Date: 2017-05-15
From: Campsite at 687.4

To: Lost Spectacles Gap 700.7
Miles today: 13.3

Around 4am, I was startled awake by noises around camp. Luckily, after only a couple minutes a headlight flipped on in full brightness.  I relaxed a bit knowing bears do not have headlamps.   A couple of guys the night before had talked about leaving early.  I finally went back to sleep and then finally got up around six.   The day progresses as normal up and down with random photo shoots of flowers and lizards.  Right around the 700 mile mark I finally got to see Dragons Tooth.  I left my pack at the top of the side trail and headed down.  Goat was at the already at the bottom of course.    She had already climbed Dragons Tooth and came back down when it got a bit crowded.   I knew there was no way I could go up Dragons Tooth but it was still fun to see and take photos.  Beside the big Tooth is a much smaller rounded rock.  I decided to be brace and at least climbed the little one.  I handed Goat my phone and told her to take a picture of me on top. I slowly made my way up.  I sat down and put my feet over the edge.  Goat climbed up and brought my phone.  I had left my big camera with my pack.  I only had one battery left and was saving it for Mcafee knob.  I took a couple pictures and enjoyed the beautiful scenery for a few minutes before I climbed back down.  I sat down in the shade for a few minutes before heading back up to start down to the campsite which was only 0.7 miles away.   Once my pack was back on, I tried to follow the white blazes painted on the rocks.   The trail at this point became a precarious rock scramble down.  A couple of metal rungs had been placed in one rock wall which made the slide down a bit more controlled.  Unfortunately the rocks continued.  I was absolutely terrified the entire time. I one point I even stopped to text Goat to let her know I was probably going to die.  For a few tenths of a mile, the terror continued.  I was in tears knowing that if I couldn't do this, there was no way I would ever survive further up north.  At one point, my pack hit the wall and sent me sliding down quicker than I intended.  I ended up with a bloody shin but managed to recover and not break my camera.  Goat finally caught up with me and we continued down.   Goat is so much more agile on the rocks than I am and yes her full trail name is Mountain Goat.   There was one more place where I threw down my poles and slithered down.  Behind me was one of the college kids who had been up at Dragons Tooth.  He seemed a bit annoyed that I was taking so long so I let him jump past.   It's so much harder to navigate and keep your balance when you have an extra 30 pounds dangling on your back.  At this point, I was almost in full panic mode.  The fear of falling, the fear of injury, the fear of not being able to finish. But mostly the fear of failing.   This journey is my last chance and I want to see it through to the end. Coming around one corner, I was so excited to see a trickle of water coming out of the rocks.  I had been carrying extra water since none was listed for the campsite we were headed for.   I filtered an extra liter and sat on the side trail and guzzled it down.  I felt a bit less panicky and was able to continue on. Finally we reached Lost Spectacles Gap.  The rhododendron trees everywhere were blooming.  I searched around for tent stakes and managed to find quite a few of all different shapes and sizes.  I felt like I had hit the jackpot. As we were eating, LadyBug and Flash arrived.  I hadn't seen them since the Smokies and was glad to see them.   Unfortunately all the stress of the day was weighing heavily on my soul, and I decided I just needed to head to bed. **Photos/Videos on Facebook - Mickie Blair (Dicey Willow)