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[at-l] TRIP REPORT-Pt.3

TRIP REPORT-PART 3.

FRI. 5/2  ALLEN GAP TO TANYARD GAP (8.9 miles)--Beautiful warm day.
	I called ahead from Asheville to Elmer's inn in Hot Springs to see
if I could get a shuttle to Allen Gap and he said 10am would be OK.  They
charge 50 cents times the round trip miles (more simply put, $1 x O.W.
mi.) so the shuttle was $15.  We stopped at Tanyard Gap to leave my car
there.  The guy who shuttled was from New Zealand, originally from
England, and has been all over, so we had a good chat on the way to Allen
Gap, arriving at 10:45am.  Pretty trail south from A.G., with a spring
just in from the highway, and TRASH CANS up a little way, just over a
gravel road.  Great for folks northbound!   Shortly before Deep Gap, there
was a big blowdown that I couldn't even get through with a daypack.  Had
to go uphill and around.  May have happened recently, because there wasn't
yet a well-trodden path around it.  With a backpack on, I would have been
MOST unhappy.  Passed PAPA-SAN on the trail.  Did NOT find the spring
that's supposed to be just south of Deep Gap.  After what seemed like a
long, tough uphill, got to Spring Mountain Shelter at 2 pm.  and ate lunch
there.  Met some of the same people I had passed on yesterday's hike:
CALVIN, SUNRISE, IVAN and DIRE WOLF.  KETCHUP (AT '96), RED (from Red
Hook, NY), and STREAKER were also there, and some others came by later 
--didn't get those names.  It's a pretty small shelter, and some folks
were already stopped for the day, so many others went on down the trail.
When we were laughing about meeting some of the same people twice, someone
else said, "Oh! Is THIS the candy lady?"--I felt bad because I had run out
of candy bars already.  I left at 3pm.  Shortly before reaching Hurricane
Gap, I found the memorial stone for Dorothy Hansen's (Walasi-Yi @
Neels Gap) father, Rex Pulford.  And just before that one, on the other
side of the trail, is a lovely multi-colored marble (speckled rose-tan,
white, and dark grey) stone with a picture of mountains, pine trees, and a
deer--for Jackelyn Mae Kelly-Morris 1940-1990.  Briefly lost the trail at
Hurricane Gap.  When you're heading south, there's a big tree alongside
the gravel road. The tree has a blaze, so you know you're on the right
track, but the trail leads off the road around BEHIND the tree, so you
don't easily notice it.  Between Hurricane Gap and the side trail to the
Rich Mountain Fire Tower was a long hard climb, especially right after
lunch, and especially with the strong wind that had begun blowing.  It was
so strong that it actually blew my hiking stick sideways.  Just before the
side trail there are two nice campsites and a piped spring.  This was one
of the places I had intended to camp during my section hike.  :-((
Finally, after 6.5 miles of mostly uphill hiking, the downhill began and I
could breathe again and start really enjoying it.  There was a profusion
of white trillium ("Large-Flowered Trillium"?) all along the trail today--
VERY pretty!  The last two miles of this section were much prettier than
the rest.  A couple of small planked stream crossings near the end.  Steep
downhills to Tanyard Gap.  Back to car at 6pm.  Drove back to Hot Springs,
had reservation at the Alpine Court Motel--cleaned up and walked over to
the Hot Springs Cafe for a yummy dinner.  This place gets my vote for the
BEST spot to eat.  The Bridge Street Cafe is fancier and has some kinda
off-beat pizzas, but the H.S.C. is more like home.  Harold Anderson at the
Alpine Court Motel is great and the motel's fine.  But there's a railroad
passing along the east side of town, and trains blow their horns at the
crossing around about 2am folks--so bring your earplugs if you need 'em.
By the way, TUMBLEWEED
    (http://trailplace.com/archives/classof97/journals/06gary/GA.htm)
was at the motel with his parents who had come in from Texas to see him.  
He was enthusiastic about continuing his thruhike, but he had taken a fall
in the Smokies and had hurt one leg.  He had been off the trail for
several days in Hot Springs.  He hoped the leg would be OK by the time 
he got back on the trail.  More on that later.  I'm running out of time
again, so I'll finish this up tomorrow.    --   "Earthworm"

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*                                                                          *
*  Linda L. Patton                  "Nearness to nature...keeps the        *
*  Reference Librarian               spirit sensitive to impressions       *
*  Strozier Library                  not commonly felt, and in touch       *
*  Florida State University          with the unseen powers."              *
*  Tallahassee, FL 32306-2047             --Ohiyesa                        *
*                                           The Soul of the Indian         *
*  Phone: (904) 644-5019                    1911                           *
*  E-Mail: lpatton@mailer.fsu.edu                                          *
*                                                                          *
*                ...the siren call of the wilderness...                    *
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