Slackpacking and the Wolf

Wet Climb



After our first real “Zero Day” (so named because it is a day in which you go zero miles), we woke up late and ate breakfast at some place called Wilson's in Franklin, NC with a bunch of other Thru-Hikers. When we got back to the Budget Inn, Ron Haven was there with his thru-hiker short bus. We got a ride up to the trailhead with a bunch of the folks we've been hanging with.

When, in desperation, my brothers and I came off the trail two days ago, we got a ride from Dave at the road about 3 miles before most people get off to go to Franklin, so the other hikers would be starting ahead of us. While we dropped them off, Ron suggested we stuff our packs in the Mountain Laurel off trail a ways and do what is called “slack-packing” to make up time. Slack-packing is when you stage your pack somewhere and get a ride further up or down the trail, and then you hike the section between without a pack; or, with a significantly lighter pack, carrying only daily essentials. Our hiking speed was dramatically different. We slack-packed Rock Gap to Winding Stair gap (about 3 miles) in less than an hour and then picked our full packs up (reluctantly) and picked up where the others had started earlier that day..

The climb up to Wayah (“Wayah” means wolf in Cherokee) was horrible and I was constantly on the verge of bonking; but we were still making good time until somewhere in the middle of the day when it started to rain again. Soon came hail and torrent while lightning was striking the mountains all around us. There were times when the lightning would strike less than a thousand feet away. The “Wolf” was definitely howling. Thank God our Mom used to take us out on the porch when we were young to "enjoy" the summer electric storms in Pennsylvania. It was kind of like that, only scarier and a lot wetter. At times we were walking in ankle deep rivulets as the steep trail turned into a flowing stream. The good thing is that we got hit so hard the last time with rain that we went to an outfitter and upgraded our gear. I can’t express how glad I was that we did that. It could have been so much worse.

By the time we got to Wayah Shelter, the rain had subsided; but of course, all was wet, the shelter was full and so were all of the campsites. A girl named Trailfox was there along with two guys named HaHa and Slow. There was this crazy, old Army Ranger dude who admitted he hadn’t been taking his meds and we encouraged him to do so (especially after discovering his vast collection of combat cutlery and enthusiasm for demonstrating its use) we met Longtoe from Austria, and the rest of the crew was there, like Cubit, MadMtMike and others.

It was COLD... AGAIN! Our spaghetti was damn good though. We just came up with a new method and I’m really happy about it. We mixed up some tomato paste and some sauce mix and cooked up a pound of angel hair pasta to split between the three of us. It was DAMN GOOD! I hung my hammock from two trees on the side of a crazy hill while most of the guys looked on with dubious curiosity; uncertain of the hammock’s feasibility. It’s good I had that thing ‘cause I wouldn’t have been able to put up a tent anywhere. It was hard enough hanging it between two trees on this crazy slope with wet leaves sliding everywhere. Everything was on a hill and everything was wet. The night was dreary, it rained some more and sleep came none too soon.

David AKA "Jukebox"

Website:
http://www.brotherproof.com
Blog:
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Film:
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Day 8: The Hypothermic Haul

Albert Mountain View


We got up and Rolex was buggin’ to go. It was a freezing, windy night and getting out of the hammock was reluctance personified. I should have trusted my instincts about the bear hang, my food bag got chewed into by some ingenious raccoon and although he didn't get far, he did enough damage that I’ll have to get another food bag. Doc took off early, said she wanted to take it slow, bein’ Sunday and all. We split the shelter at 8:45 and HAULED! After we crested Standing Indian Mountain, the road was EASY GOIN’. Soon the rain started to fall and it got COLD. Finally, we were making some good time. For the first time this trip, we were killin’ our schedule and then; Mount Albert happened.

There was this bad-ass fire tower up on a high mountain. People had been talking about how great it was. We saw it as we came up to the mountain and although the climb looked a little rough, we heard we’d be able to see China from the top. As we climbed, the rain got worse and the rocks were very slick and steep. It was tough, dangerous and anti-climactic because, by the time we got there, the fog and mist had enveloped the mountain and there was no view at all. We were freezin’ so we pressed on. Somewhere along the line we decided we were going back into the next town and we had to make the road to Franklin. It would be a long, cold, wet one; 21 miles, but we'd get it done. We were flying.

We got to a road where we got cell service as long as we stood in this one spot out in the open. It was getting dusky and they referred us to Dave, the shuttle guy. It took a while for Dave to pick us up but he finally got us as the hypothermia was getting ready to set in. I was soaked to the bone and miserable. We had no shelter and the wind was blowing cold and wet. It seemed like an eternity waiting for him to show up and I was really worried I would start to go into shock right there. My body was exhausted and I had nothing dry to wear; nothing to keep the wind from cutting right into me. Cyclone and Rolex weren’t any better. We tried to shield each other standing by the road but we had to stay in the five foot by five foot area that the cell phone had reception or we might miss Dave’s call. This storm made it clear that I have to get some new gear tomorrow, a new set of raingear at least. I had decided to use a poncho ‘cause it fit over the backpack but it just doesn’t shield me form the driving rain and wind

Dave arrived and took us to the Budget Inn, a place that caters to hikers. I washed our clothes and blogged while Rolex and Cyclone ordered a couple pizzas and Coke. Dominoes ripped us off for 28 bucks but we were desperate. We gulped it down and warmed ourselves with the room heaters on Warp speed. I slogged through Internet uploads until they closed the office and I was forced to succumb to sleep, sweet sleep while Indiana Jones solved puzzles and fought Germans on the small TV set in the corner.

David AKA "Jukebox"

Website:
http://www.brotherproof.com
Blog:
http://brotherproof.blogspot.com
Pictures:
http://www.photobucket.com/brotherproof
Film:
http://www.youtube.com/wbaf1
Myspace:
http://www.myspace.com/brotherproof
David's Website:
http://www.davidpatrone.com