Date: 2009-03-30
From: Winding Stair Gap

To: Cold Spring Shelter
Miles today: 15.8
Weather: clear sky

I got up with plenty of time to cook an oatmeal breakfast outside, down a couple of last spoonfuls of peanut butter (I made it 2/3 of the way through the jar in two days), clean up, and pack up. Mr. Ed and Lightweight were already waiting outside. We waited and waited, but there was no sign of the yellow school bus¢¦ After a couple of trips into and out of the office, some men sitting inside got my attention. ¢Can we ask you something?¢      ¢Yes,¢ I said. ¢You poked your head into Muskrat Shelter for a second the other day in the rain.¢ ¢Yes¢¦¢¢Did you go on to Standing Indian Shelter that night?¢¢I went four miles beyond that and camped. I did 21 miles that day.¢¢Wow!¢¦¢I left them with their mouths hanging open and went back outside.Tax Dollar was getting a cup of coffee and asked me if I was hiking with anyone that day. I said I didn¢t know. He said he still had to do his laundry and would be catching the later shuttle, but said I could hike with his roommates (they didn¢t end up making the first one that I was on).      Finally, the bus made its appearance, and as it pulled up, I saw Richard in the window! Then I saw Obie with a very straight face. (I had seen his picture on the wall at the Baptist Church and therefore knew that he had stopped in Franklin after all, but I had assumed he had left for the trail yesterday¢¦) I sat down in the front seat with my pack in my lap and a sinking feeling in my stomach. Ron explained what the Cherokee terms ¢Wayah¢ and ¢Nantahala¢ meant (¢wolf¢ and ¢land of the noonday sun¢) and pointed out the balds we would be scaling that day. As we unloaded ourselves from the bus, he shook my hand, and said, ¢Wendy, keep that smile as bright as it is now!¢ We all took a minute to relieve ourselves, strap on our packs, and gather our momentum for the hike ahead- all of us except for Obie, who took off right away without a word of acknowledgement¢¦ ¢There goes Obie!¢ someone said. I fell into line, and enjoyed the sight of the waterfall that greeted us. One by one, I started passing the people ahead of me, until I knew there was only one person in front of me. I didn¢t want to catch up to him. I stopped to strip off some layers and Richard came up behind me. He said he didn¢t feel up to hiking my pace today, and did the old yawn, stretch, and look at the view maneuver as I caught up to him, so as to let me move on. As I made my way farther up the hill, I saw snow on the some of the leaves on the ground! A cold front had come in while I was in Franklin, and there was evidence here that it had snowed the night before. Surprisingly, the temperatures bounced back to a pleasant hiking ones for us, complete with glorious sun. The woods opened up to a field, and I saw a dirt path leading up to Siler Bald (which did not lie on the AT). Two hikers had clearly bypassed the Bald and continued on through the woods, but when Richard arrived at the base of the hill, I told him I was going to run up there! I literally ran up half of it, before deciding that was enough of that, turned around, and could not believe the view that lay before me! I think it was the most extraordinary view I had seen on my hike so far. I could not help but exclaim aloud, over and over. Richard had decided to move on. These guys had no idea what they were missing! I continued up the path until I had a 360 degree view of the mountains around me. Unbelievable! It was absolutely magnificent! I could even see a lake in the distance! I slowly made my way down the hill, and saw Mr. Ed and Lightweight at the bottom. ¢You HAVE to go up there!¢ I told them. ¢Everyone else bypassed it!¢ Mr. Ed joked that they would hold it against me if it wasn¢t worth it. I wasn¢t worried¢¦   Up ahead, there was a patch of trail that seemed to be in a snow shower! Large drops of snow were falling from the trees and fell down my neck as I walked underneath them!I walked a couple more miles, and then spotted some picnic tables through some trees. I decided to go back and have my lunch there in the sunshine. Just as I was finishing, Mr. Ed and Lightweight came down the path with the same idea in mind.   I moved on with my next destination being Wayah Bald and its stone tower. I turned right and walked up to the actual bald first (not as impressive as Siler), and then turned back to the stone tower towards the left on the AT. There were labeled photographs of the peaks in the distance in all four directions, and for the first time on this hike, I was able to identify peaks that I had hiked across only days earlier (they looked so far away!). And it was here that we were able to get our first glimpse of the Smoky Mountains that we were only days away from entering! I took an extended break here, and an older woman asked me if I was hiking alone. ¢Girl¢¦!!¢ she responded when I told her I was. Mr. Ed and Lightweight caught up to me again and said they were going to stop at the next shelter. I said I planned on stopping at the one after that. Only yards down the trail, a small animal ran across the path in front of me! A bunny rabbit! (Maybe a sign?) He sat in the brush right on the side of the trail, still, but quivering, as I photographed him.         I made it to Cold Spring shelter, tired, and apprehensive about who was camping there. Two guys were collecting wood for a fire at the shelter. I saw Truckin¢ up ahead, who informed me that Obie had continued on for four more miles and that Richard was camping just up ahead. She asked what I was going to do and I told her I was stopping here. I saw another guy talking to himself as he set up his hammock in the woods on the left. Upon seeing the camping sign pointing uphill to the right, I dropped my pack, and went up the hill to check it out. I could hear Richard helping a couple with a bear bag that had clearly gotten tangled in the branches¢¦ I looked around and found a nice, private area for my hammock with a great view, but which was also close enough to Richard and the other couple¢s tents. Back down I went to retrieve my pack, and commence one final slow trudge up the steep hill. I could feel it getting colder, and went straight to work setting up my hammock and getting dinner cooked before the sun set. I joined Richard, and met ¢Cup-a Joe¢ and her husband, Paul while I ate, and we watched the sun set over the mountains. The boys got giddy at the site and rushed to get their cameras! Then, I washed up, hung my Ursack, and got nestled inside my hammock to await the next day!