Day 56: Oh captain, my captain

Hiked 22.3 miles, camping on Wind Rock.

The expected storms never hit last night and we woke up to bright sunshine this morning.  After a relatively early start we set off along another ridgeline.  After walking the two miles to the shelter we ran into Aquaman who had stayed there.  We stopped to chat with him while admiring a great view.  The cloud deck was so low today that we were actually completely above the clouds all morning.  I love being able to look down on the clouds and seeing the mountains popping out of them is a spectacular sight, and not one you usually get at this altitude.  Aquaman is doing much better and is trying to get some miles in now.

First view of the day, looking down on the clouds

Looking down on the clouds through the trees

Why Not talking with Aquaman up on a hill

Looking down from the first shelter

Looking down from the first shelter

That's where we go next

Aquaman and Why Not

Dip'n'sip and further ahead is Why Not

When we reached Symms Meadow, Dip'n'sip, Why Not and I stopped to admire the view and have a snack.  While we were sitting there a familiar face walked by and both Dip'n'sip and I looked at each other thinking ' it can't be...', but it was GQ!  The last time we saw him was Hiawasee!  That is about 600 miles ago!

With low exposure the lighting is so cool

Looking down on the clouds with awesome lighting

9 AM photo

Symms Meadow

We had a big descent down to the next shelter and I stopped to get water partway down.  When I caught up to Dip'n'sip he was standing there with another hiker, Roadrunner, and they were both nervously eyeing the trail and Dip'n'sip was holding a huge rock.  Their cause for concern was an enormous Timber Rattlesnake next to the trail who was making it clear he was not happy about being disturbed.  There wasn't much room to detour off the trail to get around him so we edged along the side of the trail as quietly and slowly as possible.  With that hurdle passed we stopped at the shelter for lunch.  While we ate, an F-18 came roaring over our heads extremely low.  Crazy morning!

Rattlesnake on the side of the trail

In the span of a week we have gone from late winter to full blown summer.   It is now very hot during the day, edging closer and closer in temperature to the 90s.  You just can't hike in the heat of the day so what most thru hikers do is get up early, get a bunch of miles in, nap and relax in the shade between 1 and 3 and then start hiking again.  It is daylight from 6 am to almost 9 pm now and it gives lots of flexibility to do that.

As we ate Monk, Coach, Roadrunner and Waffles all trickled in.  Today instead of napping in the shelter they suggested heading another mile further to "The Captain's".  The Captain is a guy who opens his yard to hikers to camp in.  It is a beautiful location next to a large stream.  To get across from the trail you have to take a zip line with a swing under it.  It was so much fun.  The stream was great for swimming and everyone took a dip and then hung up their clothes to dry. The Captain kindly provides soda for the hikers and we all had a few.  He had all the usual kinds but I enjoyed sampling the strawberry soda, peach soda and orange pineapple soda.  The peach was really good, I'm going to have to try to find that.

Monk crossing the zipline

Chillin at the Captain's

Why Not zips across

Everyone went for a swim, the cold stream felt fantastic

The Captain's

Everyone relaxing in the sun

As we arrived at The Captain's a bunch of people were already there including Mowgli, Animal, Scarecrow, Goatman and Beetlejuice.  We relaxed in the yard there for a long time.  As we sat there  Bluegrass, Salsa, Twigs and Donnie also zipped over.  This place is a very nice place to relax and we almost got stuck there for the night.  Instead we decided to do the 2.9 miles to the next shelter.  Salsa, Bluegrass, Twix, Coach, Aquaman and Pigpen all got stuck in the vortex and decided to camp there for the night.

The climb back up to the next ridgeline seemed really tough, but it was probably partly just the end of a long day of hiking.  Srocket, Dip'n'sip and Why Not all decided to stay in the shelter there but Monk, Waffles, Roadrunner and myself decided to push it a little further up to Wind Rock.  The hope was to see a nice sunset from the viewpoint there.  There is also  camping at Wind Rock and that was where we decided to end for the evening.

Evening view from Wind Rock

Cooking in front of the beautiful view

Storm clouds moving along the other ridge as night moves in

Everyone enjoying a beautiful evening, Scarecrow and Beetlejuice on the left

We were all wiped when we made it to Wind Rock but it was totally worth it, what a view.  I sat on the rock outcrop with the others and cooked a much needed dinner.  The sunset wasn't anything special because of the clouds.  What was special though was getting to watch a thunderstorm on the next ridgeline over from us.  The lightning show was incredible.  Tomorrow I get to sleep in a bit to wait for Srocket, Why Not and Dip'n'sip to show up, should be nice!