Camping with Gnomes?

I am at Bald Mountain shelter, which is just over 5,000 feet in elevation, and it’s just before 8 p.m. on April 20. I woke up this morning at the Hogback Ridge campsite, and it rained a fair amount overnight. My tent patches seemed to hold up, so maybe the trail name Patch(es) will stick after all.

Last night, S. told me that she’d seen on Facebook that there was going to be some Trail Magic at Sam's Gap, which was just two and a half miles down from where I was staying. So that was exciting! Apparently, other hikers at the campsite had gotten the same information, so we all hustled to get ready and head out as quickly as we could. I packed up my wet tent, which is never fun, but sometimes, you don’t have much choice.

I walked the two and a half miles down to Sam's Gap, where some people from the Lower Higgins Creek Church of God had set up shop for us. Lots of churches in the South tend to do this sort of thing for hikers, and it's an incredibly generous gesture. Everybody there was really kind, and I was immediately served a nice, large plate of scrambled eggs with bacon, which was heavenly. [Wife note: I imagine they’d appreciate that descriptor!] Afterward, I ate a donut with some coffee, and then drank a Coke. That was great. They had set up their tables on an underpass on Highway 26, which turned out to be very good placement, because while we were there enjoying our breakfast, it started to pour.

Banana, Coffee, Bodacious, Boone, (other) Rob, and some other hikers whose names escape me were there, too. We all stuck around a little longer than we’d originally planned to, just to wait out the weather. And while we were waiting, this super cute but really shy dog showed up. That road is reasonably busy, and we could see that the dog had a tag on its collar, so I and a couple people from the church started trying to get close enough to it to read what the tag said. We were throwing bacon at the dog, hoping it would come up to one of us.

Eventually, I was able to take a picture of its tag, and it said, “Cassie. If found @ Sam's Gap, I live next door.” So we stopped worrying that it was stray and began worrying that it was allowed to just wander up and down a busy road. But we obviously can't control that, and Cassie seemed to be an older dog, so perhaps she’s figured out a way to stay safe.

When it was time to leave, the people from the church gathered around each of us hikers, one at a time, and said a few prayers for us, which was a very kind thing for them to do. And then we were off.

The next several miles were fairly uneventful, but it did start to rain again, of course. I had a very steep climb to a grassy bald — definitely a common theme here in the South — and it was all misty and clouded over. So it was very mystical up there. I bet that in nice weather, it has a fantastic view.

Next, we hiked up to the peak of Big Bald, which is over a mile high. And somehow, in the middle of nowhere, halfway up Big Bald — I'm assuming there's some kind of access road nearby — I came across three coolers with Trail Magic in them. I helped myself to an apple, which I really appreciated right then, because getting up Big Bald was not the easiest climb. It was really tough going.

And again, at the top, if the weather had been clear, I imagine the view would have been even nicer than it was at Max Patch. It sort of felt like we were in Scotland in the Highlands. Boone had gotten to the peak about 30 seconds before I did, and we just hung out for a bit and marveled at what could have been. But it was great anyway. The peaks of these big mountains that are totally grassy are just really cool.

Just below the bald, maybe by about a mile, is Bald Mountain shelter, which, as I said, is where I'm staying tonight. We pulled into camp at around two, after doing 10 miles today. I’d done close to 16 miles two days in a row before this, so 10 miles felt like plenty. Plus, I was soaked. I immediately made some ramen to warm myself up. And then, lo and behold, about two hours later, the sun came out, and we were able to hang up our stuff.

I got everything dried out, which was fantastic, and I set up my tent on a nice, soft, grassy spot, and then I noticed that nearby, there was this cute little scene set up in the hollow of a tree. [Wife note: Okay, so I legit let out a squeal when I saw Rob’s pic, because I had just seen a video the day before by another thru-hiker, Gadget, who is a little bit ahead of Rob, and she was the one who put the duckie in there! Click here to see her video and forward to the 5:00 mark.] Maybe that means there's a nice gnome living nearby.

We’re at over 5,000 feet and might get a little snow overnight. We'll see. But I have a very good tent setup, I'm nice and cozy, and everything is dry. So we'll hope for the best there. There’s only three of us at the shelter tonight, because a lot of people wanted to get a little further today so they could make it to Uncle Johnny’s Hostel tomorrow. Uncle Johnny's is about 16 miles away from here, and based on the map, it seems totally doable.

My plan for tomorrow is to hike about 11 miles down to the next shelter. And then I’ll see how I'm feeling, see what the weather's like — it's supposed to rain — and if I've got enough time, I might do the additional five or so miles down to Uncle Johnny's. I'm just going to play it by ear. The potential problem is that sometimes, Uncle Johnny's fills up, but the town of Erwin is just off the trail by about a mile, and there are a couple of hotels there. So, one way or another, I'll probably sleep with a roof over my head tomorrow night.

One thing I hadn't given much thought to before is the need to be near an outlet once in a while. It's really important for me to have my phone charged. I get to stay in touch with S. that way and look at the weather forecast and all those fun things. And my backup battery seems to be running low, so it'd be nice to get to a power outlet tomorrow night.

If I don't, I can still make it to Monday, I think, but the goal right now is to get to Erwin. That would make tomorrow my longest day thus far. It’s supposed to be bad weather, but the terrain doesn't look too terrible. So we'll just see what happens.

Oh, one addendum... there’s an episode of “The Office,” the American one, when Andy does the Dunder Mifflin Fun Run, and… well… after three days of hiking in a salty, rain-soaked shirt, let’s just say, I can relate.

[Wife note: Rob’s friend Boone has a video on his page of this day, and Rob is in a lot of it, in case you want to check it out!]