Night Twelve and Thirteen – Sapphire Inn
When I was in Hiawassee I got my parents to send me a box to Franklin with some things. I had expected to arrive somewhat early on Saturday, but with temps continuing to drop and lows expected in the low teens I decided to push from Carter Gap Shelter all the way to Franklin.
It was my first hiking day of more than 15 miles, 15.9 miles to be exact. It also included views from Albert Mountain fire tower and the nearly vertical climb up to get there. There were rocks that I couldn’t even get my short little legs up so I had to kinda scramble on my hands and knees to get up. I truly wish I could see an instant replay of some of that because with a pack on my back I can only imagine it was a hilarious sight. Something akin to a turtle trying to mountain climb.
The day also marked my next big trail accomplishment… 100 miles!!!!
The 100 mile mark is totally underwhelming. There isn’t anything really marking it and you are just walking through a bunch of rhododendron bushes. But it felt huge to me. Which was good because, though I didn’t know it yet, I was going to need every ounce of motivation to make it to Winding Stair Gap.
From Wallace Gap to Winding Stair Gap was painful. I was exhausted going up hill, but the downhills were so much worse. Every step was painful. Feet, ankles, knees, and even my hips hurt. But making those extra miles meant a hot shower and warm bed that night, and a zero day the next day. It turned out to be really good that we pushed to get to Franklin because as we were hiking the last mile or so to Winding Stair Gap there was a large school group hiking the opposite way to get to the shelter we had originally been planning on going to. It would have made for very cramped sleeping.
Finally making to Winding Stair Gap we dropped our packs, but then you have to figure out a way to get from the trail to town. I had no service and was trying to hitch while Mad Dog was trying to contact a shuttle driver fortunately a few minutes after Mad Dog was able to get through to a shuttle driver a man with a big truck actually stopped to pick us up and we were able to cancel our shuttle. In addition to taking us into Franklin our trail angel driver went the extra mile to drive us around town and show us where everything was so the next day we would be able to run any errands we needed to.
My zero day included a trip to the local outdoor center Outdoor 76 where I had been hoping to find a sleeping bag liner, some bungee cord, new shoe insoles, and a new knife. I managed to get 3 out of 4 so not bad, although the thing I was wanting the most, the sleeping bag liner, wasn’t in stock. I’ll be doing some other posts about gear with what worked and what didn’t and why, but since my knife is most commonly used to cut cheese, the replaceable blade knife I started with was a disaster because I couldn’t get all the cheese out of it. Next up was laundry and binge watching TV while massaging my feet because we would be back on the trail the next morning.
