I was ready to get up at 4:30 since we were in bed before 7. I suggested it to Bunny and she threatened violence. At 6:30, I just made a mad dash out the tent. I got the bear bags, fetched water, made hot tea, cooked breakfast, and approached Bunny with hot food and tea. It was still below freezing so I was scared for my personal safety trying to get her out of the warm sleeping bag.
She grabbed the food from my hand and screamed for her tea. I placed them at her feet and kept bowing as I crept backward away from her. Until the tent flap was latched, I didn’t feel safe. I made small talk with everyone else in camp and did what I could do to get things ready. Naturally, we were the last ones to pack up and leave, but, (and this is a big butt), but we were out of camp and on the trail 5 minutes before 8. Houston, the eagle has landed. Bunny Tracks and Easily Forgotten have made a pre 8a trail start.
It was cold. The cold makes Bunny move fast IN camp but not so much on the trail. By 11, we still hadn’t made 3 miles (the vast majority of which was downhill). Since it is a weekend, there were lots of people out hiking. As soon as we got out of the shadows and into the sun, the temperature shot up to a comfortable 35. I got the feeling back in my toes and fingers in no time.
We ran across a couple of trail crews out doing maintenance work. In fact, we sat and had lunch while watching Beaker and Ox surgically remove a tree that had fallen across the trail and was suspended a few feet off the ground. I was afraid Bunny might have to use some of her nursing skills if things went awry, but Ox knows how to use a chainsaw. I had some questions for him and got some pointers. I was particularly interested because one time with a similar fallen tree on my property, I managed to pin my legs beneath the trunk. I promptly threw the chain saw out of reach to remove the option of cutting off my legs (I think I had just watched “127 Hours” before hand).
There was a mixture of nature on the trail today. Rhododendrons with blooms about to burst open, ice crystals forming in the trail, waterfalls with icicles, and Bunny’s screaming in pain because of coldly climbing hills. In all fairness, we did have the worst climb we encountered so far—Jacob’s Ladder. It may only have been 1/2 mile in length and 600’ of gain, but it would have felt right at home on the GR10.
As we were dropping down into Stecoah Gap, a hiker I have never seen before came up to me and said “I know you.” It turns out Zen is showing the video interview he made of Bunny and me to all of his guests. I’m wondering how many more people will recognize us in the future. The further we get up the trail, I wonder how many of those people will be too embarrassed for us to say they know us when they figure out how slow we are going. Turtles catch flies as well.
The original plan was to get picked up at Fontana Dam by Pam, Joyce, Mac, and Greg. With all of our hiking experience, we decided it would be best for Pam and Joyce to have a “warm up” day of hiking before tackling the Smokies (at least that’s the choice we presented to them instead of just saying “we can’t make it to Fontana in time”).
We got picked up 1/2 hour early. We were impressed that we were early, instead of late which was the hiking trajectory of the day, and they were impressed that they found the place so easily. We were whisked away from the drudgery of the trail. Joyce even offered to sit in the trunk (allegedly out of kindness, but the air flow (i.e smell) from us couldn’t make it back that far with the open windows up front. When we got to the cabin, we were presented with the closest shower and washing machine as soon as we entered.
Pam and Joyce made us a smorgasbord of fresh veggies, meats, cheeses, dips, fruits, mead, wine, and beer. We ate our fills before doing pack shakedowns and ending up in the hot tub. They even offered to let me have one of their facials. I declined, I had just taken a shower and gotten the mud off of my face. I prefer to get mud on my face in the normal hiker fashion—bobbing for M&Ms in the mud puddles.
EFG