Springer Mtn, GA to Fontana Dam, NC

Day 15, Tuesday, June 6

NOC to Brown Fork Shelter, 16 miles

We get up at 6 AM, pack and get out of the room by 6:45 AM. M&L stop at the bottom of the hill to mail a letter. I buy and down a coke. One for the road. The morning is extremely overcast and a little breezy along the river. It doesn't exactly look like rain, but it doesn't look like it would need much encouragement to start.

The climb out of Nantahala Gorge lives up to its billing. It isn't necessarily steep, although it does have a few places where it's tough. It's just a long climb. Eight miles to climb 3,800 feet and get over Cheoah Bald. We reach a ridge top and take a short break before pressing on for Cheoah. I run down to the Sassafras Gap Shelter at 6.9 miles to see who stayed last night. No register entries from folks we know.

We reach the top at 11:45 AM. Four-and-a-half hours of climbing to cover eight miles. The top of Cheoah is absolutely shrouded in the clouds. You can't see fifty feet in front of you. I accidentally break the end of my walking stick off when I rap the Cheoah Bald sign on a tree. I don't care. We've made it. The last major peak at over 5,600 feet that we'll cross between here and Fontana. The temperature is 45 degrees and the wind is blowing pretty briskly, so we don't take more than a short break on top. M&L have adorned their jackets and long pants, but so far I'm holding out.

My shoulder has been killing me all morning, so I repack my pack in hope of changing the weight distribution. That and I take two Advil, which won't hurt either. We move on down the other side. I stop on the descent and put on my jacket. It's cold. We pass a coed group twenty minutes later headed southbound up Cheoah. It doesn't look like they are prepared for how cold it's going to be up top.

We take a lunch break at Locust Cove Gap at 1:15 PM. Approximately three miles to Stecoah. Approximately three miles to Brown Fork Shelter. Still not much sun.

We reach Stecoah by 3:15 PM. There is a group of Boy Scouts there. They've hiked southbound from Cable Gap to the highway at Stecoah Gap and are trying to decide if they want to go up the mountain or camp in the grassy spot right beside the highway. I walk down to the spring a few hundred yards up the highway to pump some water while M&L spread out in the sun, which is finally out. When I get back up to the crossing, the Boy Scouts are pitching camp on the side of the road.

We pack up and head the final 2.4 miles to the shelter. As usual, it's uphill. Sassafras Mountain is a bear. Straight uphill the last 1.4 miles. Tough steep hill. We reach the shelter at 5:15 PM and cook supper. One hiker is already there, "Skeedaddle", a section-hiker from Culpepper, VA. Today is his second day on the trail. He's hiked south from Cable Gap to Brown's Fork Shelter today. We talk for a while about history, hiking etc. He's hiked almost 800 miles of the trail over the years. M&L have pitched their tent fifty feet away on a flat spot. They seem to prefer the tent over the mice of the shelters. The mice don't bother me any more. M&L head to their tent at 7 PM as I begin to settle into the shelter with "Skeedaddle".

Guess who rolls in at 7:30 PM. Phree with Jason right behind them. I thought they had left the NOC late yesterday afternoon with the boys. Apparently they couldn't decide. The boys had mailed their water filter from Wallace Gap to the NOC for some reason. They thought it would save them weight. Dumbest thing I've ever heard of. Anyway, the filter still hadn't shown up at the NOC, so Phree and Jason left them behind. Since I had seen all of them readying themselves to leave yesterday afternoon, I had assumed they had set out in front of us.

Every time I've met up with them on the trail, Phree has made a big deal of talking about how much they are hiking and carrying. Every time he says they are hiking twenty miles a day and carrying sixty pounds. Now they've finally caught up with us! And we aren't quite doing twenty a day.

Tonight is my last night on the trail. The last two weeks have been the most challenging and difficult times of my life. I've met some great folks out here. Billy "Frogger" and Aaron "Torn" on my first night. Monty "Worn" and Lydia "Out", who I've spent most of the last week with, and "Mule-boy" and "Cypress" who are thru-hikers extraordinaire. I leave the AT tomorrow.

It's going to be a very cold night tonight. The temperature at 8:00 PM is already below 50 degrees. The wind is stirring, and I hope I don't freeze. I sent my sleeping bag liner home from the NOC. I climb into my sleeping bag shortly before nine and I'm asleep in no time.