Date: 2005-03-26
From: Betty Creek Gap

To: Swiss Miss's House
Miles today: 8.5

Today's goal was to get into Franklin, 12 miles from here. We left camp at 7:45 and headed toward Albert Mtn. After a couple of miles we came to the oasis in the hills. Barry and Terri, the former operators of Rainbow Springs Campground, had set up a spread that kept hikers walking into the area slackjawed. They had received a backcountry permit to set up camp for a month and they planned on doing trail magic for all that time. Fishin' Fred was there and had been for awhile, helping them with the chores necessary to feed all the hikers that appeared daily. Off to one side they had a large tent set up to accomadate hikers should they wish to stay. It housed 12 people with gear. They called it the Albert Arms. In the next area they had the main site. A very large tarp covered the area where the food was cooking. They had the fire stoked and an 18" saw blade acted as the cooking platform. The blade was supported by a tripod which was positioned over the fire. On this cooking area was a pot of fresh coffee(of which,I consumed copious amounts),a pan of black beans and a pan of rice. The table next to it held all the fixings for burritos. Slap a tortilla on the saw blade to warm it up,put some beans and rice on it and then throw some salsa over it. Instant breakfast! Barry and Terri were doing it up right and they had just as much fun seeing the hikers come in as we did chowing down. They had 4000 tortillas, 100 pounds of beans and a lot of other stuff,much of which was donated by various companies. The whole thing just blew us away. I cannot emphasize enough how the people in, on, and around the trail make this journey what it is. Thank you, Barry and Terri, so very much and thanks to Fishin' Fred for helping out. After we left the magic tent we almost ready to climb Albert. The butterflies were in my stomach,for probably no reason at all, but they were there. As we were getting ready to start the ascent I walked across the road and up the small hillside. I looked toward Break to say something when it happened. I turned toward her, my foot caught a root, or something and sideways I proceeded to tumble. Unfortunately, they way I was falling was down a small slope to the bottom of a leaf covered area. I remember landing on my right shoulder, doing a sumersault, landing on my head, rolling over, and staring straight up. Because of the ravine the others could not see me and Weatherman said he thought I had rolled down the mountain. Break was the first one to crest the top and as I lay there, taking stock of body parts, and flailing around like a turtle, I told her I was OK. The only casualty was a broken pole from the force of the landing. Yes, I actually broke a Leki pole in my fall. After gathering what was left of my dignity, up Albert we went. I took my time and when I got to the top I realized I had beaten back the ghosts and my foot was fine. Now, unless I do something stupid I can hike to Damascus pain free which will be a far cry different than last year. Now, you would think that this was enough excitement and goodness for the day. Not even close! We all were talking about how wonderful the magic tent was when we ran into Swiss Miss,or The Chocolate Bandito at Big Spring Shelter Yes, another break! Swiss Miss hiked in '04. She was distributing trail magic, in the form of Easter candy, at the shelters. She also informed us that her house was open if we wanted to stay there. We told her we would consider it. The consideration did not last long. We were planning on Franklin anyway because the weather was supposed to turn real bad so the offer of a roof, without cost, sounded real good! We moved on knowing that we would accept Swiss Miss's offer when she came back by. About an hour or so later she came back by and we firmed up the details. It came down to where we would meet her at Rock Gap. We got to Rock Gap where we ran into Jax, Soulman, Brownie, Draggin, and Mother Goose. We talked a bit and Brownie says,"I don't know about you guys. When you take a break you don't just take your packs off and sit down. You take them off and you are scattered like dead bodies on the ground"! Break says,"And your point is"? What can I say, we like our breaks. Swiss Miss picked us up and we went to her house where we met her parents, Sherrie and Paul. Great people! Especially for allowing 4 stinky hikers into there house. We showered, did laundry, and then we were treated to a most excellent dinner. The quantity of food could have stuffed a horse and we did try to make a dent in it. We also met her two brothers, Marcus and Harrison. These two were a walking comedy act and they had us laughing the whole time! The warmth of this family to strangers was incredible! Thank you all so much for the evening. We finally got to bed around ten which is late for us hikers. Tomorrow we will go into Franklin because Monday a couple of us have maildrops to pick up. Looks like we will hit the Smokies at the end of the week. Another goal was reached today. We hit the 100 mile mark today. Another milestone down! Another thing, Break started another game about a week ago. She would give us three letters and these letters were in consecutive order in a word. The first three were AWB. Scholar got it after a day and it was when we were ready to leave Hiawassee when I got it. StrAWBerries. the next three she gave us were UFA. I have been stumped for the last week on this one. Think about it, don't cheat and search for it and please don't send me an email with the answer. She'll kill me if I found out that way! I will get it, that I promise. Enough for now! A really great day on the AT.