Sunday, April 24:

Well, it snowed all day. And, of course, we are climbing Albert Mountain (5,250 feet). It’s about sixteen miles to Franklin, N.C. and a nice warm bed so that’s some incentive. Somewhere I have heard the phrase "It’s worse than a Stairmaster in Hell", referring to Albert Mountain.

We climbed about 500 feet straight up the Mountain from our shelter. It’s a boulder climb, too. Very hard to get a foot hold. There is a rhododendron "tunnel" on this path. It’s very important to have two trekking poles, especially here.

We stopped at Rock Gap Shelter to sign the register and see who was behind us and how far ahead of us some of our friends are. For you hikers to be – I sign my name with a green pen. That way if someone I have been hiking with is looking at the register to see where I am, they can quickly find me by the "green ink".

We came through Betty Creek Gap, Mooney Gap, and Glassmine Gap, and finally into Franklin. We went straight to the Haven Budget Inn, owned by Ron Haven, an ex-professional wrestler. He is extra-friendly and helpful to hikers, so plan to stay here while you’re in Franklin. Josh and Brock got a room, and the Honeymooners got a room, and Jack and I got a room.

We took a nice, hot shower and rested a bit before going to dinner. We headed straight to Mama’s – well, its not Mama’s anymore. It’s now called the Sirloin Steak House but the food is just as good. Of course, it’s an AYCE, and I only had two plates instead of my usual three. I had Salisbury steak and macaroni and cheese and then fried chicken and mashed potatoes and of course, Sweet Tea, followed by a big bowl of ice cream. The infamous Jack had three plates and followed that with SIX ice cream bars.

Monday, April 25:

What a great night’s sleep. Especially after Jack found 8 Mountain Dews and 2 Cokes in the little refrigerator in our room. I drank 6 of the Mountain Dews and one Coke and let Jack have the rest! In fact, we are feeling so good that we have decided to stay another night here.

Today we went to the Library to check our e-mail and for me to do a little posting to my Journal. I am trying to get a week at a time posted on a Sunday night but sometimes it may take a little longer depending on how close I am to a Library. We also went to Ingles Grocery Store to resupply. I think I am going to buy a Mountain Dew to take with me, along with noodles and mac n’cheese.

It’s kind of neat to be visiting these places a second time and having things so familiar. Then we did what all hikers do - took off all our clothes except a pair of underwear, donned our raingear and headed to the Washateria to wash all of our clothes. I’ve always been "Mr. Clean" which is impossible to do on the Trail so it feels good to be in town and be clean for two whole days.

Kokomo, Blaze, and Bear Cannister are also here. Kokomo is also staying here two days. Sometimes you just feel the need to rest and should always listen to your body. An extra day here and there doesn’t hurt.

We watched the Dukes of Hazard and Jeopardy (Jack’s favorite game and no one can beat him at it), and I doctored the blisters on both my little toes.

Tuesday, April 26:

We set out this morning in the rain, passed Swinging Lick Gap (don’t you wonder how that name came about?) and Panther Gap and reached Siler Bald Shelter – about four miles from town – when I mentioned to Jack that it was supposed to rain real hard all day and why didn’t we just stop here for a while. We have been planning our mileage to reach the NOC (Nantahala Outdoor Center) during the day so we can pick up mail drops. Stopping now will not interfere with our plan.

So we decided to stop now instead of trudging on in the rain and no sooner had we bundled up in our sleeping bags to take a nap than it rained like cats and dogs. Jack usually won’t sleep in a shelter, preferring to tent, except in really bad weather, because he cannot put up with all the loud snoring that goes on in the shelters. Wouldn’t you just know it - this older hiker came in and in just a few minutes was snoring up a storm. Jack spent all afternoon and evening knocking on the floor to wake him up so that we could get some sleep.

Wednesday, April 27:

We are in the Bald Mountains – Siler Bald has great views of the Nantahala watershed. After going down into Wayah Gap, we now reach the open summit of Wayah Bald. It has three continuous miles of A.T. above 5,000 feet. The rocks here are stained an orange color which I understand is from oxides of iron that has not been washed away by rain.

We stayed at Cold Spring Shelter tonight, after hiking 13 miles. There is a great water source here, about five yards in front of the Shelter. I said "we" stayed at the Shelter but I should have said I stayed at the Shelter. Jack had enough snoring last night to last awhile so he camped on the ridge, about fifty yards from the Shelter.

Thursday, April 28:

Lots of switchbacks on the Balds makes it easier hiking. At Wesser Bald, there used to be a fire tower here. It is now an observation deck. There are also two bathrooms here. Jack said some hikers used to sleep three hikers to a bathroom in bad weather or snow. How gross!

Also interesting along the way is the Rufus Morgan Shelter. He was known as the "Flying Parson", a preacher, or what used to be called a circuit rider, who traveled to many churches located in the Mountains around here. He was also a dedicated and longtime worker on the A.T, who lived to be 100 years old!

We hiked 11.5 miles into the NOC, and it rained on us all day. Reststep, if you and Beekeeper and Hatteras are listening in, 2003 was supposed to be the rainiest A.T. season ever, but 2005 is coming in a close second.

I like the NOC a lot. It is beautiful here, with the Nantahala River rushing through.

And you can sit and eat at the River’s End Restaurant and watch the water. There is whitewater rafting here and mountain biking. It would be a good place to spend a week. We did some laundry, and I had a bowl of hot sauce, a hamburger and some fries, and called it a night.

Friday, April 29:

At least it’s not raining hard today, it’s only sprinkling (so far). Jack got up and left by 10:00 a.m. I was not so quick to give up my nice warm bed. I didn’t get moving good until noon. We are about to begin our 70 mile hike through the beautiful Great Smoky Mountains. We will be following the North Carolina-Tennessee state line, going from Southwest to Northeast.

We only hiked seven miles today – all straight up. This is beautiful country. We went through Wright Gap and Grassy Gap, and I caught up with Jack at Sassasfras Gap Shelter where we stayed for the night. This Shelter has a front porch and benches. We stopped here for lunch in 2003 but didn’t stay the night here.

Saturday, April 30:

We got in nine miles today, in the rain. Again. We summitted Cheoh Bald which has fantastic views of the valley below and the mountains across the way. We passed Locust Gap, Simp Gap, Stecoah Gap, and Sweetwater Gap. The azalea and mountain laurel are beautiful This would be a good place to section hike for those of you who want to get out on the A.T., but have little time. You sure can feel that you and God are the only two beings around here. I think starting late this year – in April as opposed to March in 2003 – I have missed a great many thru-hikers and have had the Trail more to myself. Same trip – new adventure, which is what I had hoped for.

We ran into Happy Feet at Brown Fork Gap Shelter, where we stayed the night. He said we had just missed some Trail Magic by about five minutes – fried chicken, cinnamon rolls, Mt. Dew. That’s enough to make a grown man cry. By the way, Happy Feet is legally blind – he was born with cataracts on his eyes, but he can see enough to hike – and he hikes by himself.

Tomorrow, it is on to the "Fontana Hilton".

I would like to say thanks to my sister-in-law for keeping the spam off my Guestbook and for posting my Journal for me.

And hello to my buddy Bgone and Appalachian Annie who had hoped to hike this year and really planned on it but had some medical problems and have had to put their hike off for another year. I had so hoped to hike some with them.

Hello to Jamie who has hiked some of the Trail and came across this Website while doing some research for an Oral.comm speech, and wants to do some more hiking – come join our "Traveling Society".

Hello to Tony from my home state of Texas, Hope you can gain some insight from my Journals for your future hike.

And to my old friend, Lee Perry – who hiked with me vicariously in 2003. Keep in touch

And also to Pauline down New Zealand way where I want to hike someday. Pauline, get ready because you never know when I might show up. I most definitely won’t stop at two hikes but it might be a longer stretch in between from now on. Maybe I will win the lottery so I can hike forever.

Stacy from Plano (close to my home) – it was good to hear from you again. Congratulations on Emily. You be sure to stay in touch.

And last to my friend, Jenny Jones who I met on my canoeing trip up Possum Kingdom Lake last year – this is about as good as it gets. I had no idea at that time I would be on the Trail again. Stay in touch – it was good to hear from you.

Well, that’s it for this week. Come back next week for more fun through the Smokies. See Ya,

Your friend – A "wet and drizzling" Mountain Dew.