Date: 2005-03-24
From: Standing Indian Campground

To: Big Spring Shelter
Miles today: 15.3
Weather: clear sky

So Jason never showed up last night. Nobody had heard from him and had no clue where he was. We got all packed up and I told them that we could get them a ride back to their car because my Dad would be in Franklin this weekend and he would be glad to give them a ride back to their car. We decided that would work and got in the car to leave, and the battery was dead. We consider all our options and decide to walk back to the campground. This would be an additional 2 miles or so. So as of now I had 7 miles to walk before I actually made it to the AT where my day would start. As fate would have it, a car drove by and we stopped it by standing in the middle of the road. We asked the guy to give us a jump. He did not seem like he much wanted to and acted like it was a major inconvenience to his big plans that included looking good in his 80's nylon swish suit. He did give us a jump, (and we were thankful for his kindness) and we drove on down the road. Jay decided he did not have enough gas to drive me to the raod to deep gap, so I just walked up the Kimsey creek trail back to Deep Gap. I told Jay and Justin that I would be at Carter gap Shelter and they were not sure where they would be or how they were getting there. The hike back to the gap was not bad and I made great time. I was at deep gap at 10:45 or so. I picked up some grits, oatmeal, crackers, and beef jerkey that some boy scouts had left hanging on the trail for hikers and moved on to climb Standing Indian Mt. I stopped in at Standing Indian shelter for a quick bite. I talked to Grey beard there, telling him how much I loved my trekking poles, and decided to move on. Raz had left me a note in the register saying that he was heading to carter gap, but he may move on if he felt good. I climbed Standing Indian with my poles strapped to my pack, crackers in one hand and beef jerkey in my waist belt. I ate the rest of my lunch while i climbed. I got to the top and it must have been 80 degrees. I stopped to take off my shoes and rest my feet. I ended up taking off my shirt and rolling my pants up and laying out in the sun for 15 min or so. Then i took a baby wipe bath and started hiking with my pants still rolled and my shirt still off. I felt great and rolled on into carter gap shelter at around 3:20. Raz was not there but his gaiters were. there was another note in the register from him saying he had moved on to Big Spring Shelter which was alomst 7 more miles. considering I had started to fade the last mile or so, I figured it was not a good idea. I decided I needed to wait for jay and Justin to get there. Then i read in the register that Wyatt was heading into town today and considering my stuff was in his bounce box, I had to get to town before he left. In order for me to do that I had to move on and catch up with raz so we could get into town tomorrow and catch Wyatt and all the rest of out gear that we had bounced forward. So off I sat at 4:00 hoping to make the 6.8 miles before dark. this was only made more difficult by my fatigue and my upcoming climb over Albert Mt. which an almost verticle climb. It is a short climb but the steepest grade that we had seen so far. I was determined to make it. I kept hiking and as I climbed over big Butt and was headed up to albert I saw a sign in the trail that said trail magic. I had to stop in and boy was I surprised. They had a whole set up including a huge tarp, a RV, couple of cars, etc. They cooked me two burritos and gave me a coke and I headed out with a little more energy to bring to Albert. It was starting to get dark as I climbed the steep trail. I made it to the top just in time to catch one of the most amazing sunsets I had ever seen. I climbed the fire tower that sat on top of the Mountain and took several pictures and a short video. I headed up the trail and into the shelter right at dark where Raz and Red hat were. springer Fever had brought snack cakes, oranges, and BEER. I accepted all he had to offer and after some short conversation I hit the sack. I had just done 20.5 miles, too bad only 15 of it actually counts. Damn blue blaze trails!