(Mar. 4 - 7, 2000)
We arrived at Dicks Creek somewhere around 10 pm after a stop at REI (I felt fortunate that I only spent $62) in Atlanta and a quick stop at a closed Mom & Pop gas station for water. It was raining lightly so rather than set up a tent and have to deal with it in the morning, we slept in the back of the truck and the van. Rained most of the night and got really hard around 3 am. We also had to deal with several cars coming through the parking area. One was a cop and I figured we would be told to move on, but he just drove off. A pickup drove in around 7 am and a hiker got out and left up the hill pretty quickly. There was thru hiker waiting for his sister to take him for breakfast and a food run. When we got on trail, he was still sitting there. I felt bad for him.
Saturday, March 4 - We got up and got our gear together and went to set shuttle. I think we eventually got on trail somewhere around 11:00. Much later than I would have liked, but not out of the ordinary, considering. And off we hiked. It turned out to be a beautiful day and I had to peel off the rain pants about 10 minutes into the hike. We stopped for a lunch break around 2 and finally I drug my tired butt into Bly Gap at around 5:30 that evening. Kudos to Rainmaker, the trail was indeed in excellent condition. I would say for the most part better than the rest of the trip in North Carolina (There were way too many trees to cross as far as I was concerned). I put some water on to boil and went about setting up my tent and putting something on that was a little warmer. The temperature was dropping pretty quickly. The first thing to go wrong happened as were preparing to make dinner. Pat had bought a replacement pump for his dragonfly, but unbeknownst to him, the pumps for all the whisperlights are NOT interchangeable. Very poor on MSR's part. So I went from just me to having 3 people cooking on my stove. The good to come out of this was that my fuel went much faster so I didn't have to carry the weight. Actually made spaghetti as it was the heaviest food that I had in my pack. Was stuffed and ready to enjoy the fire and a nice cup of hot tang. Yummy. Must have hit the tent around 9:30. Was pretty much dead tired.
Sunday, March 5 - Woke up around 7:30. Felt really rested and although ready to hike, not ready to climb Sharp Top first thing this morning. Had a few thru hikers swing by and get water from the spring by our campsite this morning. Although I didn't mind Pat and Adam using my stove, it did tend to slow us down in the morning. Had my typical oatmeal, pop-tarts and coffee for breakfast. I think we got out of camp sometime around 10:15. Sharp Top, although steep wasn't the big bad wolf we all thought. Not quite sure where we stopped for lunch, but we did. We had only planned on going to Standing Indian. I was pretty well spent by the time we got to the blue blazed Kimsey Creek Trail. There were plenty of campsites right there, but Pat, Patrick and Adam had already gone up to the top of the Indian. Chad was sitting there after going down to the water source. I was not ready to climb to the top, much less going back down and up again for water. After climbing to the top, I expressed my interest in camping down below do to being really tired and not wanting to go back for water. Adam said he would get water for me. Not being stupid at this point I quickly accepted his offer and gave him my 2 nalgenes and my collapsible 2 qt bottle. I figured that would be enough for dinner, breakfast and some to the next water source. A few minutes after getting to the top, a few other hikers from Atlanta popped up and asked if they could join us. There was plenty of room for all of us. Before getting dark, we grabbed a bunch of firewood, which took a lot of looking, as there wasn't a whole lot up there. We were rewarded with an absolutely beautiful sunset that night and a perfectly clear sky for stargazing. We saw Jupiter and Saturn also. One of the guys from Atlanta knew his stars pretty well and pointed out a bunch to us. I later found out he was a kayaker as well as a home-brewer. We enjoyed the fire and managed to stay up till around 11 I believe.
Monday, March 6 - Being a clear as it was, last night it got mighty chilly. I had a nice layer of frost on my pack. A warm cup of coffee was my first duty of the morning. We headed off hoping to knock out the distance from Standing Indian Mountain Coleman gap in quick order. We did the 5 miles in a little over 1.5 hours and we passed our other group doing the Standing Indian Loop a little after Beech Gap. We stopped for a quick bite to eat at Coleman Gap and then again at Carter Gap Shelter for some water. Pat and me stopped somewhere a little later for a quick snack after Carter Gap at which time Pat's water bottle got a mind of it's own and rolled down the hill. We all met up at Betty Creek Gap and got some more water and decided where we wanted to stop for the evening. We figured Mooney Gap would be a good stopping place for the night. We went past the roadside campsite and up the trail a few hundred yards past the water going through the culvert pipe. Since there was already a fire ring there, we figured it to be all right to stop there. Being on the east side of the ridge, the temp dropped really fast once the sun went down. Again had a nice fire and powered down some vittles. Also found out that the little blue clips on the fuel pump for the Dragonfly do indeed suck as the second one broke. Had to hold the pump housing with one hand while pumping with the other. Was all I could to stay awake and I hit the tent around 8:30. I had wanted to get some sleep, as I knew we had Albert Mountain to climb in the morning.
Tuesday, March 7 - Got up bright and early this morning and threw some water on the stove. Quickly took down my tent and packed up my gear and wanted to get out early. I left camp at 9:15 and figured the rest of the group would catch me before Albert Mountain. Chad caught up and passed me a few minutes into the climb up the mountain. If the steps weren't there, I think Albert would be almost impossible to get up. Not sure who put them in, but thanks. The view from the fire tower was absolutely spectacular. Took some pictures and waiter for the rest of the group. We took a short break and headed off. We passed a fairly large group coming up the backside of Albert. They really didn't look like they wanted to be there. We got water at a stream that looked like it came right out of a tree's roots. Was really neat. We stopped for lunch at Glassmine Gap. I took a minute to take a look at the blisters that had developed on my left ankle. This really upset me as I had worn these boots on another trip on the AT and several trips on the Florida trail so they were plenty broken in. Not sure what happened, but I taped it up and off we went. As we were going up the ridge, we passed another group of college kids on spring break. No one said a word till I passed the last guy. He must have been the one the group had roped into asking where the hell they were and how the hell they could get to point B. Seeing that I only had about 2 miles to Rock Gap, I gave him my photocopied topo map and told him where to camp and what side trail to take to get them back to the Standing Indian Campground. I still can't believe that someone would plan a trip without the faintest idea on how to get from one point to the next!
We stopped at Rock Gap Shelter to decide what to do. Although early, I had planned on spending the rest of the day and night there (after running shuttle). But on the way, we decided to just go ahead and drive over to Wesser and spend the night by the Nantahala River. This ended up being a good option as we hit the Rivers End for some Sherpa Rice and Cool Jewels!!!
We stayed at Winding Staircases camping area. Once again we had a beautiful evening with an awesome fire. I guess we got a little rowdy and bothered someone that lived in a house across the river a few hundred yards from where we were staying. When we heard the gunshot at 3:30 am, we figured it was time to go to bed.
All in all, I would say it was a banner trip and I can't wait to get back on trail again. We could not have asked for better weather. Am hoping to get on and do the section from Springer to Dicks Creek sometime this fall. I would then have from Springer to Fontana done.
Side note. I took my stove to NOC and they called MSR and they replaced the pump assembly, no questions asked. I also took my Solitude back and they replaced it. It seems the fly had stuck together and pulled some the water proofing material off. They said it was defective and replaced it also. It wasn't a case of packing the tent wet. Not sure what the story was.