Day 15
Begining point: Wine Spring
Ending point: Wesser Bald
Daily Mileage: 12.6 miles
Total Mileage: 127.6 miles
Weather: Cool in the morning but warm in the afternoon with blue skies and light breeze (it was a 1, Pat!)
Right now, I'm standing on the observation deck at Wesser Bald with Stephan, Dan, Pat and Chris and it one of the coolest things I've seen on the trip. The panoramic views are incredible and completely justify all the huffing and puffing I did today. Yesterday I ran up the mountains, today my buns of bagel dough (not yet buns of steel) were letting me know that they weren't happy with me.
We ran into the Super Troopers again today at Wayah Bald - there were great views there as well. William Bartram described that area as being "mountains piled upon mountains" or something to that effect. I took some photos and hopefully they render a good depiction of the area.
I've noticed that I'm getting much stronger. I can climb hills and only have to stop when the climb lasts more than 20 minutes or it gets *really* steep. You know you are doing well when you can pass people on an uphill climb. Makes you feel good!
Dan, Stephan and I stopped for second lunch at Cold Spring Shelter. While debating whether or not to continue on a few miles down the trail, a hiker and his saddlebagged canine companion walked down the trail and stopped for some water. He looked a little odd because he was wearing a ball cap that read 'Peace Knows' and a red clown nose. I thought, uh oh, this guy has an agenda; don't ask about the nose. Stephan on the other hand was curious and inquired. First came the 40 plus photos of various people wearing the nose, then came the anti-war rally talk, then came the web site plugs. He said he was the sad-faced clown guy who waves the 'war no more' flag at protests. His dog was awfully cute.
We were all pretty sore from the previous days hike and thought we would just move a few miles down the trail near the next spring; however when we arrived we found some folks had already set up camp and there weren't really any good sites left (and it seemed their tents had a good slant to them). So we filled up with water - which weighs about 2 lbs per liter - and moved on. Earlier in the day we ran into Pat and Chris who mentioned that they were headed to Wesser Bald for the night. We thought we would camp at the first level ground we could find, but as luck would have it, the only level spot we found was about 15 minutes from the bald so we decided we could hike a little further. I'm really glad we pushed on, despite my aches and pains. Tomorrow we are stopping at the Nantahala Outdoor Center to do some final gear shopping. Dan needs trekking poles, Stephan wants to ditch his 0-degree bag in favor of a 30-degree bag - or he might wit until after the smokies which are coming up. I think we'll be in Fontana in 3 or 4 days, then comes the Smokies.
That's it for today!
Butterfinger