Winding Stair Gap to Wayah Shelter

APRIL 16, 2012

Winding Stair Gap to Wayah Shelter - Strenuous
11 miles in 7 hours

After a good night’s sleep at Sapphire Inn, we were ready to go again.  We walked over to McDonald’s for breakfast and got extra to eat later on the trail.  We were packed up and ready for the return shuttle to Winding Stair Gap before 9:00.  Unfortunately, our shuttle driver was not so ready.  It was 9:45 before we were on the trail and ready to start our day’s hike. 

On the ride to the gap we met two interesting men, Clyde and Nightwalker.  Nightwalker has been commissioned by the Appalachian Trail Conversancy to update the AT distances.  He had 7 or 8 pounds of equipment in his pack.  They started at Springer Mountain in early April and it was our privilege to coincide with them on this part of the trip.  We leapfrogged with them to the NOC but lost them when they decided to slackpack backwards from Stecoah Gap. 

The walk through Swinging Lick Gap and Panther Gap was pretty pleasant; several times the trail went right down the middle of a stream. 

Swinging "Lick" Gap, Elevation 4100'

Panther Gap, Elevation 4480'

Suddenly at the top of a hill, we came to a wide open clearing which looked like an excellent place to sit in the grass and take a break.  Going off to the north of us was a grassy knoll with a trail running the length of it leading to the top of Siler Bald.  I understand it is a very popular hike for locals to come for the magnificent view from Siler Bald.  In fact, we hiked part of the way up with a gentleman who was doing a day hike to Siler Bald.  However, we did not feel that we had the energy to make the extra distance to the bald, so after our break, we continued following the white blazes of the AT. 

Our hiking buddy going up to Siler Bald.

Siler Bald

Wayah Gap, Elevation 4180'

From an elevation of 4600’ we dipped back down to 4180’ in Wayah Gap, then had a strenuous climb back up to 5342’ at Wayah Bald.  I have often said the AT wouldn’t be so bad if it were not for the gaps – they always go down, then you have to go back up to where you started from.

We met a young man named Josh and his female friend thru-hiking together.  They had started hiking on April Fool's Day at Springer Mountain.  We saw them frequently along the trail although they seemed to get a late start each day and hiked until bed time usually.

A frequently seen sign at the gaps on the highways.

We passed Qwyatt on the trail and chatted with him for awhile.  We found out that he had stayed at Saphhire Inn last night with his wife; he saw us walking back from McDonald’s this morning when they left.  So he got an earlier start than us. We asked about his destination for the day and he said as long as he could find two trees close enough together, he could stop anywhere and hang his hammock; he usually doesn’t try to make it to a shelter.  We warned him of the storm which had been forcast for the night and he said he didn’t worry, he had a cover.  That’s the last time we saw Qwyatt, we wish him well.  He was a very nice man.

Big Spring Shelter to Winding Stair Gap

APRIL 15, 2012

Big Spring Shelter to Winding Stair Gap - Easy

9.1 miles in 5 hours

Today was suppose to be a 12.2 day which meant it would be late when we get into Franklin tonight and not give us much time to rest before starting again tomorrow.  But, thanks to our decision yesterday to go on over Albert Mountain, we will have more time to restock and do our laundry this afternoon when we go into town.  That’s one of those decisions that you hate at the time, but are glad you did it.

After an uneventful night in the tent and a good night’s rest, we left camp at 8:20 and had a fairly easy hike.

As we were approaching Rock Gap Shelter from the trail above, I couldn’t help but notice that we could see right into the privy as we passed by.  Good thing no one was in there!  In fact, we found this to be true of several privies in NC- not very private.

Elevation 4160'

First view of US 64 from above.

At the paved road intersection beside the sign pointing the way to Standing Indian Campground, we met Qwyatt, a thru-hiker, waiting on his wife to come spend the night with him in Franklin.  He offered us a ride into Franklin but we still had 3.7 miles to go before we quit, so we continued across the road and into the forest again. He promised to pick us up at Winding Stair Gap if we were there when they went by.  We found a good water source just past the intersection and refilled our water bottles. 

We reached Winding Stair Gap along with four young men.  They gathered beside the parking lot while I ventured out to the side of the road to stick out my thumb to hitchhike.  They said to my husband that I should not be playing like that because someone might stop.  He said I wasn’t playing; I was really trying to hitch a ride into town.   Wait-up joined me in my efforts and in about 15 minutes a car suddenly pulled over to the side of the road.  A nice lady inside said “Y’all look like good folks.”  “We are,” I said, to which she said, “Well, get in!”  So we stuffed one backpack in the already-loaded trunk of her small car and another one we crammed in the back seat with me.  I don’t know how many times that sweet lady said, “I can’t believe I’m doing this.”  Well, I couldn’t believe we had hitchhiked either but we did, just part of the AT experience! 

Catch-up hitchhiking into Franklin.

Lynn is a retired educator, just like us as it turned out.  She took us right to the Sapphire Inn where we had already reserved a room.  If you read this, Lynn, let us say again “Thank you!”

Wait-up hitchhiking into Franklin.