[at-l] Sam's Gap -> Damascus 11/17 Day 3

[thornel at attglobal.net (W F Thorneloe)]

11/17 Wednesday night, between Unaka Mountain and Low Gap. Pedometer 39,112 
steps, about 15.5 miles with a few 2 mph segments.

Bob Peoples shuttled me to Nolichucky River about 8:30AM for a pretty early 
start, and to help him get back to building a stables for his horses. We 
had a great time discussing regional ethnicities of Scots-Irish. My legs 
are kicking in a bit more after the 2 day rest. My face and cool without 
the hair, but certainly not cold.

I'm not managing to find water and follow a schedule very well, but it will 
do. I got the tarp hung about 5PM, with dark rushing in quickly. While some 
of the climbs were long, I had little specific need for my trekking poles.

I met a group of seniors day hiking to the Beauty Spot, I believe some of 
the same group I met on Labor Day south of Sam's Gap. They had one 
50-something lady with them, who helped me with some water, before she 
realized she had left her jacket up the trail. I like women who are losing 
their clothes even before they see me. ;-)

While I enjoyed the good view on Beauty Spot, I absolutely love the close 
darkness of the Unaka Mountain firs, spruces, laurels and rhododendron 
thickets. If I hadn't been out of water, I'd have preferred to hang my 
hammock up there.

The hills south of Beauty Spot show a great deal of trail maintenance, but 
also show trees dead and wrecked from the September hurricanes. There was 
lot of recent very neat trail work leading to Unaka, and an excellent piped 
spring on the north side that provided my evening water.

Today, I really had only one problem, and that was self inflicted. I 
checked my cell phone atop Beauty Spot, and found a message from a friend 
in Albany, GA seeking information regarding when I would visit to assist 
them in January. This was "work" related. I was a bit miffed, but very 
satisfied when the Cingular signal suddenly disappeared, never to return!

OrangeBug