Shakedown Hike #1 / North Carolina Advernturetime: Conquering Albert

Monday, July 22

I awoke refreshed and with a better outlook. We packed up camp and headed the hell of out of Betty Creek Gap. And of course, about a quarter of a mile down the trail, we hit Mooney Gap which had a campsite that looked a million times better than any of those in Betty Creek, although there was a “No Camping” sign posted and was situated right along a forest road. We stopped for water, which didn’t take as long as it did at Carter Gap, so maybe perception is everything in these instances. At this point, the next mile and a half was all uphill to Albert Mountain. I donned the GoPro, and off we went!

The going was tough, and the tough got going indeed. We made great time as I pushed forward to make it to our next checkpoint. We passed a group of hikers from the ATC Biennial conference, whose only warning was “It’s about to get rocky.” Rocky was an understatment. There were boulders that we had to climb up in order to get to the summit of Albert. The overhand climb was a little tough because I wasn’t used to the extra weight of my pack and there were moments when I wasn’t sure how I was going to make it. I cursed mothernature many a time on the way up, but when we finally made it, I was exstatic. Beautiful views and clear weather greeted us at the top, and we celebrated with a hot lunch. This was a bad idea.

We hung out on Albert longer than Chase wanted to, but I welcomed the break after our tough ascent. On the way down, the food weighed heavy in my belly, and it we moved slower than anticipated. My feet began to hurt from the steep desent, but it leveled out soon enough. We made it into a beautiful valley area and stumbled upon a brand new shelter. We took the opportunity to rest and to talk to a guy who camped at Standing Indian Campground often. We weren’t too far from Glassmine Gap and the trail back to the parking lot, so we pressed on, stopping to take pictures at a stream coming out of the base of a tree. The trail was pretty easy through here and we were at Glassmine Gap sooner than we expected.

We took a short break and then turned down Long Branch Trail. This trail was narrow and seemed like it wasn’t used very often. There were a few downed trees and we were forced to reroute around them. A lot of the trail was downhill and my feet and ankles were starting to really hurt. We weren’t too far from the car at this point, and I was yearning for a bit of AC and a place to sit down.  The guy we were talking to at the shelter caught up to us and passed us, which was a little discouraging until I realized he wasn’t carrying 30lbs on his back.

We made it back to the car and I was happy to unload my pack and take my boots off. I would have plenty of time to recoup as we now had a 6 hour drive to Raleigh ahead of us. We pulled out of the campsite and pulled off the highway to snap a couple of victory pictures at a scenic lookout. It was a great feeling to be finished! We got back on the road and celebrated further with a big, fat, juicy, disgusting Hardee’s burger.

Our trip was amazing and we learned a lot. I’m hoping to post brief reviews of some of our gear soon!

Betty Creek Gap to Glassmine Gap: 5.3 miles
Long Branch Trail: 2.0 miles

Total mileage: 22.6 miles

Shakedown Hike #1 / North Carolina Adventuretime: Betty Creek Nightmare

Sunday, July 21

We awoke around 8:30am, made a quick breakfast of oatmeal and hot cocoa, and packed up the campsite. It was a beautiful morning and we had some great views of the surrounding mountains from the lookout point at the top of Standing Indian. I felt great as we descended into Carter Gap and we were making great time. The area that the Carter Gap shelter is located in is beautiful , though it is a bit of a hike to get to the water source since it is located behind the old shelter that has since been dismantled. It took almost 50 minutes to filter 6L of water with our Squeeze and were really annoyed by the setback. I also realized that my monthly visitor had arrived and I had not packed sufficiently! Thus began the moment in which everything turned south. We packed up and hiked on planning to make it to Betty Creek Gap before nightfall. The clouds began to press in on us It slowly got darker and eventually the rain began to fall. We pulled on our gear, excited to test out our gear and set off again convinced the rain would stop before we had to make camp. We were wrong.

I became evermore agitated at the whole prospect of hiking to Betty Creek as we got closer and the rain continued to fall. I was tired, sore, annoyed, wet, etc. We had just another mile or so to go, and I became downright unbearable to be with. I apologized to Chase later, as I was taking out my frustrations on him as we hiked the last quarter of a mile to the gap, blaming him for our unfortunate circumstances. Chase had said there was a shelter at the gap, and I was so looking forward to a dry place to sit and nurse my sore feet and tender belly. There was no shelter at Betty Creek. I thought I was going to break down crying. Chase was ever so patient with me though, and I can’t thank him enough for setting up camp and letting me relax and calm down in the tent.

Our campsite sucked. It was muddy and rooty and Betty Creek Gap was extraordinarily creepy. We had a cold dinner in the tent, finishing off the last of the summer sausage and bagels. I was significantly happier after eating and drying off a little in the tent. Chase left to hang the food bag and I sat alone in the middle of creepy Betty Creek Gap, absolutely terrified at every raindrop that sounded like a snapping twig. Chase told me after he came back that the entire gap was filled with an eerie fog, and that he was also creeped out a bit. We tried to get some sleep, and I definitely slept better than the first night, but Chase was up off and on due to the angle of the campsite. He woke me up in the middle of the night to show me a mouse that had chewed a hole in my brand new pack to get at some trash that I had overlooked. Cheeky mouse!

I was pretty grateful for this day in retrospect. Not every day can be awesome and I like knowing how I will react in bad situations. I felt bad for acting like such a brat, but if I had been more prepared, everything would have been better.

Standing Indian to Betty Creek Gap: 9.2 miles
Total mileage: 15.8 miles