Night Ten – Muskrat Creek Shelter
I got a shuttle from Hiawassee back to Dick’s Creek Gap and was hitting the trail by 9:30 am. The only problem was I hit the trail going the wrong direction. So about 3/10 of a mile after I started I turned back around and went back to the parking lot to go the correct way. Although I had missed the worst of the rain while I was taking zeros it still rained on and off the whole day. It made for slow progress once again. On the plus side I finally did hit my first big accomplishment, the GA/NC border. One state down 13 to go. However, the rain paired with a fairly long (12 mile) by my standards hiking day meant that it was getting late and I still hadn’t made it to the shelter.
Whoever decided on the trail leading up to this shelter is a sadist. Demoralizing is an understatement. At the very end of the day there are 3 peaks to climb that are super steep and slippery with the rain. I was swearing at the mountain accusing it of growing taller just to spite me. Eventually I stumbled in after dark using my phone as a flashlight because I didn’t want to dig my head lamp out of my bag. I didn’t see any sign that anyone else was at the shelter but I always call out if I’m coming up as it gets dark to make sure I’m not mistaken for an animal and bear sprayed. So I yelled out “hello?” and to my surprise I got a response! I found Mad Dog at the shelter on his own. Fortunately he wasn’t asleep yet and didn’t mind my banging around as I tried to get settled in. Given the crap weather I think we were both glad to have some company. I was honestly so exhausted by this point I ate a few slices of cheese and just went to bed.
Come 3:00 am we both get jolted awake by loud crashes of thunder. What had been persistent drizzle had now turned into a constant downpour with lightning and thunder to boot. And when I say thunder I mean thunder so loud it was literally shaking the shelter. It made Blood Mountain seem like a small storm. All I could do was snuggle into my quilt and try to keep going back to sleep when it woke me and hoping it would rain itself out by the morning.
Pictured is the iconic weird twisty tree that is shortly after the GA/NC border
