Bud and Vicki Hogan's 1996 Appalachian Trail Journey



June 2
Wesser Bald shelter to Sassafras Gap Shelter....................................12.25 miles

Another downhill morning, I love downhills, heading to Nantahala Outdoor center. It was always culture shock emerging from the quiet forest into noisy civilization. This was a beautiful river resort.

We picked up our maildrop, bought several bottles of iodine pills, and thought of the two Toms that had helped us. Next, lunch. Several restaurants to choose from. A clerk recommended the hamburger place next door. Perfect. They had an outside section, right on the water. A nice gentle breeze helped keep our aroma from frightening the other customers. We had a nice little chat with a man and his wife who were doing the motorcycle thing. Harley, of course. These hamburgers were great. Vicki, Taz and I loved them.

Time to hit the trail again. We are right on schedule but we don't have any time to spare. Taz wants to make a beer run into town. He seems to love going into town. We can't afford the time, so we say goodbye, and we hike on. This is the last time we see Taz. Hope he made his goal. Long hard climb (as usual) out of Nantahala, and another 7 miles over an irritating overgrown hill,appropriately called "The Jump-up". This was a dark, damp, rocky hike. There was a little confussion about the name, but I went back and looked at the official AT map and the name is clearly labled, "The Jump-up".

I am having a difficult time telling exactly where we are and how much further it is until we get to water. This was always foremost on my mind. How far until water. I had a fear of running out. We got close to running out a few times. I didn't like the feeling I got when we were down to one quart between the two of us.

Finally dragged ourselves into the Sassafras Gap Shelter. The shelter was occupied, so we got water and headed back up the hill to the clearing to set up camp. Al Van W. came up later, just as we were preparing our dinner, and chatted for a while. Nice guy. Vicki and I noticed several things about the people on the trail. First, everyone was fairly intelligent, which was unexpected out here in the backwoods. We met lots of professional people, engineers, lawyers, teachers, business men, professors. Great company. Also noticed that there were no married couples (except for Vicki and myself) Most of the groups were men, although there were several groups with nothing but women in them. Some groups of father/son, some father/daughter, even some mother/daughter groups. Some singles. But all were nice.


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