June 17th: A Glorious Lord's Day and 600 miles done

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Sun warmed my face as it cleared the ridgeline. A few birds sang and CC slept
soundly as I climbed out of the bag. Grabbed my stuff and walked down to the
hostel from the tree house to make coffee and breakfast. No clouds were to be
seen, the day looked real promising. CC came down around 7:30AM and we did
breakfast as we sorted through our food bags and organized our packs. We should
have done this the night before, but were busy socializing.
We got on the trail by 9:30 then humped up White Rocks Mtn, a 1,700' gain up
to 4,206' in four and a half miles. There were a couple of obligatory false
summits but we are used to them now. We just lean forward into the shoulder
straps and walk. We made the Morland Gap shelter around 1:15PM and had our lunch
there taking a 20 minute break. We are taking less and less breaks as we walk
now. I guess 600 plus miles of conditioning are working. We are in the Cherokee
National Forest now and again the forest has changed. The King's Garden is a
wonderful place to spend a Sunday if you can't make it to church. Walking up the
mountain this morning we were in very old hardwood forest, trees 60' -100'+
stand majestically. There are sporadic rhododendron thickets in the gullies where
there is an abundance of water. Undergrowth is very low brush allowing you to
see quite a distance. Moss covers much of the rocks and tree trunks down low and
the smell of decaying plant matter fills the air.
The trail today was graded so it was not difficult walking up, little rock and
mostly soft dirt and leaves. The difference in how we feel going up hill now vs
in April is night and day. We started out like "The Little Engine Who Thought He
Could" now we move like "The Bullet Train" in comparison. We aren't seeing as
many flowers and trees blooming as before, only the odd late bloomer.
After lunch we talked about how far we would walk before stopping for the day.
CC said she wanted to make it to the Mountaineer Shelter. Bob Peoples, who runs
the hostel we stayed at last night, had told her about it. They built it last
year using hikers for labor. It is a three level affair and sleeps 14 or 15
hikers about 20' square with 15' ground to rafters with a metal roof. All of the work-
hauling in the materials, clearing/grading the site, completing the structure, and
ready to use- took only ONE DAY! There were over 140 hikers to carry the stuff in
some two miles, just amazing. We left the lunch spot at 2PM. Nine miles and
4.25hrs later we dropped our packs beside the great new structure, 15.8 miles
today. Was I supposed to take it easy today being Father's Day and all?
Hope all the fathers out there had as great a day as I did. I received a
question about our tent. Bill (W2PX) one of my ham radio friends made an
observation in the "Dismal Creek Falls" photo. That shot is of our tent minus
the rain fly. To keep the tent light the majority of it is of mosquito netting.
Helps us stay cool down here in the south and when there is no chance for rain
and the trees aren't too thick, we can go to sleep under the stars without bugs.

Patrick, Deborah Mooney aka OD & CC
All Who Wander Are Not Lost

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