Date: 2014-03-16
From: Betty Creek Gap

To: Rock Gap
Miles today: 8.5

We woke up to a chilly drizzle - more than enough motivation to break camp quickly. We had to reach Rock Gap by 11 in order to catch the shuttle into town so we started moving. With headlamps out we hit the trail surrounded by the sound of rain. No one had a whole lot to say so we hiked in silence until day began to break at the base of Albert Mountain.Chef had gotten an extra early start so that he could hold the shuttle if need be. Listen and Squirrel hit the mountain hard leaving Coach and I to carefully pick our way up the steep assent. The trail was covered in wet leaves and I almost went down a few times. Visibility was limited to 15-20 feet and every time we were sure we had reached the top another section of assent creeped into view through the mist.The plan had been to watch the sunrise from the fire tower at the top. Upon arrival, however, the visibility had not increased at all while the wind speed had. We did get to see it go from dark grey to lighter grey though! After a quick bite to eat we hit the trail again.I stopped to claim a tree as my own. I didn't stop for too long but during that time Coach took a wrong turn and ended up at a shelter a tenth of a mile further on. In my haste to warm back up I pushed on past the turn off and continued on at a brisk pace. Eventually I realized that she must have stopped at the shelter but at that point I was committed to making it the gap.I caught up to Listen and Squirrel at Rock Gap shelter, a tenth of a mile before the gap. Chef was not there, nor had they seen him. We surmised that he must have stopped at the shelter as well and that he and Coach would be along shortly. In the mean time we warmed up with some tea and met a German couple. The man was wearing bell bottom tailored corduroy pants and introduced himself noting that it felt like each leg was carrying an extra five pounds of water weight. He earned the trail name Corduroy for that.I went to use the privy there and discovered part way through that the designers had not thought the location and heading of the building through very well. I looked up to see Chef heading down the trail above the privy. Given the angle and facing, the "privacy screen" did not do a whole not. After that I threw in the towel on trail privacy. Does a shy bear shit in the woods? This one does.Chef arrived a bit before 11 and Coach arrived shortly thereafter. There was a bit of a scramble when the shuttle came by, honked twice and then kept going. We had assumed it would stop and wait for a bit. A few ran down the hill through the woods to road while a few others began cramming the remaining belongings away. I sprinted down the trail to the parking lot to find the shuttle waiting there - all haste unnecessary.After we had all made it down and squished in our driver, Ron Haven, began the trip into Franklin. He started by giving a standard talk on what the town has to offer and the free shuttles to get there. He then went through one by one asking people where they were from and for every person he had a story that tied related to their hometown. This guy has been almost everywhere and done almost everything. He plays all sorts of instruments, was a pro wrestler, and is now the commissioner of Franklin.When we got in Chef and I split a room and got to drying things out. We hit up the shuttle tour primarily for the Chinese buffet and then came back for showers and drinks. There was a fair amount of night life going on at budget in where we were staying including Monopoly cards, which I had never seen before. One of the rooms four hikers had had a little kitchen area and walking in you would swear you were walking into an underground poker game form the 50's. Everyone smoking hand rolled cigarettes, drinking, and going at cards.I passed on going out to bars later that night and instead caught up on writing journal entries in my notebook and finishing up the laundry.