Date: 2009-05-08
From: Kincora Hostel

To: Kincora Hostel
Miles today: 8.9

Happy Birthday to my Wonderful husband! Love you, Ron!The question of the day is not "Is it going to rain today?" Rather, the question is "What time do you think it will start raining today?"I am trying something new today, at the urging of Bob Peoples and Baltimore Jack and my friends Yellowstone & Jim Dandy - I am going to slack-pack, southbound, from Watuga Lake back to Kincora Hostel. (ed - slack packing is when you hike a part of the trail without your full pack. In this case Mom left most of her stuff at Kincora and carried her pack with just what she needed for the day - snacks, water, etc. This is not sanctioned by the editor or her husband )A bunch of us piled into Bob's pick-up truck for a ride to the trail head and other places in town. I was in the bed of the truck, uder a cap, with 5 other guys. Bob has 3 bench seats from cars, covered with sheepskin, arranged on the 3 sides of the bed of the truck. 6 other hikers were with Bob in the extended cab of the truck. What a sight, I'm sure.Yellowstone, Jim Dandy, and I started the hike from Watuga Lake at 9am. The rain started at 9:20! Again, the rain progressed to a downpour. Thank goodness the rain only lasted for about 2 hours. The skies then cleared to crystal blue and sunny. How delightful, I even had views!The hike today was through the Pond Mountain Wilderness of the Cherokee Forest. It was a very pretty hike especially after I summitted Pond Flats. When I got to the bottom of Pond Flats I was hiking along the banks of a river and through huge tunnels of rhododendron. It was exquisityly beautiful. The water was running very fast because of all the rain and there were a lot of rapids. Thank goodness for the sturdy bridges across this raging river. I passed 2 men with fishing gear that were out fishing for the day.The nice, graded dirt path turned rocky and descended further and there was one area that was quite scary as there was just a narrow ledge of rock between a rock face, and the surface of the rapids. I had to hold onto the rockface and edge my way around the curving path without falling into the drink. After a short walk I was at Laurel Fork waterfalls. They were huge and roaring down the rockface. Very impressive.Then there was a huge climb up a rock staircase that went on forever. It was built by 2 crews of women a few years ago and the rocks were placed so that each one had a 7 1/2 inch rise. The climb up was a charm! Thank you to those women.The hike ended with a flat stroll on a "rails to trails" trail alongside another river. Back at Kincora I took a shower, washed my clothes (2nd day in a row, unheard of!) and then went through my maildrop and organized my pack for hiking out tomorrow.While we were having dinner, a man from the hostel by the Dennis Cove Rd trailhead came in and asked how many of us would be coming to the "free" breakfast at his hostel tomorrow morning. I'm in for that. After breakfast Bob will shuttle us to Watuga Lake and I will continue on to Damascus, VA. Note: Bob Peoples is a great person. He offers so much and asks for so little in return. $4.00 a night, shuttles all over, washer, dryer, shower, bunk, and great company.