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[at-l] Postcards from Ron, Linda & Brandon Moak, June 27 - 30

June 27 - Friday

Today is our day off.  We'd doubled up on some mileage to have the extra day, 
so don't feel guilty.  Got up about 7:00 and wandered down to River's End for 
breakfast.  Ran into Beetle, our bunkmate from last night.  He'd started from 
Springer the day after we did and was planning on leaving today for Fontana, 
but decided to call it quits here and head home to Athens, GA, to finish his 
dissertation.

There were canoe races going on this weekend, so after breakfast we walked up 
to the slalom course and watched the races.  We were surprised to see a lot of 
women and middle aged or older men competing.  Boy, it takes a lot of upper 
body strength to maneuver back and forth through the gates, especially the 
upstream ones.  I know we won't be trying anything remotely close to that 
degree of difficulty on our trip this afternoon.

Our Eagle's Nest Camp friends came in this morning and were excited to get to 
eat in the restaurant.  They were even more excited when the got the word they 
were going on a river trip and spending the night.  We've been leapfrogging 
them all week and their leader, Will, told us he'd had it planned all along.

Our Nantahala River trip turned out to be great fun.  I'd been a bit 
apprehensive because I'm basically a whitewater weenie.  I was momentarily 
ticked at Ronald when he volunteered us to be in the one boat that didn't have 
a guide.  I had visions of us going down the river sideways or backwards, and 
being flipped out of the boat.  As it turned out, we probably had more fun 
than the guided boats because we go to experiment more.  I'll have to admit 
I'd do it again in a minute, and might even take on some more challenging 
water.  Look out, Meryl Streep in "The River Wild."  (Ha!)  Brandon was ready 
to quit hiking altogether and just spend the rest of the summer running rivers 
from the N.O.C.

Had another good dinner, then spent the evening organizing gear.  Even got in 
a little "trail magic," later in the evening.  Went down to the community 
building to give the Eagle's Nesters and extra bag of gorp (We're sending 
ourselves way too much) and they wanted us to join them in a Ben and Jerry's 
pig-out.  A couple of men had brought them an assortment of pints, so we were 
delighted to help the test them all.  Chunky Monkey and Cherry Garcia rule!
					Red Rainbow (Linda)


June 28 - Saturday  		Daily mileage 8.1	Total 142.2

The morning finally came and we could not postpone the inevitable any longer.  
The 3500' climb from the NOC lay before us.  After a last breakfast at the 
River's End, we hoisted our packs and headed up the mountain.

The climb went much better than expected as we were quite surprised to reach 
Sassafras Gap and see the sign to the shelter at 11:30.

We decided on a longer lunch before setting out to complete the climb to 
Cheoah Bald.  With lunch over and most of our miles complete we wanted to 
spend some time on the bald to enjoy the view.  We've been denied a number of 
good views of late due to weather conditions.  Once again, when we arrived at 
the summit our views were obscured by storms; plus, we could hear thunder in 
the distance.

About 15 minutes was all we could linger there before the threat of rain and 
storms pushed us down the mountain.  The storms were moving in fast and we had 
barely left the summit before I felt it was time to look for cover.  

At the first flat space we tossed up the tarp, threw in the equipment and 
ourselves, moments before the rain hit.  A few minutes later a bright light 
filled the tent, followed by the instant retort of thunder.  Brandon bolted up 
with a look of terror in his eyes.  I tried my best to look calm, yet 
wondering if our final hour had come.  There was nothing we could do now but 
wait.

By the time the second storm struck it was clear that no further hiking would 
be done today.  Out came the sleeping bags and we hunkered down in the 
protection of our thin walls against the fury of nature outside.
					Fallingwater (Ron)


June 29 - Sunday		Daily mileage 14	Total 156.2

Woke up from our mini-hibernation to thick fog, but no rain.  Didn't have much 
water, so headed down the couple of miles we would have walked yesterday to 
Locust Cove Gap, and fixed oatmeal and filled up the water bottles.  Some 
hiker had tacked up a note on the sign saying, "Welcome to Pooh Corner."  A 
quick look around at all the horse manure in the area, and we understood the 
note.

Somewhere on the next ridge, before Stecoah Gap, I took my first spill on some 
slippery rocks and really tweaked my foot.  It had to happen, because only 
moments earlier Brandon slipped and I had pointed out that I was the only one 
who hadn't fallen at all yet.  Should have known better.

Had lunch at Brown Fork Gap Shelter after 8 miles, and by then my foot was 
really hurting.  Still had 6 miles to go to Cable Gap Shelter.  I knew I had 
to make it because the weather was too uncertain.  Took some Aleve, laced up 
my boot very tight, Ronald graciously offered to carry my food bag, and we 
went for it.  I was limping pretty badly for an hour or so, but by later in 
the afternoon the trail was much better graded, and I was walking almost 
normally.  Made it to Cable Gap Shelter by about 4:15.  It's an older shelter, 
but it's in good shape, and in a pretty setting with the stream right in front 
to lull us to sleep.  The sun finally came out late in the afternoon and 
filtered gently through the trees.  Doesn't look like rain tonight after all.  

					Red Rainbow (Linda)


June 30 - Monday		Daily mileage 6.9	Total 163.1

After a dazzling display of the firefly dance in the dark of  the night, 
morning came all too soon.  This morning we were in no rush as only 7 miles 
separated us from Fontana Dam.

The uncertainty of the terrain and Linda's foot made me a bit apprehensive as 
we started out this morning.  Within half a mile Linda pronounced that her 
foot was back to normal.  One worry down and one to go.

As we progressed, it became clearer that the trail would also be in good 
condition.  We made excellent time coming down the mountain and arrived at 
Fontana Dam around 11:30.  That was after taking a break for awhile at the 
Fontana Hilton Shelter.

Tonight we are staying with excellent company, Jeff and Nancy Hoch, owners of 
the Fontana Motel.
					Fallingwater (Ron)
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