Trip Report: Footballs over and Ingles has a sale on turkey...mine as well go to the woods without my gun.

Rock Gap to Burningtown Gap

 Gobble…Gobble…BANG!!!!...A familiar sound in late march for most of us folks who enjoy living, working and playing in Appalachia!  Typically the arrival of spring brings dreams of bagging that big strutting gobbler that was just too smart to call in last year or, that once in a lifetime rainbow that slipped out of your hands when you were removing the hook from his mouth.  Well, winter has been dragging her feet around these parts  and Ingles has a sale on Turkey so I reckon that’s a good a reason as any to go wandering thru the woods without my gun. As for that trout, we have a date for another day; besides, the rivers are so crowded with out of towners, you’d have to bring your own rock to stand on.

 Since you nice folks suffered thru my redneck oozing introduction I’ll get on with the trip report, but, one last thing. If you’re from the south (praise Jesus) football is born into your blood, being so, it is the only way I can describe the development of this trip. In any given football season you can hear a head coach talking about “playing it one game at a time”, or my personal favorite, “we realize they are a div II team, but were not looking past them.”  ……the dreaded TRAP GAME is what they are referring to. For you non footballers a “Trap Game” is when you have a big game two weeks out and you kind of look ahead and don’t quite prepare yourself for the lesser opponent you have for that week. It’s inevitable!!! It always happens, and it happened to me. ….

 Rock gap to Burningtown gap…seems easy enough, but, with a thru hike of the Smokies coming up in a few weeks, this short section turned into my “trap game” , not that I was Ill prepared( ok, not totally i.e. headlamp batteries), my heart just wasn’t in it, I was looking ahead and partially missed what was right in front of me…such is life I guess huh? 

 You know the routine, meet at McDonalds, grab a biscuit, shuttle trucks to start/ finish areas..I’ll spare you all those boring details. Rock Gap…our starting line and where we finished our last section, would be the parking area for this section,  just up the road from standing Indian campground.

Rock Gap Parking Area

Out of rock gap this trail started out fairly mild….We meandered for about a mile or so talking gear and food before we encountered any type of elevation change. Since we were both wearing new “summer” Hiking shoes,  Byers  in Vasque Velosity 2.0  ----and I was in a new pair of Merrell Moab Ventilators we pondered our first impressions of these high tech moccasins.  We progressed on down the trail and   Looking off to the east there was a good view of Franklin.

Franklin N.C

                  After crossing old Murphy rd we stopped at a really nice branch to fill up on water.

I had worked late the night before this trip and didn’t get my usual water intake for the day; on top of that we got a late start and in the two hours of shuffling cars I hadn’t drank a drop that morning either. Needless to say I was behind the eight ball already as far as hydration goes. I packed aquamira drops drops as opposed to a filter this trip and I found myself seriously considering knockin back a big ol horn of untreated water instead of waiting a few min for the drops to activate. I’ve drank from streams all my adult life while fishing and what not and for the most part never had a problem, there was one instance where I got giardia  but I think it came from the well water at the house. Sooooo…not wanting to spend the majority of the next week sitting on every toilet I passed I decided to play it safe a wait a few min.  By now it was warming up, and we had done a bit of climbing, we rolled on thru Wallace gap and descended maybe 4 or 500 feet into Winding stair gap just up the hill from the big cut.

Winding stair gap parking area was full of some pretty awesome people from South Carolina. Wish I could remember the name of their hiking club, said they were between Seneca and Clemson I think..Go Dawgs!  They were feeding the masses. We stopped and spoke with them for a bit, they offered us food, beer, cokes, candy….you name it they had it. I took a particular liking to this one older fellow that was wearing a coon skin cap and had “backer juice” all over his mouth.  He took a liking to +Jason Byers  cuben pack, he pulled and tugged on this “space age materials” and I couldn’t help but snicker at the look on Jason face. (Hes pretty particular about his gear)

feeding the masses all the way from Senica S.C

Me up the hill from the big cut

         After crossing Hwy 64 we hiked down just a tad and stopped by a small waterfall with a footbridge.

  Byers had a major malfunction with his heel talons….apparently when you have prehistoric feet good fitting shoes are hard to find. I murdered a snack attack and dropped my wind shirt and pant legs in my pack while he did some doctorin on a couple of shiny new heel blisters.  Luckily just loosening his shoes a bit cured his ailment. After seeing this sign I helped myself to an luke warm coca-cola.

 We hem hawed around there for about 30 min….briefly spoke with this strange fellow from Michigan I believe he said. He allowed he was a Navy veteran and after that I started feeling kind of bad for labeling him as strange. Sometimes I’m bad for being quick to “peg” people you might say, but I try to remember you don’t really know what hardships some folks may have gone thru that kind of shape who they are. He and Byers (being a former Navy man himself) shared a couple of quick stories and then we were on our way.

 Over the next 6 miles or so the trail was a steady climb, previously I read this trail was strenuous, I don’t know if I’m getting in better shape or if it’s been overrated but it didn’t seem all that bad to me. Blowing thru what I think was Swinging Lick and then Panther Gap; we had our sights set on Silers Bald.

works 60% of the time, every time

Heading up the trial to Silers Bald bald was fairly uneventful, we didn’t pass near the amount of hikers that I had figured we would. Still in a steady climb we passed the trail leading to Silers Bald shelter. Typically I stop and get pictures of Shelters and such but we had a good pace so we pressed on about another mile to the bald.

Balds have always fascinated me…….an acre or two of grass in a Mountain range full of thick hardwoods and laurel hells just looks out of place. I guess there are theories of these places being a natural phenomenon; some say they were cleared by early white settlers. Some old timers say they are caused by lightening or even bugs. I think I’ll stick with all of the above….it seems too weird for these things to be here for just one reason or the other. Heck, maybe God created em for the benefit of the wildlife and they have been here since the beginning, who’s to say?….somethings just are, cause they are…no scientific explanation needed!



Nantahala Lake from Silers Bald

 Hiking the couple hundred feet up to the bald seemed harder than the last few miles for some reason. Probably because I was still not well hydrated, and in our scurrying along we opted out of a couple of water sources. It wasn’t too crowded, but it was good to see some day hikers with several kids up there. I can’t wait till my youngins are old enough to spend some time out in the woods.  Met a thru hiker there named Turtle….we talked for 15 or 20 min and he was just enjoying the view. After our chat it was obvious he was envious of our small overnight packs because he said as much………………..he was from Texas and appeared to be a little frustrated , I don’t know why he was but I hope he finishes his journey.

walking down off Silers Bald

From here we skedaddled on down the mountain to Wayah Gap, we stopped to fill up on water at a small branch and crossed another lil ol footbridge.

 After having a standing snack, we decided to push on up the mountain, the trail ran parallel to USFS rd 69 for quite a while, It was fairly decent climb and we passed several folks with camps already set, it seemed a bit early to me, but heck, what do I know. We strolled on by the Wilson Lick trail/Historic site and crossed USFS 69.

Formally known as Wilson Lick

Not having a definite camp spot in mind we half way made the decision to stop on up the trail a bit and pitch our tarps and hammocks at the meadow by the old wine spring rd.

Upon arriving at this “proposed” campsite we ran up on about 4-5 young guys, they seemed a bit rambunctious so we pressed on deciding that maybe we would just leg it on out to Burningtown gap and head down the hill to Huddle House….Pecan waffles are a mighty strong motivator!!!!!

Headed up to Wayah Bald we blew rite by a side trail that lead to Winespring Bald…wish we woulda stopped there but we planned on stopping at Wayah  and not wanting to spend too much time hiking in the dark, so we just kept on a strollin. After making our way around the front of the mountain we came across a creepy patch of forest with all kinds of blow downs and not one live tree in site…I dubbed it the devils forest…it wreaked of death and I didn’t like it one bit! It was an odd feeling there…hard to explain….I imagine it would be the same feeling you would get from robbing an old Indian grave. Not being one that’s typically spooked, but this was different; I didn’t even take time to snap a pic.

  Cool air was settling in and we had made double time thru “the devils forest”, so we stopped to put on the ol wind shirt and zip in our pant legs, after another snack we made our way up..up…and up to Wayah Bald.

rock tower on Wayah Bald

The wind was crazy up on wayah, but the views were amazing, looking back torward Silars bald it looked a lot closer than the hike felt…maybe the thought of pecan waffles and hot syrup were playing tricks on me.

looking back at Silers Bald From Wayah Bald

Having a touch of cell service, I called the little lady and let her know we weren’t camping and Id be home by midnight….after that I was definitely committed to finishing, not showing up at the house tonight would prob trigger a search effort unlike any known to man.

atop the Rock Tower on Wayah Bald

Jason Byers on Wayah Bald

Under a quickly setting sun we took off down the Mountain passing a very crowded Wayah Bald Shelter. With all the tents it looked like a refugee camp. Further down the trail we finally lost sight of the sun and pulled out the ol headlamp.

Reaching licklog gap, it was burnt match black outside, looking ahead to the smokies , I had forgot to put a fresh battery in my headlamp as did Byers….we hiked till our lights petered out, then whipped out the smart phones. (How did we ever live life without these rigs?) So the last two miles, trail vision was courtesy of HTC!....an hour and a half later I was wrist deep in a triple cheeseburger, hash browns all the way and a golden pecan waffle!!!

 It was a good hike….rite at 20 miles when it was all said and done. It felt great to do some decent miles, but I have to admit I missed a few things I would have liked to see, or spent more time looking at the things I did see. Next time I’ll have my mind rite…no more trap games….so, the adventure to find balance between accomplishments and enjoyment rages on.

 Whether you’re hitting the trail with your feet, a golf ball with a club, or that big gobbler with some #4 shot, I hope you find your balance! Accomplish big things…but,” stop and smell the roses” along the way.

-saw em

Trip Report: Grab your Saw Briars boys there's a mouse on the loose

 Deep Gap (via Kimsey Creek Trail) to Rock Gap

 February has come and almost gone, it was time for our monthly section hike. Our past few hikes the weather has been outstanding but on this weekend it looked as if it was gonna be wet and cold. Hiking trips don't come around  often enough so it was gonna take way more than that to keep us down. Forecast was for rain Sat and clearing and cold on Sun...challenge accepted! Seein how the gate was closed on Deep Gap we decided to take the Kimsey Creek Trail down to Deep Gap, this was only gonna add about four miles to our hike and it allowed us to park only a mile from Rock Gap. Grand total for this overnighter is around 25 miles.

McD's in Hayesville would provide our pre-trip nourishment (if you could call it that) on a cold and rainy Sat morning, we lit out of there and headed up to Standing Indian. Our hike would start just a mile down the road so we hopped in the back of Dustin's truck and off we went.

I'm not gonna lie to ya...the Kimsey Creel Trail was pretty sloppy, there were points where the creek spilled out into the trail and we were walking in water several inches deep, thankfully the Keen Targhee II's I wore stayed pretty dang dry. I cant say if this trail is like this all the time cause there had been alot of rain prior to today. Despite the fog and drizzle it was still very scenic. I can see why folks enjoy day hiking this trail, seems like it would be easily passable on a dry day.

Here we are at one of the super slick foot bridges, Dustin, Jason and Brent (in cowboy boots and jeans)

There were still a few patches of snow and some ice from the week before on the trail.

Dustin, Me, and Brent

After arriving at the A.T in Deep Gap we hammered down a quick snack attack and checked our gear to see how damp it was from the steady drizzle. The Golite Jam Pack I was toting shed the water pretty good, I also had a SitLight Pad inside the top for structure and it helped keep the innards of my pack dry. From here we shoved off, up the A.T for the summit of Standing Indian. Ascending Standing Indian was about  1150 feet  in a stretch of about 2.5 miles. Guess its worth noting that all my elevation a mileage comes from The A.T. Guide Book its been pretty much spot on.

Within a half mile we crossed yet another foot bridge (The Depot must've had a wicked sale on lumber back in the day) and a sign declaring this the Southern Nantahala Wilderness.

This climb was not to difficult, we seemed to be making better time, the A.T. was much dryer than the four miles we spent dredging thru the mud to get to Deep Gap. Having Carter Gap shelter on the mind we blew right by the first  shelter, and to the summit of Standing Indian. It was less than impressive due to the fog, I could barely see the end of my hat bill. We downed some water Brent fixed his sock where his cowboy boots rubbed a hole in it...(kinda saw that coming)...and we were off again.

Photo courtesy of Al Gore's Internet

With a mild descent, we meandered in the fog for a few miles before arriving at Beech Gap.

Passed loads of these signs, but never ran across what they spoke of. Seems to me I never see a bear in the woods, but always see em when theres a fresh bag of trash to be had in the back of my truck at the house. Guess like us and McDonald's they're lookin for an easy meal too.

Stopped on a small rocky bald to answer  natures call and saw this little marker tucked in the edge of the woods, it had a name and date on it but I cant recall either. +Jason Byers asked me if I would one day carry his ashes to the top of a mountain, I declined sayin I would prob just dump him in the toilet, pee and flush. We all had a good chuckle. We're pretty hard on each other but its all in good fun!

Where were we...ah yes, Beech Gap. This area had some nice tent spots and a decent water source.

Just before arriving at the shelter we passed Timber Ridge Trail to the west. It looked like one of the resident bears had been snacking on the Trial marker.

                                    

We pulled up to the shelter around 4ish. I was thirsty, Brent looked hungry, Dustin looked cold and Jason’s beard looked like it had grown an inch. Lo and behold there sat Ethan from Hickory. He looked happy to have a little company, but at the same time a little apprehensive that said company was a group of above average size Hillbillies. Everyone introduced themselves and we got to the business of pitchin camp and fixin supper. Carter Gap shelter turned out to be a fantastic place to hammock, it was a good thing since all of us were hanging.

Warbonnet Superfly and a MacCats standard

Wondering through the mountains seems like hard work and there's a certain feeling of reward you get from it, but time at camp sometimes is what I enjoy most.

Jason Byers and Ethan from Hickory

Directly after supper we broke out the saw briar's (you’re welcome Ethan) we shared old stories and laughed…the more we laughed the later it got, and the later it got the colder it grew.  Amidst all the cacklings and goings on a mouse started darting around, we grabbed our saw briar's and jumped up like a bunch of girls (I say we for the fact that I’m saving face)…I hate mice! I’d rather wrestle a bear having a choice. We chased him around with the lights from our headlamps, given half a chance I would a stomped his head flat. After that fiasco we thought he had vanished, just then a little head popped out between Ethan’s legs and he declared “think I'm gonna go set up my tent”…and I didn’t blame him. We discussed what the temperature (the mid 20's) was for a while wondering if we would freeze to death that night, we kept assuring each other with a resounding YOU”LL BE FIIIINNEEEEEE! 

Byers belly up to a saw briar and Dustins pure amazement at the feat

Finally we retired and spent the next 30 min tossing around looking for just the right spot in our hammocks, movement works well to warm your insulation. After a couple of more YOU"LL BE FIIIIINES everyone was off to sleep. I slept in a merino wool base layer and a Stoic Down Sweater with a lambs wool hat.I  stayed pretty warm despite my over and underquilts only being rated for around 40 degrees. I did wear glove liners and there was a time or two I wished I had some down socks. The wind howled all night and my Superfly kept it knocked off me pretty well.

Waking up the next morning was cold...I'm talkin blue cold! It was nice to see clear skies and the sun rising over the mountains. First thing on the agenda was hot coffee! Ethan scarfed down a pop tart and was off in a flash. The rest of our bunched rolled out of bed and we all cooked hot oatmeal. never in a big hurry we attempted to build a fire from wet wood to no avail, so with frozen fingers we broke camp and headed toward Albert Mountain.

a futile attempt to burn wet wood

The next 4 miles or so were ridiculously easy, and with cool clear skies we were rewarded with some nice views.

Brent Jason and Dustin

On this easy going section we descended around 600ft. into Betty Creek Gap, here we grabbed a quick snack, filled up our bottles and talked more about how we looked forward to the D.I.F climb up Albert!!

                                  

From Betty Creek Gap we slowly climbed a few miles into Mooney Gap crossing USFS road 83, we were north bound and down and looking forward to some good views.

This part of the trail had some great views and ran inches away from some sheer cliffs with vertical drops that looked like they were hundreds of feet.

Trail running on the edge of cliffs

After the trail flattened out for a bit we arrived in Bearpen Gap, here we could finally get a look at the climb that was ahead of us. With a close look you could see the fire tower on top of Albert Mtn.



Fire Tower on Albert Mtn

Finally!!..what we had looked forward to all day...the climb up Albert! It looked as tho this would be more of a rock scramble than a hiking trail, and that proved to be true. Here a man can stand flat footed, bend at the waist and bite the ground in front of him. The trail would take us a little over 400ft in just a few tenths of a mile...AWESOME!!

Jason Byers approaches the D.I.F climb

the trail turned into a rock scramble

We arrived on top of Albert to this amazing view!...after all the hoopla, we were so tired from the climb we couldn't remember the name of this very mtn we had just climbed...after  nearly hyperventilating from being out of breath and laughing so hard at the fact we forgot the name, I managed to get a video that you will enjoy at my expense.

Otto N.C from Albert Mountain

                                                    .............and then there was this............

Hiking down from Albert was slow and easy, it was a welcome change after the climb.About a mile down the trail we passed the old Big Spring shelter and this sign, reminding us of where we have been and showing us where were going.

Nearing the New Long Branch shelter we stopped to fill up at the creek. We hiked the short trail down to the shelter to rest our weary feet and have a quick snack. This shelter is really nice and really big. A hearty thank you and a  job well done is deserved to those that put in the hard work and time to make this shelter happen.

Only 4 miles to go and our minds were drifting to the thought of fajitas at good ol El Cancun in Hiawassee so we put it in high gear past Glassmine Gap and the Long Branch trail intersection.

on the home stretch we stopped in to checkout Rock Gap shelter, It looked to have a little age on it. Trail magic!! Someone left a note and 4 Mountain Dews, Byers and I partook in the destruction of two of them. It was the best Mtn Dew I had tasted in years!!

Finishing up this sign marked the end of this section for us, but also the beginning of the next section.

Looking back on the weekend I was thankful for the break in the weather sat and the magnificent views but also for good friends and the ability to get out and enjoy all things great and small. I encourage you to get out....nor rain ....nor sleet ...nor snow, and enjoy whatever it is you enjoy!

-saw em