| April 26, 27, 28, and 29, 2005 |
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1 |
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Davenport Gap to Hot Springs, NC |
| Carolyn Thigpen from
Mountain Momma's Kuntry Store and Hostel shuttled me back to
Davenport Gap Tuesday morning after a good nights rest and delicious
breakfast of pancakes and coffee. |
| Davenport Gap to Groundhog
creek shelter was easier traveling than previous trails. At
first the woods looked devastated as a result of diseases, high
winds, or maybe the recent hurricanes that went through the south
this winter. The woods were mostly hardwood oak, cherry,
birch, lotus a change from white pines and hemlocks in the Smokey
Mts. To my surprise the trail started going down hill into a
valley, a heaven for wildflowers. The area was very damp and a
creek with many waterfalls ran down into the valley. the
mountain side was covered with wild purple geraniums both kinds of
Solomon Seal, purple, white, yellow violets, columbine, ferns and
mosses, white ground cover sedaman, and corebells. |
|
I had to go under the I-40 underpass in order to
continue to the next mountain. It's a weird feeling to have a semi truck
rumble over the top of your head. The woods through Snowbird Mt. was very
open. If one was a hunter, an animal could have been killed 500' away!
There wasn't a bunch of undergrowth beneath the canopy of tall hardwoods making
it very easy to see the valley below. |
|
I stayed Groundhog Creek Shelter arriving there about
5:30pm. I shared the shelter with Fire Dog, Swinger, Tortuga, Stretch and
two new hikers that I hadn't met before Coursehecan and his lady friend who had
a big black lab. Simon would have really liked Cassy! She was a cute
year old lab and very intelligent. |
|
Swing'n Jane |
|
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