We hiked this section on July 22, 2013 during the Appalachian Trail Conservancy’s 2013 Biennial Conference in Cullowhee, NC.
Dirigo was the hike leader and Python was the sweep. This was a key exchange hike from the departure area. It was a bit chaotic this morning because there were so many people and our group (northbound) needed 4 cars at Tellico Gap whereas the southbound group only needed 3. To add to the confusion, the southbound hike leader thought he was going to start at Wayah Bald.
The parking area at Wayah Bald is rather larger and has pit toilets.
During the pre-hike talk, Dirigo told everyone that this was “their” hike and encouraged everyone to take as many pictures as they wanted. We had heard grumblings from other hikers that a certain hiker leader had set a 4 mph pace on a hike yesterday. Not good!
We left the parking lot at Wayah Bald around 9:45 AM and within a minute we were at Wayah Bald Tower. The mountain was socked in by clouds.
Mary Ann first stepped foot on the Appalachian Trail at this conference! She is a friend of “Jay from Ohio” and she came to the conference because “Jay from Ohio” took care of all the logistics. This was her third consecutive hike and she did not have a trail name. She suggested “Dragonfly” since she was wearing a hat with a dragonfly.
We had a gentle descent into Licklog Gap followed by a small ascent. Dirigo talked with Larry Luxemburg about the AT museum and the expansion that is happening as they move forward. Then we had another gentle descent into Burningtown Gap. We ate lunch at Burningtown Gap – there is parking at this gap.
Right after lunch we ran into the southbound group and they all held up their poles so that we could walk underneath them. I guess this is some kind of hiker salute?
We had a nice long climb after lunch and stopped at the Cold Spring Shelter for a break. Jennifer Pharr Davis was struck by lightning at this shelter while she was changing her clothes!
Cold Spring Shelter
The privy was nasty and had bags of concrete in it, so hope their plans are to do some work to it.
During the break, we started to discuss who should play Katz if a movie was ever made from the book “A Walk in the Wood.” Fred said that Zach Galifianakis would make the perfect Katz. We wondered how Fred knew how to pronounce Zach’s last name. Well, Fred is a retired school teacher from North Carolina and Zach was his student in junior high.
The rain started about 30 minutes after the break at the shelter. It was raining pretty hard by the time we reached Rocky Bald so no one wanted to stop for the view but the hikers in the rear were still all smiles. Fred said that looking through his poncho hood made him feel like a mule with blinders on. So, we called our trio the “mule gang.”
Those in the front were moving fast as some didn’t want to put on their rain gear as they thought they would be hot. Dirigo was thinking about the cloth seats in her truck.
We had to be careful during our descent into Tellico Gap because of the slippery trail. Every one took their time and rested when needed.
The rain stopped about 20 minutes before Python reached Tellico Gap. Dirigo dropped her pack at the truck and came back up the trail to make sure everyone was all okay. The descent was wet and slippery and she wanted to be sure everyone got down safely. She asked the others to hang tight and wanted a group picture of everyone at the end.
The tower at Wayah Bald is impressive! Love the pics and trail descriptions.
Our friend from the GATC said that NC trail was very similar to Georgia.