Date: 2005-04-30
From: Nolichucky River

To: Deep Gap
Miles today: 12.1
Weather: moderate rain

I actually walked over 17 miles today. It was crazy. I got up really early and made a point of not waking anyone else up. I was out and on the road at 6:30, intending on making big miles today. I made a stop at the Elm Diner for breakfast. I had a cheese omelette and some country ham, which they charged a rediculous amount of money for. I walked out of there, and walked to the Trail, or so I thought. I actually walked in the wrong direction. It took me 30 minutes before I found out, so I had to walk back. I walked towards Uncle Johnny's, which is 3 miles out of town. I tried to hitch-hike with no luck at all. I guess I passed Uncle Johnny's, I turned down the wrong road. I ended up having to ask some local guy driving by where the hell I was, and he told me I was nowhere near Uncle Johnny's, I had already gone by it. He ended up giving me a ride there, so I probably walked an extra 5 miles today.Which, by the way, the 'Extra TrailEstrial Miles' have now reached about 35, which is very conservative.The local guy, who was very nice, dropped me off right in front of Uncle Johnny's Place. It was well after 9 o'clock. There was SamIAm and Origami, and also Vern. Vern had finally caught up, after spending 4 days at N.O.C. doing his kyaking, so that was a good, quick get-together. They were all going to a pancake breakfast with Uncle Johnny. They tried to talk me into going but I opted not to, I had already eaten breakfast. I started walking out of there. Because it has been raining for the last 2 days, the Trail was screwed up and muddy, there were some puddles and parts of the Trail were under water, especially down in lower elevations close to the Nolichucky River, where all of the creeks are running over. Regardless, most of the day was pretty good walking. It was a good climb in elevation, but over a long, long distance, so it really wasn't that bad. It would have been better if I didn't feel fat and slow, which happens every time I take a zero day in town, it takes me a while to get back into the swing of things. My knee has recovered somewhat. It wasn't feeling 100%, it was feeling OK in the morning, but, it got progressively worse after that. It looks like what I'm going to have to do is not let it rest and just walk through it. I'll keep walking and hope it gets better, or that I can deal with it. I have a pretty high threshold for pain, so I'll just keep going.It was overcast today, the sun wasn't really out, but it wasn't raining, it was 60 degrees with a light breeze. A very nice day over into Beauty Spot Gap, which is at about 4,500 feet.I can understand why they call it Beauty Spot Gap, because the rest of the forest was, well, ugly, and Beauty Spot Gap was a really nice place to walk into.Right after Beauty Spot Gap, you walk into Deep Gap. I had originally intended to stay and camp at Beauty Spot, but there wasn't any water there, so I kept walking. I found some water at Deep Gap, and decided that I was going to push ahead a little bit and try to find a place to camp. The sun had actually come out for a few minutes. As I walked through Deep Gap, this fog, like out of a Stephen King movie, closed in like a wall around me. At that point, I started to walk back up to a flat spot I had seen. Unfortunately, it's out by a road. I started pitching my tent, and it started to rain, so I had to pitch my tent in the rain. It got windy and it started getting cold. It says 50 degrees inside the tent, so it's probably colder outside. I managed to get my sleeping bag and my gear into the tent dry. I cooked and ate out in the rain. I put my duster on, went outside, and dealt with it. I got myself fed and I got inside the tent. I immediately had to do some repairs on the tent. Smoking is going to be the death of me one way or another. I lit a cigar in here and put 2 holes in the bottom of the tent. I've already burned a hole in the netting of the tent, which I had to fix. My beautiful, fancy, Western Mountaineering flight jacket now makes me look like a homeless person, I've burned a half dozen holes in it, I had to put patches on it with silicone and it looks terrible. To top it all off, I've been laying on my ThermoRest and it keeps getting soft. I kept blowing it up until I discovered I have several puncture holes in it. I don't know how in the world that happened, I'm usually very careful with my gear. As I sit here on the cold ground, I'm waiting for the silicone to dry on the ThermoRest.A quick note for those of you that think that it's alot of fun being out here on the Appalachian Trail, this is one of those times where it really sucks. I've gotta go to the bathroom to poop!! The wind is blowing sideways, it's raining like hell. It looks like you can't see 10 feet in front of you because of the cloud I'm in. Of course, I'm nowhere near a shelter, I'm in the woods in my tent. I'm going to have to go out in the pouring rain to find a log to squat over. Some things you just gotta do!That's the way it goes.