Date: 2005-04-13
From: Sassafras Gap Shelter

To: N.C. 28
Miles today: 20.9

1:50 p.m. I'm about a mile short of Cable Gap Shelter.I woke up at 6 o'clock, I got out right about 7 o'clock, mainly because I did not eat breakfast. Been trying this thing out today where I don't eat breakfast and eating I'm candy bars and beef jerky instead. My energy level has been high, but I've been hungry all day. I don't know if that's going to continue to work or not. I'd rather have high energy level and not be hungry. Maybe I'll have to do both.I got out early this morning and it was a treacherous trail this morning. It was devoid to leaves, and it rained last night so it was extremely muddy and slippery. Within the first hour I managed to slip and turned the sh*t out of my ankle and knee. It hurt like hell, but I managed to walk it off, so it's feeling OK now.I'm seriously considering going all the way into Fontana Dam and making it a 21 mile day, maybe get that little bit of extra rest tomorrow. Although I know Eddie is going to push to go out tomorrow and I REALLY don't want to do that. It's been some good ups and downs. This is a very adventurous section. Steep down into Cheoah Bald for a pretty good long way, and Stecoah Gap is a steep down and just a nasty, nasty up, for some reason, I guess because I stopped at the bottom and ate a candy bar, I had a good energy level. I actually made it up Stecoah Gap averaging 2 miles per hour up to Brown Fork Shelter, where I stopped just long enough to put my rain cover on and get my rain coat. It's been getting cloudy, and just before I got into Brown Fork Shelter, I wrote hail in the register there but maybe it's sleet, it was kind of hard to tell. It was a little bigger than sleet but a little smaller than hail. Just a light hit of it, not enough to have to stop and hide, but enough to make the air cold.   It has been getting chillier and chillier all day. I'll get to the shelter in a few minutes and decide what I'm going to do. I stopped at 3 o'clock yesterday and the rest of the day seemed to take forever. Maybe I'll go down to the road and hitch into Robinsville and get some hamburgers or something. Origami and Sam I Am are right behind me and I told them I would share my food with them, they misjudged and are running out of food. I don't know how I'm going to do that. I really don't have the food right now, I thought I'd have it but, I've been eating it. So, maybe I'll leave them the food and run into town, or maybe I can convince them to run into town with me, if they're not too far behind. We shall see.5:30I did drop down into the shelter just long enough to leave Sam I Am and Origami the food I had left. It took exactly 2 hours to do the 5.5 miles down to N.C. 28. I was standing on the road at 5:10 and 2 cars have gone by in 20 minutes. So,the idea of hitching into Robinsville to get food is out of the question now. Its 13 miles in 1 direction, so looks like I'm stuck heading to Fontana Village, which is 2 miles in the other direction. Maybe a car will come by. In the meantime, I guess I'm stuck walking down there. Maybe I'll just get a room at Fontana Village or at the hostel or whatever.Right now I'm pretty damned hungry. I didn't stop for lunch, all I have had was candy bars and beef jerky all day. I've been out of water since I started the downhill 2 hours ago and I'm thirsty as hell.   I have no food left because I gave it to Sam I Am and Origami. My knee is f**ked up!   In one way I'm very glad I came down here tonight because I think if I'd have slept I may not be able to walk on it tomorrow. I have to see what happens with that in the morning. In the meantime, that last 4 miles was a crappy way to end a hike, because the down into Fontana Dam is continuous from 4,000 feet to 1700 feet. It's a fairly gradual downhill but it's unrelenting. My legs are tired. I thought about crashing in the woods and setting up my tent and worrying about eating in the morning.   I'll walk down to Fontana Village and, hell, I'll crash on the front porch of the post office if I have to.It's an uphill road to Fontana Village, a 9% grade road of course. I walked to the registration building and they had rooms for hikers for $30.99. They had really big rooms with queen sized beds and TV. At 6:30 I dumped my stuff in room 131 and I went up to the restaurant. There were a bunch of hikers up there. Some that I had met before others that I hadn't. They were in there eating dinner. I ordered 2 bacon cheeseburger dinners that came with french fries. I also got one to go. I sat with Free Radical and some others that I had just met. I went back to the room and did my laundry in the plastic garbage can in the room with some hand soap. I turned the heat up all full blast and hung everything to dry all around the room. I watched the X Files while I repackaged my stuff until 1 a.m.