During a tour of Monticello, I remember the guide saying that Thomas Jefferson would arise in the morning once it was bright enough to see the time on the clock located across the room. Not being a morning person, I have no idea what that means. However, when hiking, I do try to get up and get out as early as possible – if only to get most of my hiking done in cooler morning air rather than the afternoon humidity-saturated sauna. Deep Gap shelter was surprisingly mouse-free last night. I was up, packed, and hiking north by 7am EDT. 3.5 miles later, I stopped at Dicks Creek Gap, where the AT crosses highway 76, to cook breakfast and coffee on one of the concrete picnic tables there. I then proceeded to make my way to the Georgia/North Carolina border at Bly Gap. Not far past breakfast, in the middle of the trail, I found a huge pile of what could be nothing other than bear “scat.” Understand, I’m no bear expert, but I can think of nothing else in the woods big enough to make that much of a dump. Definitely not a dog. Mastodons are extinct. I studied it for a bit, and seeing no human finger bones, teeth or skull pieces, I decided to move on. I later regretted not taking a photo.
Around mid-afternoon, I arrived at the GA/NC border and soon thereafter, during my 13th mile of the day, i struggled to climb the steepest ascent I’ve had to conquer thus far on the trail. There should be a sign at the state line that says “Mountains? You want mountains? Yeah, yeah – I know, I know – you already climbed “mountains” in Georgia. Here’s the deal…those were nothing. Seriously nothing. Just rolling swells. Piedmont. Molehills. North Carolina, however, is bringin’ the MOUNTAINS. Just lookin’ at that word with all those ups and downs should makes your eyes tired:
/^^/MOUNTAINS\/\^.
Tighten your laces, boys; here we go!”
I survived that first dose of NC mountains just past the state line (barely) and arrived at Muskcat Creek shelter around 5. I know NC is not kidding around about the mountains since the tallest peak on the entire Appalachian Trail, Clingman’s Dome, rises to 6643 feet and sits on the border between Tennessee and NC in the middle of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. The highest peak in Georgia was Blood Mountain at 4458′. Molehills.
I set up my hammock, known on the AT as a “bear burrito” and said hi to the multiple other hikers staying at the shelter that night. I had just enough time to eat dinner and crawl into my burrito before the inevitable, inescapable, indefatigable rain showers set in once again for the next several hours.
Doctor Photon
