April 3

EPIC!

Forgot to mention something crazy from last night.  So in talking with Pastor James, he told me a story about how back in 1994, if I recall correctly, he and some friends were hiking on the AT north of Neel Gap back in Georgia one afternoon.  They thought they smelled smoke, and bushwacked a bit off the trail and found a smoldering airplane crash in the woods.  Gruesome as you can imagine.  They hiked back out, and notified the authorities, who closed down the trail for the recovery.  So I'm thinking back to when I hiked in that area, and I remembered a small plaque in the woods that memorialized a small plane crash.  How crazy is that?  First of all seeing a memorial plaque in the middle of the woods, then meeting the guy who found the crash almost 20 years ago.  Wow.  So back to hiking.  The trail down from Standing Indian was great.  I wasn't sure how far I'd go today, but I had options at a shelter 6 miles out, a campsite 10 miles out, and if I was feeling up to it, and push up and over the massive Albert Mountain to the next shelter at 13 miles.  Well I stopped at Carter Gap shelter for lunch and to use the sunlight to dry the dew off of my rain fly and ground cloth from my tent.  I signed the register at the shelter, and noticed nobody had removed the register from last year.  Angie, if you read this, I found your entry from 2011!  So cool.  I just happened to stop by that shelter for lunch and may not have if I had hiked different mileages over the past few days.  Anyway, the trail continued to be great, passing through rhododendron tunnels, and across ridges with wonderful views.  I went past the 10 mile mark and felt great so I kept moving along, alone.  I got to Mooney Gap, at 4496 feet.  Yes that is a gap at 4496 feet, so that should tell you something about the mountains in NC!  The weather quickly turned, as thunder rumbled and the sky darkened ahead of me.  The climb up Albert was coming up, and I knew the shelter was just a mile or so past the summit so I pushed on.  I was on a section of the trail that was only 2 or 3 feet wide, that cross cut a near vertical slope, just as lightning started to flash all around me.  I've never seen lightning at eye level before.  I was up so high, that I was actually IN the storm.  Then it started to hail.  Pea sized hailstones pelting me and my pack.  I crouched under a tree on the side of the mountain and prayed for safety.  After a few minutes there was a break in the weather and I made a run for it up Albert Mountain.  I met Darwin again, who was also doing the hide under a tree plan too.  Now we were stuck in a frigid, cold rain.  We waited it out for about half an hour, but ended up getting too cold.  We mustered up all of our courage and decided to climb to the summit.  The trail up to the top was particularly challenging, even in the best conditions.  We pulled ourselves up in some places by climbing hand over hand in some sections on slippery wet rocks, finally reaching the summit at 5250 feet.  There was a huge fire tower at the top, and since we were seeing a lull in the lightning, we climbed the staircase, to the top, several hundred feet above the summit, to outstanding views.  Then we heard more thunder, and Darwin swears she felt 'static' in the air, and seeing as that we were on a metal structure, we got off the tower in a hurry.  We practically jogged the next mile to the shelter and pulled in looking like a couple of drowned rats.  Dave was there and gave me a warm cup of coffee.  No sooner than that, the rain stopped and the sun came out.  We were feeling strong and exhilarated, and since it was only 4pm, we decided to push on to another shelter 5.3 miles away.  Hailstones covered the trail.  The mountains were amazing after the storm.  I don't think I've every felt more alive in my entire life.  I could feel the blood coursing through my body.  I couldn't stop laughing.  An adrenaline induced hike/jog got us to Rock Gap shelter just at night fall, as the rain started up again.  KB was there!  Shivering.  Dinner of instant butter flavor potatoes, adding a packet of salmon, and hot sauce, was incredible.  6 of us crammed into the shelter like sardines.  First night for me sleeping in a shelter, next to a couple people I've known for about a week, and a few strangers, after an unforgettable 18.2 mile day!  Just another day on the AT........

The Albert Mountain fire tower.