Neel's Gap to NOC

3/5

I made it 18 miles today, most of the snow melting except what stays in Winter shadow.  At the end of the day, I found myself at the Blue Mountain Shelter.  The shelter itself was full, but there was plenty of space on the hills surrounding.  I set up per usual (getting better at it) and ate, then joined the other hikers at the campfire.

It turns out that the guy I met on Springer Mountain was there (trail name "Blaze") and so was Chris from the night before.  The B.S. got deeper through the night until we all split up to go to bed.

I was up early, packed, and headed out.  Not liking the trouble it takes to cook breakfast; adds 40 minutes to my time from wakeup to movement.

3/6

More straight miles today in good weather.  It's cool, but not overly cold, and I kept focused on my feet and knee.  The knee is doing much better, recovering from Blood Mountain.  Stony terrain is hard on the feet, though, and the big blister on my left heel continues to threaten.  Overall, though, doing well.

3/7

I got running late today, and towards the end did some scrambling to catch up.  I've learned that finding a forest service road doesn't mean you've found the one indicated on the map.  Unless something is specifically spelled out with a sign, don't assume what it is.

Some scrambling over boulder gardens got me caught up, but I was going so fast that I missed the turn for the shelter.  I found myself in a gap with a road and a small abandoned campground.  The sign said "Deep Gap."  It was getting dark, so I grabbed water from the nearby stream and hastily set up camp, ate a bite where I was hanging the food bag, and crashed hard.

Very tired.

3/8

Really fast movement today on almost level ground.  The trees are all bare, so you can see the trail across the valley, then pass that point a few minutes later.  I was averaging over 3mph for a while.

Late in the afternoon, I started to smell smoke.  As I rounded a bend, I saw a brush fire across the valley.  The thought "holy crap, what do I do?" entered my mind.  In minutes, though, two helicopters dropped buckets of liquid on the fire and it went out.  The valley remained hazy with smoke.

I arrived at the Rock Gap Shelter and decided to stay.  I hadn't actually stayed in a shelter before, and it looked warm.  Two of us staked spots, but others kept pouring in.  Eventually, there were about a dozen people there, all milling about cooking dinner and looking for level ground to sleep on.  Five military guys took over the shelter, leaving me with the end berth.  And just to be clear, a "shelter" is three walls, a roof, and a flat wooden floor.  Each person gets a 24-inch slat of floor, no beds or other fancy amenities.

After dinner, we all crashed, 9:00 being "Hiker Midnight."  But it didn't take me long to get overheated.  Instead of trying to reconfigure my sleep system in tight quarters, I pulled the whole thing out and dragged it down to the picnic table, slept on a slight incline on rocks.  Much better than overheating.

In the morning, someone pointed out that there was a path into the shelter and a separate path out.  Each connected to the AT.  But people who enter one side and exit the other are said to be "blue blazing," or short-cutting the AT.  So I left from the side I entered from.

3/9

Long day of hiking.  I stayed on Rocky Bald since this put me within a few hours of the Nantahala Outdoor Center, my first big target.  It was a 21.5 mile day positioning myself for a hamburger lunch the following day.  I stood on the Bald, and with the last 8% of battery power in my cell phone made a reservation for a bunk at NOC.

3/10

Nantahala Outdoor Center.  Civilization.  I checked in at 11:00, showered, and headed directly for the restaurant for a hamburger.  Mmmmmm... delicious.  Lots of soaking sore and tired feet in the cold waters of the Nantahala River, and lots of lounging, eating, resting, and more lounging.

I really needed the break.

(Note:  The post First Milestone was written when I actually arrived at NOC.)

Spartan quarters in the NOC bunkhouse

3/11

Zero day.  Zero miles.  None.  My feet thank me for the break.

Food shopping, purchase of a larger tarp (10 x 10 to replace my 8 x 5), and laundry.

Eating.  Did I mention eating?  "Class V" breakfast (everything the kitchen makes for breakfast), Sherpa lunch (almost everything over rice) and numerous snacks.

Nantahala River in the background

Hung out with Blaze (from Springer Mountain on Day 1), Handles, Sleeping Bag, Lassie and Stuck.

No, I don't have a "trail name" yet.