4/02/01
I awoke at 7 a.m. this morning excited about the new day and, believe it or not, the 8 mile climb to the top of Cheoah Bald. Creeper wasn't doing so well but got up along with our roommate "Spry" and we packed up. Creeper made the excruciating decision to stay at Wesser yet another day, but it was time for me to get out of Dodge so I left Creeper behind with the plan to meet at Stecoah Gap some 14 miles away tonight or tomorrow morning. The climb out of Wesser to Cheoah Bald is a memorable one as it is nearly vertical in some places and rises from 1740' to 5,062' without a break. Nevertheless, despite trail legs that hadn't seen action since last Wednesday, I managed to do the 8 mile ascent in 3 l/2 hours. Upon arriving at the top around 11:20 a.m. I called Paula from the Bald, took a self portrait (no tripod so I used a rock...we'll see if the photo actually took a picture of me or a bunch of shrubbery!), then I called Thom (who is never at his desk with his company moving their location), and finally Locke to catch upon things and share the view with him vicariously.
After getting chilled from spending too long up there, I hiked on, reaching Locust Cove Gap where I re-supplied my water and ate lunch. I made it to Brown Fork Gap Shelter by 4 p.m. (yeah for daylight saving's time, whoopee!) There were a bunch of thru-hikers there and I caught up with "Marathon Man", "Gapper" from Michigan, "The Mayor" from Sturbridge, MA, "Square Tail! from Maine, "Oz" and others. We're all spread out in tents and a full shelter tonight. Just before dark, Creeper came strolling into camp! I had left him a note back at Stecoah Gap to meet me at the next shelter and he made the 2.4 miles (straight up) after arriving at Stecoah Gap at 7 p.m. and finding the note I left him. I helped him with his tent and cooking since it was late and getting dark. He's still in pain so we'll take it really easy tomorrow and hope he'll improve as there's a chance he'll have to pull off the trail if not better since there's no bail out point once in the Smokies for 45 miles.
OK, now it's time for the smooth move of the day!!! I was cruising along this afternoon, feeling pretty cocksure of myself after pounding out 14 miles of rugged terrain with relative ease, when I took my first major fall of the entire journey. This was the kind of fall that would win me the $10,000 prize on America's Funniest Home Videos or possibly an Oscar on the big screen! I was zipping down toward Sweetwater Gap, anticipating the big climb on the other side, when I must have caught a root hidden beneath the leaves on the trail. Before I knew it, I was falling face forward like a tree that has been chainsawed. I hit the ground face first with no arm help to break the fall. Once I hit the ground, I must have bounced a little to the downslope side of the trail and I rolled off the trail, down the mountain about 30 feet before coming to a stop! I got up, checked my parts to see if they all worked, and climbed back up to the trail. At first I thought I had bitten through my lip, but there was no blood so it was just the force of my face hitting the ground that numbed my lower lip. The area I fell in had been torched by a forest fire some time ago, so there were charred trees everywhere. I must have hit one on the way down the mountain because I was covered from head to toe in soot and mud from the fall. If you can imagine "Pigpen" from the Charlie Brown cartoon, I was most definitely the "Pigpen" of the AT today. No injuries though, just a few minor scrapes and it took me 10 baby wipes to get all the mud and soot off! I had to laugh at myself for my acrobatic "smooth move" and it will definitely be memorable.
As an update, my blisters have all calloused over and aren't a problem, and the ankle did great today. The knees sure hurt on the downhills, but that's to be expected. Beautiful day today and I was very comfortable hiking solo. Rain is expected tonight and tomorrow but at least there was minimal snowpack and I bet tomorrow will be the first day of hiking without snow since the big snowstorm last week! Life is very good and the trail and mountains are beautiful and this is so much fun!! Today's stats: Low; 29 degrees, high 53. Partly to mostly cloudy. Mileage 16.0; cumulative 150.1. Thanks for the e-mails from Memphis friends, Pete, Ron, Roman, Pat & Jane, John Bell, Thom, Jason, Debbie and others. Jason, I'll get back to you on the boot fitting...I think the issue is swelling of the feet and gearing the boot fit toward a looser fit to compensate. I plan to get back to the La Sportiras to give them another shot after my feet toughen some more! Also thanks to Dad for the wonderful note and words of encouragement, to Mom for my favorite cookies, to Ineke for the note, and to Paula just for being the best wife I could ever hope for! Buenas noches, ya'll. RABBIT
P.S. to Pam ... on the printing issue of the journal...hopefully the web master can figure out a solution to your printing problem with the last few letters of the right margin not printing... Eric???
