[at-l] N. Georgia Hike - October 21 (really)

October 21
It turned out that the spot I pitched my Sil Shelter was not nearly as level as I had thought it
was. I was pitched near the edge of the bone dry stream that in good times is the water source for
Bly Gap. I had not known I was setup near that stream bed.   The problem with the site was that it
sloped towards the edge of the miniscule bluff. I could not prevent myself from rolling towards the
left until I put my pack on the left side of the shelter to act as a body break.   The sleeping was
not perfect, but it was adequate and even though I had several periods of time where I thought I was
tossing and turning for a long time I woke up feeling pretty good at my usual pre-dawn time. 

The night had never gotten very cold and I was, in fact, too warm in my liner and bag even when I
had the sleeping bag in quilt form. It wasn't so much that I was hot but that I could not spread out
as much as I wanted to disapate heat.

We could see the moon setting over our campsite which meant the hanging fog that we went to bed with
had thinned out quite a bit. The air was still very damp, my Sil Shelter had quite a lot of dew on
it, but it was nowhere near as damp as it had been. We could even see a little sunrise color in the
eastern sky and it seemed like we would have a good day of weather to hike in.

We broke camp and were on the trail around 08:40. The people on the other side of the hill did not
want our extra water which struck me as odd since they were essentially out the night before. Go
figure.

North Carolina greeted us with a steep climb.   As I crested the knob I startled, and was startled
by, what I think was a grouse.    I think the wing beating sounds I had heard before were grouse
too. Of ocurse, since I never saw the bird I could be completely wrong.

The trail continued to ascend with some nice level areas and as I moved quickly through the
Nantahalas Wilderness Area the sun rose and began the burn the fog that was hanging between the
mountains away. I never did find the blue-blazed trail, 1.1 miles from Bly Gap, that was supposed to
lead to a nice view but that is the way things go. I enjoyed my hiking towards  Muskrat Shelter and
made pretty good time. The ascents were not that bad and the descents were tolerable. I got to the
shelter in a little less than two hours and John and Ron arrived only a few minutes ater I did.

The shelter is alright though not nearly as nice as shelters like Plum Orchard. One thing that
struck us all as a bit peculiar was the use of a plywood and tin roof combination over the sleeping
area, but just tin over the covered picnic table in front of the sleeping area. 

We stayed there about an hour for a break and to filter water and then we struck out again towards
Deep Gap.  The hiking up to Whiteoak Gap was gloriously easy. The trail was wide, had good footing,
and was generally level. The views of surrounding mountains were also nice and the fog had finally
burned off exposing the valleys to our view.  In this part of the Nantahalas we were travelling at
over 4,000 feet above sea level and that certainly showed in how much foliage was on the trees
versus the ground. Above 4,000 feet most of the leafy tress had shed their loads and the trail was
swathed in a fairly deep coat of leaves. The only plants that still seemed to be green, besides the
infrequent pine, were rhododendrons. We walked through some sections that must look spectacular in
Apil and May when the plants are in bloom.

During much of this hike we were all noticing the same sweet smell I wrote about before. It actually
seemed a bit more sickly sweet and I think it is a by-product of leaves fermenting so it really is a
sweet smell of decay.  We also smelled a fire as we approached the Chunky Gal side trail, but we
never saw it.

At Whiteoak Gap (Stamp?) the trail began to ascend up a rocky pathway around a knob whose name I do
not at this time recall (Yellow Mtn.?).  The trail kept rising and rising and the rocks kept
interfering with my progress. In fact, it was bad enough that Ron and John were generlaly right
behind me much of the way. It was definitely hard work making the climb. The descent around the
other side was also no cake walk. The trail had its share of rocks and some incredible switchbacks
that were short and steep. The hike over this knob took about 80 minutes but it felt longer. It was
certainly less enjoyable than the hike up to Whiteoak Gap had been even though I did see some nice
views and managed to startle another grouse.

We arrived at Deep Gap just after 14:00 and had a relaxing lunch break there. Then we had to climb
up the 0.9 or so miles to the shelter. Right where I thought the 0.9 mile mark was a side trail
exists that leads to where a shelter used to be. You can see where it must have been, but it is no
longer there. Standing Indian Shelter is perhaps an eighth of a mile further up the trail. I think
we arrived about 15:30 and found the shelter hosting almost a dozen people. John, Ron, and I are the
only ones using the shelter though. The majority of the peole here are part of the Florida Trail
Association and are here for a trip of a few days. They were really interested in some of our
lightweight gear and at least one of them was a backpackinglight member. I set up my SIl Shelter for
people to see just before a brief sun shower took place. Clouds had been moving in as the afternoon
wore on, but the shower was even lighter than the one we had at Addis Gap.

I think the day went quite well. The temperature rose into the upper 60s I think. It may have broke
70 but I am not sure. The hiking was fun even when tough and this has been a good last day of our
trip. Tomorrow we'll hike back to Deep Gap and then out on either the woods road or the Kimsey Creek
Trial to Standing Indian Campground.

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