st peak east of the Mississippi river. I was a bit nervous, not only b/c I knew it was going to be tough, but b/c of the group I was going with. They are some strong hikers.Boo dropped me off at the meeting spot and I got a ride with Katie (I saw her when I was sectioning the AT last month.) On the drive up, Katie and I chit chatted about our summer plans. She was actually going to hike half of the John Muir Trail. I was so excited for her. I would love to one day hike that trail. It's out west in northern Cali and about 211 miles long. We finally make it to the trail head, at Black Mountain campground and meet up with the rest of the group. It's a large group, ALL ground dwellers too. hahha! Looks like I'll be the only one hanging in a hammock this weekend. After last minute bathroom breaks, we all start on the blue blaze trail up the mountain. It's around 11:30am and we climbed up and up and up all the way up to Commissary Ridge. It took me about 3 hours to climb up 5 miles and as I predicted, I was not the first up. I was actually 3rd to last. Not that it matters, I still made it up, but it definitely showed me I still have a long way to go to keep up with these extreme hikers. The climb was tough. Alot steeper than most climbs I've done. It reminded me of the climb on the AT when you get into NC. Steep and rocky like that. But this climb lasted for 5 miles and it was all uphill. I stopped alot more than I wanted and took one 10 min. break with my pack off.
Commissary r
idge (6300) was a nice wide open spot for camping. The only problem was it was windy as hell. I scouted around the entire area for a non-windy campsite but found nothing. Wind whirled all around and to make matters worse, a cold front was coming in and I could feel the temps drop significantly. After I decided on a couple of sturdy trees, I hung up my tarp and hammock. The tarp violently pulled and swayed back and forth in the wind, but my hammock, inside the tarp, didn't move at all. We had planned on going up to the summit of Mt. Mitchell at sunset. Since it was only 2:30pm, I decided to not go up with a group needing to go to the store for some supplies. It was a 1.6 mile climb to the summit and store and another 1.6 climb back down. I decided to stay and help gather wood for the fire that night and to rest. I'll climb up for the sunset. As I filtered water, gathered wood, and chilaxed, I noticed the weather getting really chilly. I had to pull out my down jacket. Thank goodness I brought it. I almost didn't b/c I thought it wasn't going to be that chilly this weekend. In fact, most everyone had pulled out their jackets, gloves, and hats.
idge (6300) was a nice wide open spot for camping. The only problem was it was windy as hell. I scouted around the entire area for a non-windy campsite but found nothing. Wind whirled all around and to make matters worse, a cold front was coming in and I could feel the temps drop significantly. After I decided on a couple of sturdy trees, I hung up my tarp and hammock. The tarp violently pulled and swayed back and forth in the wind, but my hammock, inside the tarp, didn't move at all. We had planned on going up to the summit of Mt. Mitchell at sunset. Since it was only 2:30pm, I decided to not go up with a group needing to go to the store for some supplies. It was a 1.6 mile climb to the summit and store and another 1.6 climb back down. I decided to stay and help gather wood for the fire that night and to rest. I'll climb up for the sunset. As I filtered water, gathered wood, and chilaxed, I noticed the weather getting really chilly. I had to pull out my down jacket. Thank goodness I brought it. I almost didn't b/c I thought it wasn't going to be that chilly this weekend. In fact, most everyone had pulled out their jackets, gloves, and hats. Once the group returned from the summit and store, we all decided to cook dinner. It was only 5pm, so we had plenty of time to get back up to the summit for the sunset. I tried to light my esbit and wasted 2 whole books of matches b/c the wind kept putting out the flames. It was so frustrating. I finally asked Katie if she could heat me some water in her jet boi
l. (Damn! did I miss my jet boil right then and there.) After a hot dinner, on a cold and windy mountain top, Teresa breaks out the liquor. She had brought some authentic apple pie moonshine from TN. Now, I'm not a big drinker out in the back country, but every said I had to at least try it. I've had moonshine before and it has always tasted like straight rocket fuel, so I was a little leary. But, I was polite and I took a sip. WOW! this stuff tasted just like apple pie and it was soooo good. No pure grainy alcohol taste. It was smooth and delish! I couldn't believe it was moonshine! As we were passing around the bottle, Anne was sitting over her pocket rocket stove baking a chocolate cake! No joke. It was Paul's birthday and she was slow simmering a chocolate cake for everyone. After we sang the Birthday song, we all enjoyed a warm, gooey, chocolaty slice of cake it was too good. By now, the temps had dipped down really low and the wind had picked up. Everyone had agreed to bag the summit climb. I was a bit disappointed b/c the whole purpose of this trip was to climb to the summit of Mt. Mitchell. I had already climbed 5 miles straight up just to get to this point. I only had 1.6 miles to the summit. But, they were right. It was too cold, windy, and it was getting late and dark. So I'll have to save climbing Mt. Mitchell for another weekend. Or I could just drive up there like most tourist do. hahaha! No, I'll have to come back and climb it.
l. (Damn! did I miss my jet boil right then and there.) After a hot dinner, on a cold and windy mountain top, Teresa breaks out the liquor. She had brought some authentic apple pie moonshine from TN. Now, I'm not a big drinker out in the back country, but every said I had to at least try it. I've had moonshine before and it has always tasted like straight rocket fuel, so I was a little leary. But, I was polite and I took a sip. WOW! this stuff tasted just like apple pie and it was soooo good. No pure grainy alcohol taste. It was smooth and delish! I couldn't believe it was moonshine! As we were passing around the bottle, Anne was sitting over her pocket rocket stove baking a chocolate cake! No joke. It was Paul's birthday and she was slow simmering a chocolate cake for everyone. After we sang the Birthday song, we all enjoyed a warm, gooey, chocolaty slice of cake it was too good. By now, the temps had dipped down really low and the wind had picked up. Everyone had agreed to bag the summit climb. I was a bit disappointed b/c the whole purpose of this trip was to climb to the summit of Mt. Mitchell. I had already climbed 5 miles straight up just to get to this point. I only had 1.6 miles to the summit. But, they were right. It was too cold, windy, and it was getting late and dark. So I'll have to save climbing Mt. Mitchell for another weekend. Or I could just drive up there like most tourist do. hahaha! No, I'll have to come back and climb it. We made our wa
y to the fire pit and Brandon got a good fire going. All night the wind blew and made the flames whipped every which way, trying to reach out and lick us. It was a constant dance of getting close to the fire to stay warm and running away from the flames before I caught on fire! haha! Around 8:30pm, still daylight, Brandon informs us that his temperature gauge said it was 32 degrees out. Now I KNOW it's going to be a cold night. It may even dip below freezing. As we all huddled around the fire, chit chatting, most everyone drinking something to warm them up. I snapped some photos and caught up with Rob, Donna, Teresa, Cathy and Patrick, we had all spent New Years together and barely saw one another since. We were such a large group, it was like a huge party. I think there was a total of 20 of us. (Steven, Allison, Gary, Rob, Donna, Teresa, Cathy, Patrick, Brad, Katie, Bob, Sandy, Peter, Russell, Anne, Paul, Karen, Brandon, Andrea, Doug, Bruce, and me.)
Around 10pm, everyone started filtering back to their tents. It was getting really cold and I wanted to slink into my sleeping bag. So I said good night and shimmy shivered to my hammock. The winds were howling as I slid into my hammock. Thank goodness I brought all my cold weather set up b/c I was warm and snug. I had a hard time falling asleep b/c the tarp kept swaying back and forth and when I did finally get to sleep, I woke up around midnight to a loud flapping noise. Two of my tarp stakes were ripped out from the ground and my tarp end was flapping around. I got out into the freezing, windy, night air, turned on my headlamp and tried to find the stakes. I couldn't find them at all. Thank goodness I carry spares, so I re-staked the tarp, tightened down the lines, and climbed back into my hammock. I woke up again around 2pm, when one of my tensioners on the tarp snapped. I jerry-rigged the tarp for the night and vowed never to camp in such high winds again. I finally fell asleep and didn't wake up til 8am.
No one was up y
et. I went to water the leaves and decided to climb back into my hammock. It was freezing out. (I later found out that Patrick had icicles and frost in his tent.) Around 9am, I braved the elements again and quickly packed up my campsite. I decided against oatmeal for breakfast and just ate a protein bar. Big mistake. My protein bar was frozen solid! It hurt my teeth just to bite into it. hahaha! Andrea invited me to hike the 5 miles back to the car with her, Cathy, and Doug. I told Katie I'd see her at the car, (she was still packing up her tent and I didn't want to rush her.) So, in my down jacket, I started the climb down. The hike down was so much quicker and easier. We flew down the steep, rocky, rooty trail and made it down in 1 hour and 40 minutes. The weather was so different down below. It was warmer and no wind. I actually changed out into some flip flops.When everyone arrived, we all decided to meet up at a little Italian restaurant for some pizza. We
drove the 16 miles to Sienna, all bustled in and took over the front dining room. When it came order, we found out that on Sunday's they serve a traditional southern lunch buffet. Ham, mashed potatoes, mac-n-cheese, greens, rolls, meat loaf, banana pudding, and salad bar. It was such a disappointment. I had my mind ready for some pizza and now I have to eat stuff I normally wouldn't eat anyways. I rarely eat potatoes, ham, or meatloaf. oh well. I was still hungry, so I had a big salad, some mac-n-cheese, and the one piece of chocolate cake they had. Later on that night, once I got home, Boo made sure I got my pizza fix. hahaha! Over all it was a good trip. It tested my ability to climb up for 5 miles. I wish I would of made it up to the summit, but now I have a reason to come back. Til next time... GET OUTDOORS!!!
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