April 11, 2009
I was a little nervous last night when I looked at the profile for today's hike. It was a constant up and down. Normally, I would eat this up, but my knee was quite sore. I took it slow and steady as I headed up the mountain from Dicks Creek Gap. The weather was supposed to clear by noon, but it didn't clear until late in the day. There was a sign for a vista somewhere after the summit of Powell Mountain, but there was no sense in stopping.
I met a thru hiker named One Track who joked that I was going the wrong way.
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Deep Gap Shelter was .3 miles of the trail so I bypassed it.
Up I went to Kelly Knob, my third big up of the day.
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I entered Tray Mountain Wilderness
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I met thru hikers Limbo and Bird with their dog Mamma Bear.
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Thru hiker named Widget
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My knee was thankful for this stretch of trail.
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Lots and lots of thru hikers today. I didn't get everyone's name but there was Penguin and Lady Bug.
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This was Freewill from Maine. He, like many on the trail right now, was recently laid off. Many who have been laid off are taking advantage of the time to hike the Appalachian Trail. I enjoyed talking with him since we have both hiked many of the same mountains in Maine.
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How's this for an interesting name?
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Another thru hiker - Nate
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Section hiker named James. He's a senior in high school. It took some doing but he talked his teacher into letting him do a section of the Appalachian Trail as some type of school project. Way to go James!
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The summit of Tray mountain was socked in.
My knee was shot for the day, and I still had over 5 miles to go.
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I went through Tray Gap and got an OK view.
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I made my way past a campsite named the Cheese Factory.
The North Carolina and Georgia section of the A.T. is quite high. This was the first time on this trip that I've seen any type of bog bridging.
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I've noticed in N.C and GA that there are very few signs on the top of mountains, but nearly every gap is marked with a sign.
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Uggh, my knee was killing me and I still had to make the steep climb up Rocky Mountain.
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I met Bear Club. He, like me, was having trouble with his knee. He picked up a brace the day before. He also started hiking with the large stick shown in the photo to take pressure of his knee. It's how he got the name Bear Club.
When did you start?" I asked.
"Monday," he replied.
To his surprise, I was quite excited. I then explained to him that I've been section hiking for 4 years. Every time I asked a thru hiker when he/she started they would give me a date such as March 18. Bear Club gave me a day, Monday. If a lot of time had gone by, he too would have given me a date. What's the significance of this. Giving me a day of the week rather than a date meant that I was getting extremely close to the end of this long journey.
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As I neared the summit of Rocky Mountain, the sky finally began to break up.
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But I'm still not at the summit.
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Up and over the summit I went. The summit looked like a great spot for camping. I then began the steep descent down. It was great to see Lynn's face when she came in to meet me.
"How was your day?" she asked.
"OK," I said.
"Just OK?"
Up until today, my knee hadn't been that bad so I didn't bother telling her. Now it was killing me so I told her. Each step down the mountain hurt, but I made it down to Unicoi Gap. Once at the gap I noticed an A.T. plaque on a rock.
This was cool. I've used a picture of this plaque as a logo in the top left hand corner of my website since 2006. I had thought I wouldn't see this until Springer Mountain where I thought it was. I later learned that there are at least three of these along the A.T. in Georgia.
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Over the last few days I just couldn't see going to the store and buying another knee brace when I had two that were in perfectly good condition at home. I finally realized that the two I had at home weren't doing me a bit of good and went out to buy one. Hopefully, it well help.
Miles to go: 51
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