, Tim and Chris and their dogs.Once on the trail, our bodies warmed and we made great time on the trail. We hiked through Mooney gap on our way to the big events of the day: the climb up Mt. Albert - particularly the last 400 feet in 0.3 miles - and the fantastic, 360 degree views from the fire tower on the summit. Spectacular!After taking in the views, we hiked down from the summit on really well maintained trails and arrived at Rock Gap shelter at 7:20. We really like hiking in the hours between 4 and 7:30. When we arrived at the shelter, there were three other hikers present: Carol - a woman a little older than we are, Bob - a through-hiker and Dave (trail name Chef). Carol and Chef had harvested some ramps growing near the shelter and had saut©ed them for their dinner. Ramps are a wild leek that grows up and down the Appalachians from the south to Canada, though they are most common in the south. They had some extras raw ramps and offered them to us. I saut©ed them in our pot with olive oil, salt and pepper and we had them for our first course, followed by vegetable soup and Spanish rice with diced salami. As we finished dinner, Carol brought out a flask of McClellan single-malt scotch, announced it was her birthday and graciously offered us a nip. Thanks Carol! More trail magic! Shortly after toasting Carol, Titan and Fifty showed up and an hour later, Tim and Chris and their dogs. And Tim and Chris had found the cache of pale ale that Wayne had offered us on Tuesday and had brought a number of cans to the shelter. Thank you Tim and Chris! Wayne had left the goods at a different road crossing than the one we were expecting. He had also left oranges and the guys lugged quite a few of them along as well. Unfortunately, right around the time Tim and Chris showed up, Laura whispered that her stomach was feeling funny, and that she really didn't feel like having an ale. And so began a very rough night . . . I will not dwell on the details now, but will say that Laura, Chef and I were violently I'll most of the night. We are all much better now: I recovered completely in about 8 hours as did Chef. Laura is still feeling some lingering effects. We got a shuttle down from Rock Gap Friday morning and spent the last two days in a hotel in Franklin, NC. Thanks to: Titan for getting us water in the middle of the night; Titan and Fifty for flagging down the shuttle and asking them to wait for us; the shuttle driver Kathy for waiting for us; Tim, Chris and Chef for helping to pack up and carry Laura's stuff from the shelter to the shuttle.