Date: 2012-04-15
From: Betty Creek Gap

To: Winding Stair Gap
Miles today: 12.0
Weather: broken clouds

I packed up camp pretty slowly and watched a few early risers walk by my sweet campsite.  Yeah, they were jealous.  But I soon joined them and made my way into the future where that sweet campsite doesn't matter anymore.  I filtered water with Bigfoot Jim at Betty Creek and continued on.  Up and up and up.  It was as if we were going to walk right up into the big, puffy cumulus clouds that dotted the deep blue sky.  I came across an opening in the trees while climbing over some boulders and saw this huge valley opening up.  Different aspects of the hillsides were shaded separately.  Some were gold, some glowed bright green, some were auburn, and the most distant were a cool blue.  More up.  Aaand more up.  I finally caught a glimpse of the fire tower atop Albert Mountain.  Gleaming white.  Square with sharp corners.  Unmoving.  It was both beautiful and ugly at the same time.  I ran into the Professor and Fozzy on the way up the steepest section and stopped to chat for a bit.  That section was particularly difficult and I have noticed that being social is a pretty easy thing to fall into on tough sections of the trail.  There was a large (>15) group of hikers at the top including many of my favorites and more to come while we celebrated our breaking the triple-digit mark, mile 100.1 in the 2012 AWOL NOBO book.  There was also Chief's name spelled out in all caps using 6-inch twigs on the ground.  Only it was spelled "CHEIF" and I said, "Aawww, you guys are killing me."  I switched it not knowing it was a message from Chief himself.  When I was informed of this, I just about lost it laughing.  I was thankful he was well and ahead of the pack but will have to tease him about his spelling error.  Lots of photos were taken but I eventually moved on.  We had some rollers left but knew we had to eventually get all the way down to the road.  At Rock Gap Shelter I chose to go all the way to the road, US 64, that takes you into Franklin.  There aren't any official campsites in the book but felt like rolling the dice and didn't want to hike 3.6mi early in the morning.  I have a package arriving in Franklin on Monday and I am stoked.  It's the under-quilt that I ordered while in Hiawassee.  I have been stuffing all of my clothing in my sleeping bag to act as non-compressible insulation and putting everything else in the pockets underneath the last few days.  It's not very comfortable and extremely fussy.  The under-quilt is a welcome addition and should speed up my morning pack-up time considerably too.  I plan to send home two of my three sleeping pads and a few other things as well including my cutting board.  I had dreams of dicing onions and garlic and making bomber stir-frys but this is a little outlandish.  I need to cut weight everywhere and start getting into the 20's on a regular basis.  Of course, we came across a little trail magic today in the form of a 20-gallon Rubbermaid bin suspended in a net from a tree on a pulley.  Gingersnap, GAME 2011, a ranger in the area, left it for us.  She also left a lengthy note from which I will always remember her quote, "The first one to the top loses this race."  Tonight I am camped down in this little valley ten minutes from the road.  It is on a hillside in this thicket of White Oak and Silver Maple right by a stream cascading over rough dark rock.  I am going to put on my best shirt and brightest smile and hitch on into town in the morning.  Wish me luck!  I am looking forward most to eating a banana, an orange, an avocado, and some real bread tomorrow for lunch.