Sassafrass Gap Shelter to Brown Fork Gap Shelter

Appalachian Trail, 9.9 miles

There was a whole lot of snoring going on in that shelter last night. Mercy.

Today was another really hard day, but I do believe I'm getting my trail legs. It seems to take about 24 hours before my body realizes “oh, we’re going through this bit of torture again” and starts to buck up. I still haven’t used any of my cold medicine, but Cindy (behind whom I hiked for most of the day) can attest that I’ve been snorting and sniffling and spitting prolifically all day long. Lovely.

We started out around 8:30 a.m. and about 45 minutes later we summited Cheoah Bald, where we were treated to a beautiful 360-degree view of some amazing mountains. The clouds were actually below us, which was quite a phenomenon. They resembled ocean waves, swirling and wrapping around the peaks of the mountains around us. We spent a few minutes there watching the the clouds rise and burn off under the sunny, clear skies. Here are Monika and Cindy enjoying the view:
We lunched at Stecoah Gap but by the time we got there it was around 2:30; we had waited far too long to refuel and we were all pretty exhausted. And we still had two big climbs ahead of us before things leveled out a bit. Monika in particular was struggling; her knee was bothering her and she was just very fatigued. Tuna and lots of water helped, and we slowed our pace considerably after lunch and took far more breaks. We put Monika out front, which also helped a lot, so that we could do a better job staying together. Cindy was in the middle, and I took my rightful place at the back where I could behave myself and not trot out ahead of everyone. I learned that I really prefer it this way, as I no longer have to wonder if I’m going the right speed for everyone else. I do worry that I crowd Cindy a bit, but I’m working on that.

We had intended to press on another 2.8 miles today, all the way to a campsite at Cody Gap, but we ended up stopping early because we were terrorized by a swarm of very agitated yellowjackets. The nest was right in the middle of the trail. Monika hit it first, then Cindy, and they both got stung several times, right through their clothing. I felt really bad for them, but I will confess to being very thankful that I was the caboose of our train and thereby avoided any stings. I also learned that I can, when necessary, break into a full sprint while wearing a 30-pound backpack. Cindy flung her trekking poles when she realized the yellowjackets were attacking, and unfortunately only one of them was retrievable—the other landed right on the swarming nest so we had to leave it behind.

Unfortunately, the four men who tented by our shelter last night came upon the yellowjacket nest an hour or two behind us and some of them got stung too. They are staying near our shelter again tonight and despite the stings are a pretty jovial bunch. One of them brought a 16-oz bag of individually wrapped Godiva chocolates to the shelter after dinner and gave us some. (What would possess you to bring a pound of chocolate on a backpacking trip, I don't know! But no complaints here—I gladly accepted two pieces.) We were surprised to learn that one of the four men suffered from heat stress and overexertion this afternoon and threw up all over the trail. This is his first backpacking trip, poor guy.

My feet so far are doing great. I’m glad I’m wearing my Salomon boots. Though they aren’t nearly as cute and perky-looking as my little low-rise Merrell trail shoes (even in the wild, a girl does think about these things, you know), they are providing a lot of support and protection against this very unforgiving terrain. I’ve also been liberally using Body Glide on my toes and heels twice a day, which I think is really helping. The only foot problem so far has been toothpaste-inflicted—I dropped my miniature tube of Crest on the knuckle of one of my big toes this evening and even now, hours later, it is still just killing me.

Tomorrow we are doing 9.9 miles plus the 2.8 that we didn’t finish today, which will top us out at 12.7 miles. A long day, especially if we are to believe the profile on our topo map. It will be challenging. We’ve decided to get up at 6 a.m. and shoot for hiking out of here by 7:30.

Lessons learned today: Watch for yellowjacket nests. Carry Benadryl and sting medicine. We were lucky that Cindy had both. It pays to bring along a nurse!

Quote of the day, from Monika: "As I was hiking today, I wondered: am I adding years to my lifespan by doing this, or taking years away?"

Hiking time: 6 hours, 40 minutes (8:20 with breaks)