Day 11

Weather:
High/Low - 40 (day got colder)

Today's Hike:
Bly Gap to Beech Gap - 12.1 miles

The first climb today was a dozzie. In fact, I liked it so much I did it twice. I was all the way up our first steep climb when I realized that I had left my crocs at camp. After shouting out some choice words to myself I stopped for a moment contemplating my choices; forward on and leave the crocs OR drop my pack and go back and get them. Cindi was already ahead of me and had no idea what was going on, but I knew she should be expecting me to show up any minute. Still, I decided to drop my pack and go back. Thirty minutes later she was standing near the summit of whatever mountain we were climbing cursing my name saying I gave her a heart attack. Oops......did I do that?

We spent most of our first day in NC climbing. We reached Standing Indian Shelter around 2pm and decided to press on. The guidebook indicated a campsite and water at the next summit.
The trail between the shelter and the summit was very rocky and rough on my feet. The leaves were so thick along the trail in some places that I couldn't see the trail (or the rocks....or the tree stems...) underneath which resulted in rolling ankles and a string a curse words several times.

We reached the summit around 4pm, and started following the blue blazes to the water/campsite but we weren't having much luck with finding the water. It was 2.9 miles to the next campsite. We were both done for the day, but we needed water for dinner so after much resistance we decided to press on; it should only take 2 hours. We reached Beech Gap just before 6pm, and we were both completely wiped out. I looked at Cindi, "Never Again". We both nodded. An hour later I was in the tent and ready for bed.