Date: 2017-03-20
From: Nantahala Outdoor Center (NOC), NC

To: Brown Fork Gap Shelter, NC
Miles today: 15.8

Day 13: The NOC, NC to Brown Fork Gap Shelter, NC - 15.8 miles:Last night brought a restful night, tucked in the leafy bowl beneath my rain-fly. I woke at 6am, still beneath a blanket of stars, and decided to get up instead of tossing for another hour or more. I quietly packed my things so as not to wake Toepick sleeping inner tent nearby, and headed for a bathroom a few hundred yards away. The air was cold and my rain-fly had frosted over during the night. When I reached the bathroom, I hung my rainfly over a stall door and allowed a small heater near the ceiling work its magic. While it dried, I sat in another stall, confident that no one else in the NOC would be awake to come bother me. I cashed a quick check, the last of the chili cheese burger from yesterday, and then ate some pop tarts while still sitting on the toilet. In normal life, I avoid deucing in public restrooms at all cost, but now the warmth of the bathroom outweighed the grossness of it.I returned to an outdoor patio bar-like restaurant, still closed until warmer weather settles in, where I stashed my phone to charge overnight. Using a few stacked chairs, I was able to hide it up in the beams of the roof, not having to worry anyone would find it. I swapped it for my tablet, only to find out later the cold negated an hour and a half of charging time, leaving me with less than I would've desired.Toepick and Odin soon joined me at the bathrooms and we rotated going in and out to take care of our remaining morning chores. I made small chat with a couple railroad workers, as they started up the roaring engines of some kind of railroad vehicle that does who knows what, and were soon rolling east along the tracks. We returned to the riverside at the NOC, the water noticeably more shallow than the previous day, in order to kill half an hour to charge gadgets. I crossed the river to the River's End restaurant, and went in to grab a coffee. Overpriced, of course, but the wonders it'd do in warming me up was worth it.We eventually began the eight-mile climb that'd take us from 1,771ft to 5,062ft atop Cheoah Bald. The climb was actually not as bad as I remembered, and we were able to maintain a 2.5mph pace. I had to stop every 10-20 minutes to pee due to the coffee and a liter and a half of water intake before getting started, but it provided me mini breaks along the way. After a half-hour lunch atop a peak six miles in, we hit the high point for the day at Cheoah Bald and enjoyed a view, though dreary and under a low ceilings of battleship-gray clouds. Toepick suffered through stiff "everything" as she called it and immediately collapsed on her back upon reaching the summit. Soon enough, though, and with 10 miles still to cover, we got moving.The next several miles of ups and downs weren't particularly demanding, but made harder due to soar ankles from the constant twisting over rocks and roots. Some days will be good, some bad, but it's a soreness that will always remain until hiking has ceased. As the miles rolled on, we grew thirsty and tired, but pushed on. I carried only a half liter of water all day out of stubbornness of not wanting the weight. Odin was able to curb a little of his thirst by eating mouthfuls of snow in the very few remaining patches that appeared throughout the day.We reached Stechoa Gap at 4:45pm, the site of an epic trail magic feast two years ago. I longed for it to be waiting there for me again all day, but it wouldn't be this time around. We sat at empty picnic tables for 45min, procrastinating over the climb we knew was just ahead - Jacob's Ladder. Having ate my weight in food just before taking it on a couple years ago, I remember it going on forever as I tried not to throw up my food on the way up. Without any food in me this time, I was hopeful it wouldn't be as bad the second time around. As we rounded a small mountain and began dropping towards a small gap, a 600ft wall grew steadily ahead of us. As we got to its base, all that was visible was a series of tight switchbacks rising high to the point of becoming a singularity. Up it is. After a minute into the climb, Toepick allowed me to pass and climb at my own pace, Odin coming with me to wait at the peak. Within 10 minutes of hard climbing, some stretches at 45-degree angles, and with Odin's hot breath on the back of my legs during the entire climb, we finally crested the top. I waited a couple minutes, but decided to move on to the shelter nearby, mainly because Odin was thirsty and I had no water for either of us.During the gradual descent towards the shelter, I misread a wooden sign, confusing the direction of the shelter as .1 miles north instead of ahead of me, off the trail. Onward we went, and on, and on, before I finally decided I had missed it. Returning back towards the sign, now a mere slug working my way back uphill, I reached the sign and discovered my mistake. I felt bad for Odin who had trustingly followed along, and soon found myself feeling bad for Toepick who had returned back down the trail looking for us, assuming we were waiting somewhere or had fallen off the side of a mountain. I quickly got my phone and called her to update her of my mistake. She was understandably upset upon returning, but eventually realized it was a simple mistake and that I wouldn't let anything happen to Odin. It's a privilege to know Odin has accepted me into his former one-man wolf pack, now having grown by one, and that he feels comfortable taking off with me ahead of Toepick at times.Within a half-hour of reaching the shelter, I had eaten, brushed my teeth, and got horizontal in order to journal and try to get some rest. My aching ankles definitely need it. Tonight and tomorrow call for rain, but fortunately we're in a shelter and can avoid having our tents soaked. If the rain holds off long enough tomorrow, we may be able to beat it to Fontana Lake, now only 12.8 miles away.The shelter is full with five hikers, and another three are camped nearby. An older gentleman who's been sleeping since I arrived at 6:30pm is already snoring, promising what'll most likely be sleepless night ahead. For now, being off my feet is what's important. This'll have to do.