Date: 2014-03-24
From: Carter Gap Shelter

To: Long Branch Shelter
Miles today: 8.6
Weather: scattered clouds

We're going to The Long Branch tonight! Wonder if we'll see Matt Dillon, Festus, Doc, and Miss Kitty!Again, a beautiful day for hiking. We got passed by a woman who asked if we were the Mother/Son team. Yes, I guess we are. "I heard about you from "Pacer", the Australian." "Oh, he has a trail name?""Until he gets a more exotic one!"We then came upon a Father/Daughter team. The Dad was the spark plug in that case. They are The Tortoise and Paul. Paul, the dad, did the AT back in the 80's, when the guide book was only about 20 pages and there were no cell phones! They are planning to do the whole trail too! WOW!Along this hike was a little "spike" in the elevation profile for Albert Mountain Fire Lookout. Hmmmm. I wonder what THAT will be like. Well, I found out...It started with steep log steps that wound around, THEN came the serious rock scramble. I made it up the first one, but they got bigger. I coudn't use my poles on this. As a matter of fact, I coudn't just walk up. It was difficult to even crawl up, along with the fact that it was a cliff on one side. "Mom, I'll take your pack and help you get up this."He donned my pack on his front, went up a ways, then came back to help me get up the rocks. This is so out of my comfort zone. It was slow and arduous, but Michael helped every step of the way. There was this little bridge to cross that was sheer cliff underneath! To me, this isn't hiking. We could have taken the road around, but that's the "Blue Blaze", an alternate route, not the "White Blaze", the actual AT, or what someone THINKS is the actual AT.. I personally would have made the climb the "Blue Blaze".We finally got to the top, climbed the stairs of the lookout to find we couldn't get up on top. The view WAS magnificent, however, I go on the premise of what you don't know about, you probably don't care about. I told Michael, however, that if going down was like coming up, I'm going to be screaming and hollering! He said it was a more gentle profile. As we ate our second bag of chips, a guy dressed from head to toe in camo came up the way we did, huffing and puffing, as a family came up the other way, all smiles! The camo guy, Trail Named Two Egg, looked at them and said, "Didn't I pass you on the road? Where did you park and start hiking from?" So, maybe the way down is gentler. Thank God!Two Egg (Scott) told us a story about his 80 year old dad, who requested to hike the Georgia section of the AT. Scott said he'd go with him. His dad practiced hiking with a backpack in Florida (Two Egg), where they're from. They finished the Georgia section and not too long after, his dad was diagnosed with cancer and died. Scott was teary-eyed at this point. So was I! But he said that he and some others in the family will hopefully live his dad's dream to hike the whole trail.The people and their stories you encounter out here are incredibly priceless.            About 2.5 miles to the Long Branch Shelter and it's a gentle downhill. I can do this after what I did to get to this point!We got to the shelter to find The Tortoise and Paul! And no one else. This shelter was completed in 2012, so really new. As Paul pointed out though, you do have to crawl into it. Well, he's a tall guy, so I can see his point. I didn't like the two steps going down from the sleeping platform. The run was rather narrow, so I had to go down sideways.We slept in the shelter. The tent sites were all on the slope down from the shelter, even more of a slope than at Gooch Mt. Shelter. We didn't think there'd be too many others because they're probaby pressing on to Franklin because of bad weather. A couple guys came while Paul, The Tortoise, and Buffalo gathered wood and started a campfire. One guy boiled his water over the fire. We all chatted around the fire for a long time, but when the sun went down, it got really cold. Paul and The Tortoise started turning in, and since I didn't have my headlamp with me, I wanted to turn in before it got really dark AND cold. Buffalo and a couple guys were still up when three woman wandered into camp. By then, I waas hunkered down in my sleeping bag. One guy had mentioned that his feet were hurting the night before because they were so cold. I was very thankful that I bought my Vermont Country Store 30 Below socks! They stay in the foot of my sleeping bag when I pack up, and they go on when I crawl into the bag. They are wonderful for sleeping. I don't know if this helps, but I have Hot Feet insoles in my shoes and I have not had cold feet yet, day or night.Lights out at this end.-The MumBuffalo says: I loved the hike today! The Albert climb was tons of fun- I felt like I was back at the rock gym helping a scared kid climb a route as I encouraged Mum up the trail. Admittedly, I did not expect it to be that scrambly, but it was cool. I hope this experience ends up being a confidence booster and not a demoralizer for Mum! The campfire was a great chance to connect with other hikers since the past few days we've gotten in late and just done our own thing.