Date: 2004-05-28
From: kincora hostel,tn

To: stealth site, 1/2 mile south of Tn91, Tn
Miles today: 28.3

28.3 miles today1/2 mile south of Tn91, Tn.stealth tentingToday started early. I got up at 5am and cooked up the rest of my Jimmy Dean sausage and some eggs and toast. Hikers were up late last night here at Kincora Hostel. Most went to bed around 11 to midnight and one stayed up until about 2:30am. He probably wasn't real happy with me cooking at that hour, but...oh well, my mother always said I was a pain in the butt in the morning. I've gotta eat and I was hiking out early. I finished breakfast and packed my backpack and was hiking by 6:30am. It was raining hard when I left, but slowed down a little as I got going. I hiked down to Laurel Falls. On the way down I was walking between rock walls that were probably 50' tall and only 15' between them. It would have been a good place for an ambush in a western movie. Laurel Falls were running really nice. The water was falling maybe 50' and was at least that wide. I know I've got pictures of it from other hikes, but I had to take another picture because they are so beautiful. The trail crew that built the rock steps going down to them did a fantastic job. I can't imagine how much work was involved. I continued hiking and had to go around a narrow ledge right next to the gorge and then back up more rock steps. There was a spring close by so I stopped and topped off my 1 litre water bottle and hiked up Pond Flats. I came across a flat rock that someone had wrote on with a magic marker. It said; "saw snake 15' ahead. Be careful." I'm thinking to myself...oh great, what the heck is a "Saw Snake??" What ever it is it sounds dangerous, so I'm looking around about 15' ahead, but I didn't see anything so I hurried by. There are all kinds of dangers out here, but that's a new one to me. That name, Pond Flats doesn't do that mountain justice because it is 3700' high and a pretty steep climb. It continued raining on me and was pretty windy on my way up and over Pond Flats. On top, I topped off my water bottle at a very nice spring. I love all these springs I run ac! ross. I hiked down the mountain to US321 where you cross the road and you end up at Watauga Lake. I passed Zipoff and Cato on my way down. They were doing a slack pack back to Dennis Cove Rd. I also ran across the first box turtle that I've seen on this hike. He was right in the middle of the trail looking up at me. I got down by the lake and the sun came out even though it was still sprinkling. I sat down on a park bench about 15' away from a family of geese. There were 2 adults and 6 small gooses, or goslings for those of you that don't like my lingo. The little gooses would sit down and eat the grass in front of them and then stand and stretch their little goose wings and sit down and eat again. I finished eating my snack and I hiked on around the lake and stopped at the shelter and signed the register. I hiked over the dam and back up another mountain to the Vandeventer Shelter. It had started raining hard again after I got back up from a long down hill walk to the spring there. I ate my lunch and decided that since I was already soaked that I might as well start hiking again. It ended up raining really hard for quite a while and it rained most the rest of the day. There were about 2 dozen big trees that were just blown over along the trail. I think that most of them were blown over in Wednesday's storm. Some of them were tough to get through. I hiked on to Iron Mountain Shelter and I ate dinner there. I met a thru hiker by the name of Smokestack there and the Garland 5 were also there. I stayed just long enough to eat and because I was all wet I started to get cold, so I got going again. I hiked by the Grindstaff Monument where an old hermit lived. He was born on the same day I was, only 101 years before me. The plaque says "he lived alone, suffered alone and died alone". I hiked about another hour and found this nice soft spot that I'll call home tonight in the middle of nowhere. My food bag is hung and I'm in my tent and I'm ready for a good nights sleep. Another great day on the A.T.