{"id":2636,"date":"2015-12-10T19:26:28","date_gmt":"2015-12-10T19:26:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/?p=2636"},"modified":"2016-01-28T22:20:40","modified_gmt":"2016-01-28T22:20:40","slug":"a-late-fall-mountain-trek","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/?p=2636","title":{"rendered":"A late-fall mountain trek…"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Wayah<\/p>\n

The Wayah Bald Tower<\/a>, a highlight from my recent trek<\/a>\u00a0on the Appalachian Trail<\/a><\/em>…<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I’ve now officially\u00a0hung it up<\/a>\u00a0for the winter. \u00a0“Which is being interpreted<\/a>:”<\/em><\/p>\n

“No more outdoor adventures … at least not ’til next spring.” \u00a0Which means the two adventures I had this (late)\u00a0fall<\/em>\u00a0pretty does it for this year.<\/p>\n

\"SwampWaterPoster.jpg\"To explain: \u00a0Last October I fulfilled a life-long dream. \u00a0A two-day overnight kayak into the Okefenokee<\/a>. \u00a0(As told in Operation Pogo<\/a><\/em>.)<\/p>\n

Then last November – 20 and 21 – I fulfilled another<\/em> life-long dream: At least one<\/em> overnight\u00a0trek<\/a>\u00a0on the Appalachian Trail.<\/p>\n

I touched on this dream in\u00a0\u201cA Walk in the Woods<\/a>.” \u00a0(Parts I<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0II<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

Back in 1967 \u2013 when I was 16 \u2013 my next-older brother and I hatched the idea of hiking the Trail from Springer Mountain to Gettysburg<\/a>, where our aunt and uncle lived. \u00a0(Some 623 miles…<\/em>) \u00a0But for some reason my parents didn\u2019t<\/strong> bust out laughing [or] slap their knees while wiping away tears of laughter\u2026<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Needless to say we didn’t make it. \u00a0Ever since then it’s\u00a0bugged<\/a><\/em>\u00a0me that we didn’t make it. \u00a0And that’s why hiking the A.T. has been on my\u00a0bucket list<\/a>. \u00a0(Long before the term was coined.<\/em>)<\/p>\n

Among the highlights: \u00a0The\u00a0temp<\/a>\u00a0dropped to 31 degrees that Friday night. (11\/20<\/em>.) \u00a0Another thing: \u00a0Hiking in the late fall – when the leaves have fallen – means the Trail is really <\/em><\/strong>slippery.<\/p>\n

A related note: \u00a0Even now – three weeks later –\u00a0my left big toenail is still purple-bruised. \u00a0(From the Saturday-afternoon slip-and-slide down toward Tellico Gap<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

I’ll get to the details later,\u00a0but first a word about those\u00a0“balds.” \u00a0There’s a lot of ’em on the A.T., but they’re not meant as an insult to the “follicly challenged<\/a>.”<\/p>\n

The term Bald<\/em>\u00a0in the Appalachians means a summit or crest, covered mostly by thick vegetation; “native grasses or shrubs occurring in areas where heavy forest growth would be expected.”<\/p>\n

\"Grassy-bald-roan-mountain.jpg\"Thus the towers at Wayah Bald<\/a>\u00a0and Wesser Bald<\/a>. \u00a0(Of which more below.)<\/em> \u00a0Then of course there’s\u00a0Roan Mountain<\/a>, seen from\u00a0Grassy Ridge Bald<\/a>,\u00a0at right.<\/p>\n

Getting back to the hike itself: \u00a0I originally\u00a0planned to go from\u00a0Winding Stair Gap\u00a0to the\u00a0Nantahala Outdoor Center<\/a>, near\u00a0Bryson City<\/a>.<\/p>\n

That’s a hike of about 27 miles.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, I found an old high-school\u00a0friend who lives in\u00a0Franklin, North Carolina<\/a>. (Right on the Trail.) \u00a0So in September I arranged to drive up to his place on Thursday afternoon, the 24th. From there he agreed to drop me off Friday morning, the 25th. \u00a0(And hopefully pick me up on Saturday afternoon, the 26th.)<\/p>\n

Under that original plan\u00a0I might<\/em> have made 27 miles. \u00a0(If<\/em><\/strong> I’d been able to hike before the time change. \u00a0See Spring Forward\u00a0– Fall Back<\/a><\/em>.) \u00a0Unfortunately, that September try got rained out. Which meant by late November, I had an hour or two less hiking time per day.<\/p>\n

Be that as it may<\/a><\/em>\u2026 \u00a0I made new arrangements. \u00a0(Before the weather got too<\/em> cold.) \u00a0My friend dropped me off at 8:35, Friday morning, November 20. \u00a0(At the\u00a0parking lot at Winding Stair Gap, where the Trail crosses U.S. 64, known locally as Murphy Road<\/em>.)<\/p>\n

And now a word about hiking speed. \u00a0A good ambling-speed on level<\/em> ground is a mile every 20 minutes. \u00a0(Three miles an hour<\/em>.) \u00a0But a friend at church hikes the Trail regularly, and she says on a good day she and her husband can cover eight miles. \u00a0Other sources indicate a good speed – with full pack and up and down mountain trails – is about two miles an hour.<\/p>\n

\"AT<\/a>That’s what threw me off. \u00a0Like my paddling in the Okefenokee, I overestimated my ability to\u00a0trek<\/a>. (With less daylight, and slipping and sliding on fallen leaves. \u00a0Not to mention the recent rains that put much of the Trail under water, as seen at left<\/em>…)<\/p>\n

So anyway, that Friday afternoon I reached Wayah Bald about 4:40.\u00a0 See also Wayah Bald Tower<\/a>.<\/p>\n

My slightly used<\/em>\u00a0handbook \u2013 published in 1994 \u2013 said there was a camping area a mile and a half further on.\u00a0 But the sun was setting, it was getting cold and the ground was flat and grassy there. \u00a0So I pitched my tent. \u00a0(Expecting a ranger to come by and say “You can’t camp there!”)\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

But then three young folk came by. \u00a0(A young man and two young ladies, all college age.) \u00a0We’d been passing each other all afternoon, and after stopping for a bit, they started to head off to the farther-up camping place. \u00a0But then they came back and camped on the other side of the tower. \u00a0(Which was some comfort. \u00a0You never know about those “Dueling banjos<\/a>…”<\/em>)<\/p>\n

So anyway, I pitched my “Eureka” one-person tent just to the left of where the stone wall at the bottom of the picture turns down. \u00a0(As seen in the photo below right.)<\/p>\n

\"WayahI’d packed five layers of sweaters and down vests, plus Gore-tex gloves.\u00a0 (Not to mention a small mouthwash bottle filled with rum.<\/em>) \u00a0And like I said, that night it got down to 31 degrees or so.<\/p>\n

I shivered some during the night, and could have used some extra padding for my side hip-bones. \u00a0Still, I got a fairly good night’s sleep. \u00a0(And there was<\/strong> a nice view of the lights of Franklin, shimmering in the distance, when I got up to answer\u00a0nature’s call<\/a><\/em>.)<\/p>\n

Next morning it took a while to pack up.\u00a0 It was so cold I had to keep warming my fingers to untie things, then tie them in or to the pack, etc.\u00a0 But I eventually hit the trail at 8:21.<\/p>\n

Like I said, my original plan was to reach the “NOC<\/a>,” some 27 miles away. \u00a0But as I hiked along Saturday afternoon,\u00a0I formulated a secondary objective: The\u00a0Wesser Bald Lookout Tower<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But finally – as the sun got lower and lower on Saturday afternoon – I found a rare place with cell-phone reception. \u00a0(And they are pretty rare.<\/em>) \u00a0I called my buddy and negotiated a pick-up at Tellico Gap. \u00a0(See\u00a0Wayah Bald to Tellico Gap<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

Over the phone I read the directions – from the 1994 guidebook – to my friend. \u00a0They told of an 8-mile drive (for him), west from Highway 28. \u00a0Then a 4-mile gravel road up to Tellico Gap.<\/p>\n

By some miracle he actually found the place, on the Trail, and with<\/em> a place to park. \u00a0And he got there about 10 minutes before I did. \u00a0(Slipping and sliding downhill.)<\/p>\n

Boy was I glad to finally sit down in his pickup truck!\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

One lesson I learned was that hiking in the Trail in late fall means most of the leaves have fallen. That means much of the Trail is \u00a0covered<\/em> by leaves. \u00a0The leaves in turn cover up many if not most of the rocks and tree roots that can trip you up. \u00a0(As shown below left<\/em>.)<\/p>\n

\"AT<\/a>Then there’d been the recent rains, making parts of the trail more like streams than trail, as noted above.<\/p>\n

Aside from all that, I deliberately<\/em> chose to go slow, knowing one wrong move could mean a twisted knee or ankle. \u00a0(Which speaks to the wisdom of not<\/strong> traveling alone<\/em>.) \u00a0And finally, my main objective was to see how fast I could travel comfortably<\/b><\/i>.<\/p>\n

As I\u00a0alluded<\/a><\/em>\u00a0in “Okefenokee \u2013 Part II<\/a>:” \u00a0Not only did my Utah brother propose a 16-day, 500-mile, “primitive-camping<\/em> canoe trip down the Yukon River<\/a>.” \u00a0Also<\/em><\/strong> for the Summer of 2016, he’s proposed a four-day hike along the\u00a0Chilkoot Trail<\/a>. \u00a0(In Alaska<\/em>.) \u00a0So this overnight A.T.<\/a>\u00a0hike served as a kind of “shakedown cruise<\/a>.”<\/p>\n

Which leads to the specifics: \u00a0It was 5.9 miles from Winding Stair Gap to Wayah Gap. \u00a0(Before Wayah Bald<\/em>.) \u00a0It was another 13.5 miles from Wayah Gap to Tellico Gap. \u00a0That made a grand total of 19.4 miles. \u00a0I covered<\/em> that 19.4 miles in some 11 hours, 29 minutes of actual hiking.<\/p>\n

That averaged out to 9.7 miles a day. \u00a0(Or\u00a01.68 miles per hour, over rough ground. \u00a0It was actually 1.689895 miles per hour,<\/em> but who’s counting<\/em>?) \u00a0Still, despite my doing better than the eight-mile-a-day average noted above, it was a learning experience…<\/p>\n

And a pretty humbling one at that. \u00a0But I’m glad I did it. \u00a0For one thing, that first beer and that nice soft bed Saturday night felt really<\/em><\/strong>, really good!<\/p>\n

And incidentally, the word “trek” – as used in the headline and text – comes from\u00a0Trekboer<\/a>. \u00a0(A term later shortened to just “Boer<\/a>.” \u00a0See also “kommando<\/a>,” from\u00a0Afrikaans<\/a>\u00a0as well.<\/em>)<\/p>\n

The point being: \u00a0The image below gives an accurate feel for some<\/em><\/strong> of the conditions on the A.T. – in late fall, this past November 2015. \u00a0(Though without the oxen, whips and wagons.<\/em>)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The original\u00a0Trekboers<\/a>, “Passing Cradock Pass…”<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Re: The Appalachian “balds.” \u00a0See\u00a0Bald Mountains \u2013 Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia<\/a>:<\/em><\/p>\n

The\u00a0Bald Mountains<\/strong>\u00a0are a mountain range [bordering] Tennessee<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0North Carolina<\/a>\u00a0in the southeastern United States. \u00a0They are part of the\u00a0Blue Ridge Mountain Province<\/a>\u00a0of the Southern\u00a0Appalachian Mountains<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0The range gets its name from the relatively frequent occurrence of\u00a0grassy balds<\/a>\u00a0atop the more prominent summits.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

See also\u00a0Appalachian balds – Wikipedia<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Re: Hiking the whole Trail. \u00a0At 64, I realize I’ll probably never do that. \u00a0(Or want<\/strong> to, for that matter.) But my bucket list does include hiking at least one portion of the Trail in every state that it passes through. \u00a0(So far I’ve done Georgia and North Carolina.)<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"Re: “Dueling banjos.” \u00a0As the link noted, “If you ever see the film [Deliverance<\/a>,] \u00a0you will never be able to enjoy banjos again. \u00a0Or go canoeing. \u00a0Or visit rural Georgia. \u00a0Or, you know, sleep.” \u00a0And I must admit to a certain trepidation even kayaking in the remote Okefenokee. Still, there is a certain dark humor in the\u00a0trope<\/a><\/em>\u00a0illustrated at right…<\/em><\/p>\n

The lower image is courtesy of the\u00a0Boer<\/a>\u00a0link in the article,\u00a0<\/em>Trekboer – Wikipedia<\/a>. The caption: \u00a0“Passing Cradock Pass,\u00a0Outeniqua Mountains<\/a>, by\u00a0Charles Collier Michell<\/a><\/em>.” \u00a0Note that “Boer is a Dutch<\/a> and Afrikaans word for ‘farmer.'”<\/em><\/p>\n

Re: “Kommando<\/a>.” \u00a0Another word of Dutch\/Afrikaans origin, later spelling-changed to\u00a0Commando<\/a>: “The word stems from the Afrikaans<\/a> word kommando<\/strong>, which translates roughly to\u00a0‘mobile infantry regiment.’ \u00a0This term originally referred to mounted infantry<\/a> regiments<\/a>, who fought against the British Army in the first and second Boer Wars<\/a>.”<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Wayah Bald Tower, a highlight from my recent trek\u00a0on the Appalachian Trail…   I’ve now officially\u00a0hung it up\u00a0for the winter. \u00a0“Which is being interpreted:” “No more outdoor adventures … at least not ’til next spring.” \u00a0Which means the two adventures I had this (late)\u00a0fall\u00a0pretty does it for this year. To explain: \u00a0Last October I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8,9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2636"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2636"}],"version-history":[{"count":120,"href":"https:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2636\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3381,"href":"https:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2636\/revisions\/3381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}