Date: 2017-03-11
From: Nantahala Outdoor Center

To: Stecoah Gap, NC
Miles today: 13.4

3/11/17 Stecoah Gap, NCMiles hiked: 150.4, Miles to go: 2039.4We awoke to sunny skies at the NOC; however, weather reports were still calling for snow moving in this evening. The total accumulation predictions had dropped from 5-8 inches to 3-5 inches, so I decided to go ahead and head out. Tiptoe and Right Move decided to take a zero day at the NOC and allow the snow to move through. When I went to Rooster and Hydrator's cabin they were waffling about whether to take a zero or not; however, when they heard I was heading out, they decided to go also. I had to wait around a bit while they got their stuff together; but, soon enough we were under way.   We left under full sun; but, pretty soon the clouds moved in and the skies began to take on that leaden appearance that portended snow. The climb out of the Nantahala Gorge was as advertised - long, steep, steady, and never ending. We gained 3678 ft in elevation over the next 5.8 miles. We climbed for over four hours. At times the trail was so steep I was walking only on my toes, with my heels off the ground. Rooster is a faster hiker than either me or Hydrator, so he would hike ahead and wait for us to catch up. He could have left us in the dust; but, he was a patient man. As we climbed, we began to be pelted by tiny ice pellets, then snow, then back to ice. At least it wasn't rain. After what seemed an eternity of climbing, we finally reached the Sassafras Gap Shelter and decided to stop for lunch. When we entered the shelter, we found six people already there in their sleeping bags hunkered down waiting for the snow. It was only 12:30 pm and the snow was not even predicted to start accumulating until 7:00 pm. I couldn't imagine just sitting around all day in my sleeping bag waiting for the snow. After a quick lunch, we continued climbing up and over 5062 ft Cheoah Bald. Although the snow continued to swirl, it never really accumulated. About 3:00 pm, we started looking at our options for the night. We had originally planned on a 15.8 mile hike to Brown Fork Shelter; but, the long climb had taken longer than we had planned and left us pretty wiped out. We decided to stop at Stecoah Gap. There was a hiker hostel listed in AWOL's AT Guide that Hydrator was really pushing for us to go to. I believe he was pretty concerned about the impending snow and felt that his tent wasn't quite up to the task. Rooster and I were less inclined to go to a hostel since we had just stayed at the NOC; however, we finally agreed to go to the hostel. When I called the hostel, called Cabin in the Woods, the proprietor was not very excited at the prospect of having to get us back to Stecoah Gap in the morning if we actually got the predicted snow. So much for our plan. Rooster and I were ready to just camp; but, Hydrator was still concerned about the snow and didn't want to camp. In the end, he ended up making arrangements for a shuttle driver to meet us at Stecoah Gap and take him to a Microtel in nearby Robinsville. Rooster and I didn't want to pay the $79 apiece for a room, so we planned to camp.   It looked like the end of our little group, with Hydrator going to town and us staying on the trail. When we arrived at Stecoah Gap, Rooster and I started looking for a place to camp. Hydrator came walking up and said that he just found a business card stuck to the sign at Stecoah Gap that advertised a hostel, called Stecoah Wolf Creek Hostel, that wasn't listed in AWOL's guide. Hydrator called the number and found out that it was $25/person and was only 2.5 miles from the gap. We decided that sounded pretty good, especially since we couldn't find a suitable camping spot and a very cold rain had begun to fall. The shuttle driver that Hydrator had called arrived, so we told her of the change in plans. She agreed to take all three of us to the hostel. She was a really nice lady named Becky who had a really nice Lincoln MkT. We hated to put our muddy boots in her car; but she was quite insistent. At first, she wasn't familiar with the hostel, which concerned me a bit. Then she said, "Oh, wait! That's Lonnie's place. I haven't seen it yet; but, he told me that he had converted his old house behind the gas station into a hostel." Hmm, sounding better all the time... It occurred to me that I was flying down a rural North Carolina road at dusk on a snowy evening with two guys whose given names I don't even know, being driven by a total stranger, and being taken to a house behind a gas station. Stephen King couldn't have come up with a better opening scene for one of his novels. When we arrived, it indeed was an old house set back in the woods behind a gas station. I sorta had visions of Silence of the Lambs ("It puts the lotion on its skin, or else it gets the hose again"). Becky called Lonnie on the phone to let him know that she'd brought us there. He said that he was out picking up another hiker; but, that we should go on in. Becky decided to come in and take a look around too. When we walked in there were a father and 15 year old son sitting there watching TV. They were section hikers who had bitten off a little more than they could chew and had bailed when they found Lonnie's business card at Stecoah Gap. The house turned out to be great! We each got our own bedroom with sheets and blankets and it had full shower, laundry, and kitchen available. Becky took us back down the road to a local diner where we had a good hot meal. Lonnie stopped by when we were done eating and took us back to the hostel. He turned out to be a really nice guy who bent over backwards to accommodate us. He even offered us each a beer. Apparently, this is a dry county, so he goes to the next county over and buys a case of Yeungling and keeps it in the trunk of his car to offer to thru hikers.So far, the snow has failed to materialize. So, we would have been fine camping it appears. This is actually much nicer. On a side note, we actually ran into three Southbounders (SOBOs) today! They started from Maine last September and hiked through the winter. They had a lean, confident, weathered look about them that made us look like squeaky clean baby hikers. I guess we'll have that cool hiker trash look by this August.