Day 8: 100 miles

Hiked 23.9 miles, staying in Long Branch shelter.

We got off to an early start today and got out of camp in record time.  It was chilly but we quickly warmed up with an intense three mile climb out of Bly Gap. Once we were up to North Carolina's altitude the terrain wasn't too bad.  Why Not hiked with Srocket and I for all of today as well.

Sunrise as we climb out of Bly Gap

On the way up Standing Indian Mountain we ran into Hikergurl who we haven't seen in two days.  As a side note I just wanted to mention that Hikergurl is being sponsored by Warrior Hike.  It is an organization that sponsors veterans to hike long distance trails like the AT as a means to cope with things like PTSD.  It is a pretty amazing organization and the support for the 18 veterans currently hiking the AT is unbelievable, from mail drops and food to free gear to places to stay in town, even people volunteering rides to town and their homes to stay in. they do an incredible amount for them.  It is an organization absolutely worth supporting.  I would highly recommend at a minimum going on Facebook and liking them as it is a great way to increase visibility and help the organization expand.  For instance, many of the gear vendors that donate free gear use things like facebook to determine the organizations that people around the country feel are important to determine where their money goes.  Warrior hike is hoping to be able to support simultaneous hikers on all three major long distance trails in the next couple years.  Ok plug over, back to our hike...

As we were climbing it we also ran into a trail maintenance crew clearing the most enormous fallen tree from across the trail.  We ate lunch on the top of the mountain which had a spectacular view of the valley.  We were joined later by the work crew who told us of a super secret view point that we needed to see.  It required walking off the trail and through the brush along the spine of the mountain for quite a ways but was completely worth it. There was a rock ledge that jutted out off the mountain and provided an unobstructed 270 degree view. Really amazing.  On the way down the work crew even offered us some Ghiradelli chocolate, yay trail magic!

Why Not posed appropriately in front of the crossing with
the Chunky Gal Trail

Work crew clearing a large fallen tree from the trail

Standing Indian Mountain

HikerGurl

Secret Viewpoint on Standing Indian Mountain

We made it to our original destination of Carter Gap shelter late in the afternoon and found limited space in the shelter.  This was mostly due to three ladies that decided they needed to take up more than half the space in an eight person shelter.  Some people have no concept of trail etiquette.

While there Srocket and Why Not decided they wanted to move onto Betty Creek campsite since they are tenting anyway and wanted to get more miles in before the torrential rain we are getting tomorrow.  Hikergirl and I were tempted to stay since we were in the shelter and having a dry start tomorrow would be nice.  So the group decided to split and I would hike the 3.8 miles super early in the morning and catch up with them.
After eating a quick dinner and feeling rejuvenated and talking with Hikergirl we decided that it would be a really good idea to get up and over Albert mountain today while it is nice, rather than trying to do an exposed rock scramble in a storm.  This meant adding 8.6 miles and another 5000 footer to a 15.3 mile day, which was daunting at 4pm.

We hiked to Betty Creek and grabbed Srocket and Why Not who were just setting up camp.  Up and over the rock scramble we went, up to the fire tower on the top of Albert mountain.  What an amazing vista we got, nothing so far even comes close to comparing.  We got it just at sunset too, couldn't have asked for better.  Even more exciting, Albert marks 100 miles on the trail!

100 Miles!

The view from Albert Mountain

Up in the firetower of Albert Mountain

Best self photo I've ever taken, check out how straight the horizon is!

We had 2.5 miles to go after the peak to the shelter and hoofed it there before dark.  We walked into camp and, someone had a fire going and there was space in the shelter!  An awesome end to an epic day.