[at-l] N. Georgia Hike - October 21

October 20
It's 19:48 and I am sitting, a little hunched, under my SIl Shelter at Bly Gap.   It has been a good
day and it had a chance not to be at least for John.  Early in the morning John's system decided he
had had too much pizza and it rebelled.  By the time breakfast came around he was feeling much
better even though I don't think he actually ate much.  Dee and Karen appeared at breakfast just
after 08:00. I had actually been there for some time and John and Ron had only just arrived
themselves. We were mildly chastized for not knocking on their door to let them know we were up and
at 'em. But, that was soon forgotten as we shared a nice morning meal.  I had predicted we would get
to the trail by 10:00. I ended up being correct, but my guess for when we would leave the hotel was
wrong. We left a lot later than I thought we would and got to the trailhead much quicker than I
thought we would. I'm sure the ride in seemed much longer than it really was considering where I was
sitting. It was certaily nice sitting inside Dee's car on the way back. We said goodbye to Karen in
the parking lot, she'll do some work and then head home thus avoiding another horrible day of
Atlanta traffic, and Dee drove us to the trailhead.  We said our farewlls to her and she headed back
to Spartenburg, NC where she had an appointment with a plasma vampire I suppose. The ladies left us
in high spirits and ready to tackle the trail.

They left us on an overcast morning with temperatures that were hovering around 60 degrees and
humidity at a trip all time high. The air was heavy with moisture, but none of us thought it was
going to rain.

We set out upon the trail heading towards Plum Orchard Shelter some 4.5 miles (includes the 0.2 mile
side trail) away.  We were making good time and I caught John and Ron in full hiking splendor coming
up a hill about a mile up from the trailhead.  As we passed a dry water source I noticed a smell I
had sensed before. It was fragrant and sweet. I think I first smelled it around Tray Mtn. It was
alternating with the pungent stench of Galax then and I assumed some flower with a pleassanter smell
was blooming too.  But, this time I saw nothing blooming. I saw countless leaves on the ground, but
no flowers. Throughout the day i detected the smell off and on and I still do not know what it is.
Maybe some type of leaf decay releases a sweet, for a moment it made me think of honeysuckle, smell
but that seems unlikely.  I suppose the mystery of the smell will just have to remain unsolved.

Another mystery re-emerged today too. At about the same place, call it a mile and a bit north of the
trailhead, that I smelled the odd odor I also heard the low frequency whop-whop that we all had
heard at Hawk Mtn. Shelter several days before. Back then Ryan suggested it was a bird beating its
wings. Maybe he was right then and is still right now. They seemd to sound the same. Maybe if Dee,
who is a birder, had been there she could have told me what bird it was. Maybe Iıll never know.            

That was probably the most interesting sound I heard all day. The forest seemed very quiet today. I
heard a few birds, the crow at the trailhead being the loudest though it sounded a bit odd somehow;
virtually nothing buzzed by me; and the infrequent sound of small and once a not-so-small mammals.
The one not-so-small mammal was a deer and I only know that because John said he saw it vanish into
the forest. Maybe things get quieter on overcast, really more like a constant high fog, days. Of
course, fall is in full force up here over 3,000 feet. It is now no longer simple spot color. The
trees are releasing their leaves with every breath of air. You now see spot colors of green. This is
a marked changed from what the foliage is doing below even the 2,500 foot level to say nothing of
Hiawassee's 1,900 feet of elevation. 

I arrived at Plum Orchard Shelter in about two and a third hours. Of course that includes some time
for breaks so I am really happy with my overall pace. I must be getting stronger. I don't think I
ever hiked this quickly this often in  Virginia except in areas such as Salt Log Gap through Cold
Moutain or between Catawba and Daleville (and a bit beyond). This shelter is lovely. It has two
lofts at different hights though I'm not willing to call the shelter a multi-story affair like
Bryant Ridge. It, like its neighbor to the south (and maybe many others) is a post and beam
structure and it seems to be held together with pegs. I don't think nails were used anywhere. It
even smells new although it is actually around 8 years old. A lot of hard work went into this
shelter and I hope it can be kept up over the decades. 

John and Ron arrived perhaps 20 minutes after I did. We decided to have our hot meals there. Hot
meals are, after all, water intensive and we  were sure water would be in scarce supply. We knew
that everything was dry between the shelter and Bly Gap (inclusive). The shelter's water, from a
piped spring with a very fast flow, was the best we  have seen this entire trip.  Having our high
water usage meals at the shelter simply made sense. We stayed there for two hours leaving at about
14:20 to 14:25. 

While we were at the shelter it felt as though the temperature had dropped. It probably had not done
so but the moisture in the air made it feel cooler than it was. We all left wearing an extra layer
of clothing. I think I had hiked 10 minutes, catching up with John and Ron on As Knob which is the
first of many knobs north of the shelter, before I said enough is enough and removed my Paramo
Mountain Shirt as they were pulling off their top layers. We continued in t-shirts from that point
on. The hiking seemed to be mostly uphill. I soon passed Ron and caught up with John on a descent.
It was here where he saw the deer. He paused for a break while I plodded on. I don't like to stop
just to rest (with no good view) when feeling good and the opportunities for interesting pictures
were not really presenting themselves. I just kept going. The trail rose and fell until it reached
Blue Ridge Gap where I met the second (or third) set of people I'd seen backpaking south that day. I
let them know what the water situation was like south and they told me what they knew of it to the
north. It wasn't good, but it could have been much worse. At least there was water at Muskrat
Shelter when they were there mere hours ago. Hearing that I wished that we were ending at Muskrat
instead of Bly Gap. That way I could dump the 3 or so extra liters I was humping up and down the
mountains with me.

John and Ron caught up moments after I spoke with the couple, including a good looking lady, at Blue
Ridge Gap. We were about to enter the Nantahalas Wilderness Area and the trail had a treat in store
for us. It rose, and fell a bit, then rose more, and fell a bit, and rose more. It seemed to always
be rising as it worked its way through Rich Cove Gap and Rocky Knob.  on our way up to Bly Gap which
has an elevation almost the same as Springer Mtn at 3,840 feet. It turned out that I was actually
making superb time even though it seemed like I was going slower on this half of the esection than I
had the first half. I covered th 4.5 miles to the NC/GA wooden border sign in just about two hours!
John and Ron were not far behind. And Bly Gap was a mere 0.2 miles away. 

We made camp in a small hollow just below the gap around 16:50. I hope this is a dry night otherwise
we're going to keep a lot of rain running off the hill to our north in our sleeping bags. Maybe we
should have continued to Muskrat Shelter, but we are making  our stand here.

Getting here so early seems odd, but we found plenty to do in setting up our camp and talking a
little with the group of two fathers and their kids (all related I think) a bit. We gave them some
of our extra water since they had run out. I suppose they did not know how dry things were around
here. I got some pictures of the old gnarled tree that is really where the NC/GA border is supposed
to be, as far as hikers are concernedd anyway, and the day is ending well. It is also ending moist.
The high foggy cloud has descended some and we are certainly in for a damp, though I still don't
think it will rain, night. The temperature has dropped to the 50s as I type this at 20:40 but I
think I will be more than warm enough. Tomorrow we'll go to either Deep Gap or Standing Indean
Shelter. The latter is a 0.9 mile overshoot of the side trail we'll take to get to the car, but we
may just rather use the shelter and hike the extra 0.9 miles. I suppose the weather will decide. Iım
going to bed down now. I'll listen to the leaves fall as the wind blows and hope for a dry night.

İcopyright 2000, Kenneth Knight
**  Kenneth Knight    Web Design, IT Consultant, Software Engineer  **
**       krk@speakeasy.org        http://www.speakeasy.org/~krk     **
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