Ket and Maximus left before us at about 8:30. Maximus thru-hiked in 2014 and has section hiked many different areas. He only lives less than an hour from Amicalola Falls so he has definitely been bitten by the AT bug. He’s been hiking with Ket for over 3 weeks. He is worried about how little she eats. He knows from experience that not eating enough is the number one reason why people fail at thru-hikes. No matter how much extra fat you may believe you have, your body still needs incoming fuel to operate. He’s afraid Ket has already given up. I was going to leave her a note to try and get her motivated—“get an ‘AT Class of 2018’ tattoo on your right butt cheek and then show everyone you meet when they ask if you’ve hiked the AT.”
When we left around 9, Mizman was still eating breakfast. Even though we have almost 12 miles to go today, it doesn’t look that bad because it is predominately downhill. The challenge today is the 45 deg F air temp and the constant rain. Fortunately, Bunny and I have learned to like hiking in the rain from our rain time on the GR10. Walking in fog can be quite mystical and other-worldly.
Wesser Bald had a fire platform on top of it. Bunny was hurting once again on the early morning climbs. She had a combination of tight hips and calves which takes a few hours of walking to work out yesterday’s lactic acid build up. In spite of what she says, she doesn’t stretch much or drink enough which causes her more pain than she needs to face, but tell a woman with a higher degree that you disagree with her. She will only respond when an expert tells her the same thing (definition of expert: random stranger who is not her husband.
When we got to Tellico Gap, we saw a bucket and a cooler. This was trail magic. Inside were an assortment of sodas, chips, and sweets. I took a nutty bar and an RC Cola. The nutty bar didn’t stand a chance and was consumed in seconds flat. The RC was for my lunch when we got to the shelter. I paid the price for taking the RC Cola—the rest of the day, the Kinks “Lola” was my ear bug.
It was less than two miles to the summit and shelter. Bunny was going very slow uphill (as usual in the morning). I climbed to the top of the fire tower at the summit, took some pictures, and got back down just in time for Bunny to arrive at the summit. The views from the tower were astounding. We are definitely at the gateway to the Smokies.
We thought the next shelter was on the summit close to the tower, but it was actually about a mile past. We wanted to stop at the shelter to get out of the rain and have some lunch. When we were walking, I was warm but soaked thoroughly. When we stopped, it didn’t take long for me to start shaking from the cold. Bunny was already cold while walking, so I was worried about hypothermia. As soon as we got in, I got her to take her wet outer layer off and put on her dry fleece. I started heating water for tea but took the pot off for us to warm our hands. I wanted to use what little fuel I had left in the canister.
Before we were done, Maximus and Ket got in the shelter. They are planning to spend the night there rather than push on to the NOC. When we passed them on the way up to the summit, Ket said she wasn’t having any fun. I know Maximus’ girlfriend is coming out this Friday to join him on the trail and I’m afraid that will spell the end of Ket AT aspiration. Maximus has been a trail angel for her for over three weeks and she couldn’t ask for a better mentor. He has been the epitome of Southern Gentleman. Ket will have to start doing more for herself and I just wonder if she has the drive left.
Still no sign of Mizman. We still had 6 miles to go to the NOC. Maximus thought they were open until 7 but didn’t know for certain. We wanted to make it to the outfitter to get more fuel and an inflator bag for our sleeping pads. Since it was only a little after 1:30, we thought we’d make it in plenty of time. The only problem being is that we have 3,000’ to drop and there might be some step spots that will slow us down. Also, we were both shaking from the cold so we had to get moving or get dry to keep hypothermia at bay.
The rain let up after a bit, but never stopped. We were actually looking forward to a few climbs to get our bodies to generate some heat. After about 20 minutes, our core temperatures started to rise and we started to get our hands to warm up, but if we stopped for any length of time, we got cold almost instantly.
We got down to the NOC outfitter at 4:55 and noticed the closing hour was 5. We rushed in and enquirer about the bunkhouse and gear we needed. He told us the place we needed to make a reservation for the bunkhouse closes at 5, but not to worry because the restaurant stats making reservations until they close at 6. He also told us we could take our time that he wouldn’t kick us out since we were there before 5. We got what we needed and headed to the restaurant.
We ordered our food and made reservations for the bunkhouse. We still didn’t know where Mizman was or if he was coming down the mountain. We asked what happens to people that get there after hours and the response was “too bad.” While we were debating about getting Mizman a room or not, he showed up. So did another hiker we have met briefly a couple of times, Nor’Easter. Now we could relax and have some food since we knew Mizman wasn’t going to spend a night in the cold and rain without a tent.
EFG