Date: 2014-03-26
From: Franklin, North Carolina

To: Wayah Bald shelter
Miles today: 11.0
Weather: clear sky

Me, Double R, and a guy named Fuzzy caught a shuttle out of Franklin, back to Winding Stair Gap, where the trail waited. For those keeping track, we used Larry, the guy we semi-shafted two days prior.Of course, a gap on the AT means "climb ahead,"and not to be disappointed, our first climb of the day was an easy 4.5 (ish) mile climb to Siler Bald. Double R and I outpaced Fuzzy to the top of the bald, and when presented with the chance to climb the Siler Bald summit (a mere .2 uphill) we both declined. The climb up to that point hadn't been too punishing, but we still had a fair amount of ground to pound before we could breathe easy. Double easily outpaced me on the next few miles of downhill hiking, but I caught up to him when the depth of snow on one side of the mountain was ankle / shin deep. As an added bonus, brutally cold wind gusts would rush up the side of the mountain, making breathing a bit more difficult. Fortunately, this only lasted about half a mile, until we made our way to the other side of the mountain. Maybe the silver lining to this cloud, was buried in the notion that to stay warm, we needed to keep moving. I ran into Day Glow and his crew performing some trail maintenance, and stopped to chat with him for a while. He asked how the pack was fitting...still great. Day Glow and the dedicated members of the Nantahala Hiking Club deserve a mountain of respect for what they do to take care of the trail. Today, part of the crew were clearing tree roots off the trail; maybe the number one enemy of hikers everywhere (except for maybe rocks).Continuing down the trail, I ran into Double R hiking back uphill, who informed me we were off the trail, according to some maintenance guys...but not to worry, the next few miles were easy (this reported by the maintenance guys). Lies!Maybe in drier conditions the climb out of Wayah Gap would've been better. As it was, the trail was packed with a combination of snow / ice / mud, and for every two steps forward, I'd slide one step back after losing traction.This mode of forward progress continued for 45 minutes, until I stopped for lunch on a fire service road. The last couple of miles to the top of Wayah Bald were tough, but seemed a touch easier than the climb to he fire service road. When I got to the top, I threw the pack off and flopped to the ground. The good news was, I flopped in front of some trash cans (rare indeed to this point), but he bad news was, I only accumulated trash from lunch: wrappers from a candy bar, and some peanut butter crackers. Still, it's dead weight, and I was more than happy to unload whatever I could. I got some pictures of the Wayah Bald fire tower, and hiked an easy two miles to the shelter. I arrived at the shelter around 4, and luckily there were still a few spots open inside the shelter. I wasn't looking forward to pitching a tent in 3 inches of snow, and neither was anybody else. I was lucky to meet Dances with Wolves (that's not his actual trail name, but what I call him), and his son, Sits in Chair (for the fold-up chair he's toting), from Atlanta. Both good guys, ever-concerned with improving the morale of the herd. They got a huge campfire going, which indeed seemed to improve morale. The shelter was very crowded tonight, and interestingly, everyone gathered some bit of wood to keep the fire going. Not everyone participated of their own accord naturally, but at the insistence of Dances with Wolves. The spoken rule was this, "you want a spot next to the fire, you bring something (wood) to burn."The fire was nice, though the fire ring was small for the number of people present. Even though I brought a goodly amount of wood to the fire, I elected to seek warmth inside my sleeping bag around 7pm. Having secured a highly coveted spot inside the shelter, I was unconscious by 702pm.