Date: 2013-03-25
From: Cold Spring Shelter

To: NOC, Bryson City
Miles today: 11.5
Weather: light snow

When I left my snowy, frozen Cold Spring tarp site at 9:10 AM on Monday, March 25 2013, I violated one of my cardinal rules: I did not exchange my dry and relatively clean ¢camp¢ clothes for my hiking clothes before heading out. (This swap would have meant, simply, removing my long-sleeved polypro top and long-legged polypro bottom and exchanging underwear and T-shirt for those I¢d been hiking in.) My only excuse is that I planned to be at the Bryson City Nantahala Outdoor Center¢s (NOC¢s) bunkroom that night. The party of six, and many of the tenters, had left early, so I gratefully followed their prints in the snow-covered trail. It was a bit slippery, but I was careful and slow, relying heavily on my poles, and didn¢t fall. A party soon passed ¢ they¢d been tenting west of the trail at Cold Spring ¢ led by PeePah, the jovial and stocky Long-Island man with the broad New York City accent, who I¢d first met at Gooch Mountain on my second night out. He cautioned me not to push for the NOC, for which everyone was headed, if I didn¢t feel comfortable. I appreciated his concern; he began his advice with ¢Hmmm... hiking alone...¢        With caution on slippery rocky ascents, the morning passed all right, and I was surprised to emerge, unexpectedly (guess I wasn¢t paying attention!) at the Wesser Bald Fire Tower at 12:30 PM. I took a short off-trail path to the right (mindful of Sourdough¢s ten tips!) and met a young man and his son, who were ascending another access road to the tower. The young man photographed me with (at my request) his charming little boy Ty, with naught but mist all around. He and Ty ascended the tower, but I drew the line at that (Sorry, Sourdough!) since visibility was about 300 yards.        I had a very cold (and waterless) lunch with a couple of other hikers at the Wesser Bald Shelter from 1:00 to 1:40 PM, then moved on. My original goal that day had been the A. Rufus Morgan Shelter, just a mile south of the NOC. When I arrived there at 4:30 PM, it was empty! That would NEVER have happened were in not for the NOC¢s proximity! I actually considered staying there, alone in a shelter... but left at 4:42, arriving at the large NOC complex at 5:04, and safely ensconced in the ¢Overflow¢ building¢s Room #2 at 5:33 PM. Condor, a fast-moving ~54-year-old who¢d whipped past me before Morgan, was there, and soon Brad, who Condor had met on the trail, joined us. NOC stopped admitting new guests at 7:00 PM; it was just us 3 in a 4-person room that night. We trundled over to the River¢s End Restaurant, where I had a veggie pizza and a brownie topped with ice cream, and we were in bed and pretty much asleep by 9:30 PM.        I should back up a little to say a bit about the trail between the Wesser Bald and Rufus Morgan shelters. Some of it traversed a high, narrow ridge, with deep valleys to the immediate left and right ¢ it was quite disconcerting! I kept my eyes on my feet and the next couple of steps, and tried to ignore the less-immediate scene. The ridge would get more and more narrow, the steep left and right dropoffs getting closer and closer. Where they finally met, at the end of the ridge, the trail dropped down over steep boulders, dusted with ice and snow, to a lower level where, several times, the process began again. It seemed a bit like walking on an icy deck toward the prow of a long, narrow ship, then climbing down it to the next lower deck. The short, steep descents to the new levels required careful thinking before placing weight on feet and poles. Several times a drop of perhaps 15¢ like that was followed by another narrow path and then another such descent. It was not comfortable to be doing that alone! My thoughts turned to PeePah and his concern about me. That night we met him at the River¢s End Restaurant. As Condor, Brad, and I entered, PeePah (seated with his group) waved warmly to me, and as he was leaving he stopped by, shook my hand, and said he¢d been worried about me on the afternoon¢s rocky ridges! What a nice man! (By the way, I never fell. Among all the hikers I¢ve spoken with, I¢m the only one who can say that. One girl said she¢d fallen a dozen times.)