Date: 2008-03-02
From: Wesser Bald Shelter NC

To: Sassafras Gap Shelter NC
Miles today: 12.6
Weather: clear sky

Day 14 ¢ Sunday, March 2 ¢ Sassafras Gap Shelter NC ¢ Miles Today: 12.6 Total Miles: 141.8We had a pretty nice night. It was in the mid thirties when we awoke around 6:00. Two people arrived at the shelter after we had climbed into our tent for the night. We eventually met them later today at the next shelter. Their names are Josh and Amanda; they're from eastern North Carolina and they are also thru-hikers. They started one day before us but had to zero in Franklin to get a new sleeping bag. We don¢t get to talk to them much as they arrive pretty late each night and we are already in our tent. One thing that they shared with us is that Mount LeConte in the Smokies has 18" of snow. The AT doesn't go quite to Mount LeConte but it does give us an indication that the reports we have been hearing about the Smokies are true. Hopefully though, with the next few days being sunny and clear, it will help melt that base!   We have requested Josh and Amanda to break a great trail for us. They're not going to nero at Fontana so they'll be a bit ahead of us and hopefully they'll break a great trail for us. Today we earned our miles. We started out at 4115' and by the time we arrived at the NOC a little bit before 10:00, we were at 1740¢. At one section, there were some snow and ice covered rock ledges that we had to step down which was pretty tricky. We got a picture of that. After the NOC we went up and up and up all the way to 4330¢. At times it was so ridiculously steep and at other times it wasn't too bad. There was no problem picking up our drop at the NOC and when we opened it, we found a surprise - a little package of six Oreos, which of course were eaten before we even headed out on the trail again. THANKS! Today was a beautiful day - our third clear day of the entire hike - the second one in a row. We don't know what to do with ourselves. We discovered that we have skin on our arms and legs, which means we actually wore shorts and t-shirts today. Our dogs (i.e., our feet) were definitely happy to be at camp at 3:30. By the time we filtered, set up tent, cooked dinner, and cleaned up, believe it or not, it was 5:30. We're in our tent now at 6:30 and it¢s 50 degrees. We continue to hear barred owls most nights and we also have started to hear birds in the morning. So hopefully spring will arrive soon. We've lost track of ¢The Here, Here Gang¢ with the one guy who we call Bigfoot because of his size 16 feet. We followed their prints in the snow for a day or two, but today we lost sight of their footprints. However, we didn't have a lot of snow patches today so we could be wrong. We were blessed with 99.9% clear dry trail today. Such a wonderful experience to get great traction underneath the dogs and make good speed. Tomorrow we have another big day - about 15 miles - to Cable Gap Shelter so we're planning on an early night and a sunrise start again. I think that's it. We're still having a blast; we're enjoying the sunshine. It actually looks like Brakeman has some color on his face and neck so it's probably time for us to haul out the sunscreen if we're going to be out in the sunshine. Good night from sunny North Carolina.