Day 3

Just a quick folllow-up. I'm writing this nearly a week later, but eating ramen noodles as I type to give me the on-the-trail vibe.

Day 3 was short: ~8.5 miles to Neel's Gap from where I camped. The first 6+ was "all the same" through woods, but much more pleasant than day 2. Then the climb up Blood Mountain. From the Southwest it is comfortably strenuous. But quite gorgeous in its own way, unlike any of the other summits so far. The closer you get to the top, the denser the Mountain Laurel, in full bloom, with petals strewn all over the path. You are walking between huge almost-too-picturesque boulders, moss covered rocks, and ferns everywhere. Just before the summit, you enter a small courtyard-like space bounded on 2 sides by large house-sized boulders, a 1930's era rock cabin and a view to the North. If you can get up on top of the boulders - it's taller than the shelter - you have a good 360 view.

The descent down the Northbound side (wich is East...) is INTENSE. I can't imagine walking up it - parts of it would be like climbing stairs, with each step being the size of a household appliance. The fact that it was high noon did not help. Made it to the car by 12:40. Found my buff at home on the kitchen table.

Premature post-hike analysis

Lessons learned:
1. Though it seemed to work ok on the Claytor hammock the few times I tried it, the system of packing the sleeping bag inside the hammock doesn't do so well on the Warbonnet. It gets all tangled up in the ridgeline, for one. Go back to packing them separate. This would also give the flexibility of pitching the hammock at a lunch break, something I thought about doing more than once

2. Rethink laundry system. The washed socks and underwear have not
dried in 24 hours. If they are still too damp in the morning, perhaps
consider actiually packing more s&u. Enough to bridge laundry stops.
Not that big a deal on a 3 day hike, but was trying to make it work
for potential longer ones. (Socks were wearable but still damp on the 2nd morning. Might still be viable.)

3. Food. Epic fail on the de/re-hydrated chili and the risotto. The rice was like
paste (tasty though) and beans just didn't rehydrate well. Stick with
pasta. The spaghetti & meat sauce with the fancy mushrooms was fantastic. May try mac & cheese with peas or
broccoli, and bacon crumbles. That sounded good while I was eating
crunchy chili.

4. Gatorade. Bring Gatorade, for the love of God.

[Sent via fruit-themed mobile device.]

Day 2

8 pm Sunday.
As if yesterday's hanging spot wasn't just about perfect, I think I
did it one better. I arrived at my planned destination Woody Gap at
3:40. There was plenty of day left but I was just too sore and tired
to press on. The camp sites at woody gap are tucked away on some side
trails and unmarked. The best spot I could find was overlooking the
parking lot from a higher bluff. I was reminded that this was probably
the very spot that Certain witnessed a car heist on her 07 attempt. I
wasn't crazy about being that close to the road so close to a town, so
I decided to go further down the trail.

....Two miles later...

Now I am on top of Big Cedar Mountain, on a rock outcropping with a vista
view facing southeast. Thanks to a mystery day hiker who clued me in
to this spot. If not for him I probably would have settled for the
viewless clearing with the scary ant hill I had just passed. Instead I
am about to see the sun set on the mountains, and will probably get a
pretty amazing daybreak as well. I angled my trarp so as not to impede
the view from the hammock.

The rest on the day was kind of dull. The scenery was "just woods" and
with the exception of some fern glades, ugly woods at that. Also some
brutal climbs and descents. The first person I saw all day was at
noon. The highlight was eating lunch soaking my feet in a stream.

Since I overclocked the miles today, I may just be able to get to my
car by lunch time. At the very least, lunch on Blood Mountain, which
is probably 45 minutes before the car. That happened last time as well
- a forced march on the second day, and a very short last day. The
thought of going into Helen for lunch is enticing.

Trail thoughts day 1

The ending is perfect. Arriving at three forks, it looked like I would
be passing up the perfect camp site - large trees on a flat wide
pinestraw bed next to the intersection of three amazing trout streams.
But I wanted to get in just one more mile for a full 13, and it was
only 4:15. I'm glad I did - the next stop was Long Creek Falls. I
passed some tents with father-sons camping, to find a perfect spot
right at the base of the falls. I held back a little so as not to ruin
anybody else's photo op, and there have already been a few come
through. But one of the trees I'm tied to is leaning out over the
water. I'm having a cigar while waiting for the pasta to soak. No
earplugs tonight - this one has it's own white noise generator.

The ride from Neels to Amicalola went without a hitch (well I did
forget my Buff - my single most versatile & useful piece of gear).
Thanks to Survivor Dave for the shuttle. I left Amicalola at 9:30 and
arrived at springer at 1:15. That's 8 point something miles - pretty
fast, lots of uphill, but no breaks. On the summit were a large group
of day hikers, genteel mid 50's couples from Boston & Colorado. I
dubbed them the Boston Yacht & Tennis Expedition. Two college girls
showed up, also day hiking. Sounded like one of them was in med
school, and she knew about Camp Kudzu.

I left the summit at 2 and arrived at this spot at 4:45 - 5 miles for
13 on the day. Dinner time.

[Sent via fruit-themed mobile device.]

The case for working with your hands

Excellent New York Times article.

The trades suffer from low prestige, and I believe this is based on a simple mistake. Because the work is dirty, many people assume it is also stupid. This is not my experience. I have a small business as a motorcycle mechanic in Richmond, Va., which I started in 2002. I work on Japanese and European motorcycles, mostly older bikes with some "vintage" cachet that makes people willing to spend money on them. I have found the satisfactions of the work to be very much bound up with the intellectual challenges it presents. And yet my decision to go into this line of work is a choice that seems to perplex many people.

Warbonnet On

Just got my new Warbonnet Blackbird on Friday and had a chance to string it up in the back yard today. My last hike I was feeling cramped (though admittedly would have been tolerably comfortable in my frugality if I had not just read several rave reviews of the BB before the hike) in my Claytor Expedition. Even at 5-8 I was always trying to releive my heels from digging in on the Exped, and found myself wishing for some place to put "stuff" - cellphone, beanie, headlamp, etc. So as soon as I got home I got on the e-horn with Warbonnet and ordered one.

Wait time was only 2 weeks~ish - I was expecting a lot more due to the buzz on Hammockforums.net, so I was pleasantly surprised. My Claytor took just as long but it ships from southeast asia. Ordered on the 7th, shipped on the 21st, arrived on the 24th. Sweet deal.

I love the double ended stuff sack. I went ahead and tied a second knot on the head end drawstring after initial unpacking, just so I'd know which way to point it when hanging. Initial impressions lying in it: Comfy! I never could seem to get flat enough in the Claytor, without feeling like I was forcing the hammock into an asym line with pressure on my heels, or having to curl up in a ball on my side. In the BB you are enveloped in a billowing cloud of ultrasil wombness. And I can get pretty flat, or at least much more comfortable. And there is so much material! If not for the shock-cord tie outs, it feels like it would wrap in on you. The inside structural ridge line could also be handy for clipping gear to. My model has the double bottom (Claytor bias). I like how the inner lining is stitched on the zipper side. There is so much material, it would surely bunch up in the bottom of the hammock if not secured this way. Installing the pad was no problem.

If I had to pick one point to dock, it would be that the sides are so high, it blocks most of any breeze. This probably comes from the Henessy end of the design influance spectrum (just from looking at pics of the HH). The BB is more like a nylon bowl with a mesh lid, where the Claytor was more like a pea pod with a nylon bottom half and a mesh top half. But for a backpacking hammock, most hang time is spent in the cool/cold night hours studying the backs of your eyelids, not hot afternoons swinging in the breeze. Field report will follow up on that. But so far I like it.

To backtrack a bit, the Claytor Expedition is a fine hammock. The fact that it is half the price of the BB almost puts it into a diffferent category for comparison purposes. The best features of the Claytor (the features that initially convinced me to get a Claytor) are available in the BB (double bottom for pad instertion, zip-off/open mesh) . The BB incorporates some of the best features of other designs and DIY mods as well - asym, tie-outs, gear storage, ring buckle straps.

Trail journals

Special thanks to xkcd.com

Delicious Enfield V-Twin project

Wow. Just wow. He built this himself, starting with a Royal Enfield single and a spare engine. And a bunch of textbooks and self-taught machining. Full story here.

bump

Pics added below

Day 2: Gregory Bald

Back home now. I was just too tired to trailblog Sunday night. Sunday we were up by 7, on the trail by 9. That's how long it takes, with a 90/10% split (optimistically) on breakfast prep and camp duties. About 50 yards down the rail, we realized there was a creek crossing that would involve getting wet. We switched to Crocs, and waded across, which was a nice icy wake-me-up. As we were putting our shoes back on, I joked that I bet there was another one right around the corner. It wasn't so funny when we rounded the next corner. This time we decided to just wade through it, we would have all day for our shoes and socks to dry before temperatures would drop to chilly again. I had selected Merino wool socks and mostly-mesh hiking shoes for just this reason, after the Jacks River trip last spring.

It was a long and hot (for April) hike to the top of Gregory Bald. The grassy & shrubby mountain meadow on top provided views into TN and NC that were well worth it. We even spotted some deer bedding down in a thicket very close by. The bridle path over this part of the mountaintop has been used by cattle herders, native Americans, and ungulates for centuries, and is thus rutted up to 6" deep into the surrounding grass. The "only" 4 miles down to the camp site was anti-climactic... painfully steep in places, waterless, and seemed to go on for ever. The trail was not on the USGS map, so was very difficult to judge position and progress. Every bend wanted to be the last one, but never was. It was one of those days where you are kindof in a daze when you reach camp. Camped next to another postcard-perfect mountain stream. Between dinner and bed time, a short thunderstorm hammered us for a few minutes, including a flashbang-close lighting burst that left us blinking. That night it rained for a while in the wee hours, but we stayed dry.

The next morning was a short 2 mile hike back to the car, along some of the most scenic streams yet. Jason called them "stage sets" they seemed so picturesque. This section had single-log bridges at each crossing. We stopped by Fontana Dam to play tourist, on our drive back. Again saw waves of AT hikers - Fontana Dam is a benchmark in that it marks the gateway to the GSMNP on the AT. The clouds never cleared all day, and it kept getting colder. Checking the weather, I see it did in fact dip to 23 last night. So the shortened trip was well advised.