Date: 2008-03-19
From: Betty Creek Gap 

To: Rock Gap 
Miles today: 9.1
Weather: light rain

Alrighty, then. Let's talk rain.    I've heard tales of what happens during a day of hiking in the rain, but being the comfort-loving individual that I am, have never taken time to visualize exactly what that might be like.   First, we had to pack up our campsite at Betty Creek. Dark and cool, it was hard to get the mind to comprehend that action was called for! Last night I had strung my poncho up to form a dry area for cooking, so after I made my latte and grits, I moved all last minute tasks to the dry space and helped fold up the waterlogged tent. V8 had suggested that I pack the day's trail food ahead of time, so that was a relief not to have to rummage around doing that in the rain.the last thing down was the poncho, which served its purpose really well. Today we are going to go up Albert Mtn. ,a steeper, more "interesting" climb, or so we expected. We hustled up and over Big Butt Mtn, close to 5000 feet, but due to mud, rain and winds, took the bypass trail around Albert's peak. Even that, a well graded utility road, was windy and less than hospitable. All day it was slow going due to slippery leaves on muddy, rooted, rocky paths. Later, the trail would turn to a stream bed, and all hope of keeping feet dry was abandoned. More on that later.   We gratefully hiked into the Big Spring Shelter at mile 98.5, to find a delightful crew of trail maintainers hustling about with shears and buckets. It was really raining now, but these folks were suited up and acting like it was no big deal at all. They were from the S. Nantahala AT club, and several of the had me beat by 15 years or so. They go out every week, year round, the only woman in the group told me. The rain was pounding on the tin roof so hard that it was not easy to hear one another talk. The trail club was on their way out, leaving Bananas and V8 and me to shiver our way through lunch, check the log book for familiar names, and saddle up to go the next 4.5 miles to Rock Gap. We knew we had to get out of the woods and into town tonight, as our gear was weighted with the now invasive raindrops. My socks took on the feel of big, cold sponges and the Goretex keep-water-out feature turned into a keep-water-in one, as I picked up and put down and extra half pound per foot, the rest of the hike.    Next, with about 2 miles to go, my legs really wetted through. So the final trek was bordering on scary, as there were no options but to keep walking. The Rock Gap shelter at 103.8 was a dark, drenched little way point for us. I took off my boots and dumped out a cup of muddy water, between that and wringing out my socks. I think its safe to say that we were all pretty cooked by then, and were digging down deep for reserves.   The cell phones would not work at Rock Gap shelter. When we arrived downhill at Rock Gap itself, we tried again, and thankfully, got through to Ron Haven. We danced, sang, told what remaining jokes we could remember for the half hour or so til the beautiful white van arrived. THAT was a moment! Cheery fellows, Free hugs and then we were hunkered in the back, them telling us to hand them our dripping packs. We climbed into the middle seats and were driven down to Franklin, NC. By then, I was in a trance, so glad to be warm and on the way to a heated room.   In no shape to go out for dinner, I took a warm shower and ante'd up for a personal pan pizza with sausage and peppers, and a house salad from Pizza Hut. They delivered! We ate.   Tomorrow will be a plan and resupply day with laundry. My Bounce box from Hiawassee was here so for now, this is working out. I still think constantly about paring down my gear, so stay tuned for the final gear list sometime in the next few weeks.May all beings have the privilege of getting dry and warm after drenching rains.Marcia JamrogAuntie Mame------------------------------Allow us to help those in need, sell back your spare PocketMail and make some extra pocket money.