[at-l] 12/28/02 Big Spring Gap, NC

[spurhiker@pocketmail.com (spurhiker@pocketmail.com)]

We started out last night pretty toasty in our tent, falling asleep quickly=
. Around midnight a rustling sound penetrated my dream. Soon I realized a m=
ouse had made it inside our tent.

The zipper is a bit faulty on our tent door and a 3" gap was left open when=
 we settled in last night. Though we had no food in the tent a furry little=
 critter moved in with us while we slept. I sat up and chased him around th=
e tent a bit and he disappeared. I optimistically assumed he had exited the=
 way he entered, so we returned to sleeping.

Before long however I heard his scampering again. This time I unzipped the =
entire length of the tent door and chased him some more, one of my sandals =
in hand to shoo him out. Again he disappeared but this time I was more wary=
. I emptied out both packs, dug under the sleeping pad and sifted through w=
hatever else he might be hiding under. Finding no mouse, I zipped the tent =
up tightly and we resumed our quest for rest.

We saw nor heard no more of the mouse the rest of the night, but by then th=
e inside of the tent seemed much colder than before the big mouse hunt. Kee=
ping the door open let a lot of cold air inside, and by then it had also be=
come colder outside than when we first went to bed.

We sleep, but not as comfortably as we'd like. It's definitely chilly out i=
n the woods tonight, perhaps as low as 15 degrees. Along about 8 AM we awak=
en but we're pretty slow getting up. It's 9:20 before we're hiking. By now =
the temp is just below freezing and it gradually warms up to about 35.

We generate our own heat on the 2-mile ascent of Standing Indian Mtn. It's =
not a bad climb, comfortably graded like much of the PCT. Soon though we're=
 stripping off fleece as we finally warm up.

At the trail's high point we bypass the sidetrail to the summit as we're fe=
eling some pressure to make up some miles today after our short outing yest=
erday. The terrain trends downhill from here but Ready is keeping her strid=
es short because of ice and snow on the trail.

Still we make good time, stopping around 12:45 PM for lunch in the sun at C=
arter Gap Shelter. We've seen 3 other hikers today: Bobby, Adam and Kim who=
 are up from Atlanta on a dayhike loop. In the shelter we read entries in t=
he trail register from this year's southbound thruhikers, some of whom fini=
shed this month.

Around 1:30 we're back out walking among the frozen rhododendrons which lin=
e both sides of the trail. We descend through Betty's Creek Gap and Mooney =
Gap, then traverse around Big Butt Mtn along slick icy trail, being careful=
 to avoid slipping at the treacherous spots. Huge spring-fed icicles line t=
he trail in several places.

I pull ahead on the ascent of Albert Mtn, a short but steep pull which give=
s northbounders a small taste of rock scrambling. Steep as it is, I'm deter=
mined this time to make it all the way to the top and climb the firetower w=
ithout pausing to rest along the way. Maintaining a slow, steady pace I suc=
ceed, but am breathing pretty hard as I gaze out over the Franklin valley t=
o the SE and the Smokies to the north.

Ready catches up and we descend a half mile to Big Spring Shelter, arriving=
 about 5 PM. With the day's light beginning to fade it's a good time and pl=
ace to stop for the evening.

I'm distressed to now hear from Ready that she's considering driving the ca=
r home from Rock Gap tomorrow morning because she's not liking being out in=
 the cold. We fix dinner at the table in the shelter, and by the time we're=
 through I'm reconciled to finishing the hike alone, though I hope she'll s=
tick it out the final 32 miles.

We have the tent pitched in one corner of the shelter, well out of the wind=
, so hopefully we'll both sleep warmer tonight.

With the 15 miles we walked today, we're about 5 miles from Rock Gap, 37 mi=
les from Wesser and the Nantahala River, on track to get there by noon Tues=
day and make it to Springer Mtn in time for the New Year's Eve celebration =
there. We're looking forward to seeing a lot of crazy hiker trash up on top=
 of Springer Tuesday night.

- Spur
http://www.spursjournal.com

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