Date: 2006-04-03
From: Campsite north of Wayah Bald

To: The NOC
Miles today: 18.3
Weather: light rain

(Well haven't I been the lazy soul??? Absolutely, what with end of the year activities and Spring Football, I just haven't had the inclination to get on here and update the rest of my journal. That being said, I'm sitting here at school with nothing to do, as my seniors have already taken their final, and figured, "What the Hell, I'll finish my journal from the beginning of April." So here is the second day in all it's splendor.)Well, a storm moved through last night and with it came lightning and hail. I woke up around 6am, but stayed in my tent snoozing until around 7:30 as I wasn't feeling like getting out and packing up in the rain, but it finally stopped and I climbed out to survey the damage. Some smaller limbs had fallen throughout the campsite but it really wasn't that bad. The two gals and guy who had spent much time setting up from what Seattle could tell had all crammed into the one gal's two person tent. Folks, spend the extra 10-15 minutes to setup camp...it's worth it!!! Anyways, Phil and I were moving by a little after 8am, there were clouds that threatened the entire day but we never saw rain, all it did was make it just hazy enough to limit views much of the day. We hiked alone much of the day, but stopped in at Cold Spring Shelter for lunch and ran into some of the older guys we had been flipflopping with along the trail, they headed out ahead of us and we eventually got moving around 12:30. The day was getting nicer and I was feeling good as we headed towards the descent into Tellico Gap, and that is where on the way down I was flying as usual and stepped on a rock and felt my right knee wrench itself...and that woudl make the rest of the day a "fun" one. I made it down to Tellico Gap around 2pm, about 15-20 minutes ahead of Phil who was starting to slow down while hiking in his Mandals. I sat there and contemplated whether we could make the NOC, as Ron said to call him from the Gap if I wanted a ride that night. When Phil came down we ate a snack and discussed our suicidal idea...and we decided to go for it! All that being said, neither of us has ever hiked the upcoming section and the Jump-Off, is almost a literal term, and not something you really want to do when your legs are hurting. Regardless, we got moving after a quick call to Ron and made our way up Wesser Bald. Phil was really not looking too good at this point as we walked up to the Observation Tower, he decided to sit down and rest the dogs as I started heading up the "All Steel" Observation Tower, while watching storm clouds move in, I decided half way up that I really didn't want to be up on a lightning rod that was the highest point as far as I could see, and headed back down and simply took pictures from the mountain top. The next part got fun as we thought we were about in the home stretch...but we weren't as we walked the ridge and several little PUDs, we passed Wesser shelter and finally made it too the Jump-Off which in some places your walking down hill at 45 degrees and at the beginning of the day might not be so bad...but at the end of the day...it sucks!Here's where I left Phil in the dust, he was dying and I wanted to get down to the NOC as Ron was gonna be there at 6ish. I knew I was behind that pace, but I still needed to get there ASAP. I was making really good time at this point and passed a young guy and Seattle who I hadn't seen since lunch. I passed another guy who I hadn't seen all day, and all I could think is man I'm cooking. It was also around this time I started thinking about a hot shower and what I was gonna eat that night as Phil and I had been talking earlier about Fat Buddies BBQ in Franklin. I don't know quite how it happened, after all I was in the middle of a 3ft wide trail, a veritable highway on the AT, and one second I'm flying down the trail...the next my right foot is going down as the rain from last night in conjunction with my foot must have helped the trail fall down the mountain, well o.k. just the foot of trail under my foot. Lucky for me I had just planted one of my hiking poles into the ground as my knees hit the ground hard, I remember in slow motion seeing my one Leki starting to bend and I let go of it as I fell on my chest. Two bloody knees and a few seconds later I surveyed the damage. NO, I didn't fall down the side of the mountain, but I would have if not for my poles, sold me on my poles forever!!! BTW I did bend my left pole, but luckily not much and I was able to bend it back, woulda snapped it if I hadn't let go of it, just call me He-Man! I dusted myself self off and started moving again, but slower. The whole time I'm thinking I gotta be getting closer to the NOC, but the time wasn't matching with what I thought was my pace, and I finally hit the Rufus Morgan Shelter around 6ish. From here the trail became a piece of cake, but I switched my knee brace from my normally troublesome left knee to my bruised and battered right one, it helped and I once again started moving again at a good pace. Arriving at the NOC is an awesome thing because you see it before you get to it, and you start thinking cheeseburgers, fries, hot shower...well, maybe not everyone, but my fat ass does! Anyways, like I said, you see it, but you still have a few minutes of hiking before you get to it. I made it right around 6:30 and started looking around for Ron, but didn't see him so I headed over to the restaurant, and sure enough he was in there eating, I sat down with him and had some chili and fries, oh yeah, and a giant Coke as we waited for Phil. Phil finally arrived about 7:15pm and we headed for Ron's vehicle which we found out was a Pickup with stick...and guess who was riding "bitch"? Your's truly, as we began the 40 mile drive back to Franklin. It was not the most comfortable of rides as my knee was killing me, and I was feeling nauseous, but Ron kept us occupied with stories about the area and soon enough we were back at the Sapphire for another night. We got our room keys and dropped off our packs and then we took three thru hikers with us to the buffet in town for dinner. The food was o.k., but having some money we were wishing we had dropped them off and gone for the BBQ. We drove back to the Motel, showered, and layed in bed aching, while watching Comedy Central. My shake down hike is complete...and it was a great time as usual. Now I just gotta get through the last two months of school before my big hike of the year.