Day 13, Rufus Morgan Shelter to Stecoah Gap

From my campsite, I only had to go one, easy, all-downhill mile to reach Wesser Gap. That's where Nantahala Outdoor Center (NOC) was located. The business claims to be the nation’s largest outdoor recreation company.

My interest was focused on River's End Restaurant at NOC. It was only a few feet off the trail and was open for breakfast. Thankfully, it wasn't busy, and I was able to get a table right away.

I ate with Will and Quiet Man, and enjoyed a large plate of biscuits and gravy.

Without a doubt, if thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail included many one-mile hikes to a breakfast like this, the trail would be overrun with hikers.

My second task of the day was to go to the outfitter store, which was next door to the restaurant. I needed to retrieve a resupply box they were holding for me.

Before starting my hike, I sent myself some food to Mountain Crossings, which I picked up on Day 3, and here at NOC. I did that so I wouldn't have to spend time shopping and repackaging. I could quickly get back on the trail without much fuss.

One last thing to do was to go to NOC's general store and purchase some ibuprofen, or as it's known on the trail, Vitamin I. I was already running low after spraining my ankle and developing pain in my knees.

I returned to the trail by walking across a footbridge over the Nantahala River. On the other side, several people were preparing to paddle kayaks or rafts on the river.

A short distance farther, I crossed train tracks and re-entered the forest. Will was just ahead of me at the start of a climb, and I spoke to her one more time before passing her and heading up the trail.

Each day more and more wildflowers have appeared in bloom on the trail. It seems like a new variety appears each day.

Today's new variety was the Fire Pink, which isn't pink. This shade-loving wildflower is called that because it has notched ends on all five petals. Think of pinking shears and you get the idea.

The climb up Cheoah Bald included several flat sections. Though these provided relief from the steep sections, they also lengthened the time it took to reach the top.

I knew I was in for a long climb up to Cheoah Bald because I had hiked this section of the AT three times before. I knew the route and knew some parts of it were steep. Somehow, though, I had either underestimated the time it would take or overestimated my ability to reach the summit.

The climb was frustratingly long. It felt like it was taking forever. Most likely, the real problem was I was anxious to put in as many miles today as possible. I was hoping to make tomorrow a shorter day because I would be meeting my wife and one of our sons at Fontana.

Kim was going to drop off Landon, and from there, he was going to hike with me through the Smokies. I wanted to get to Fontana as early as possible in order to spend time with them before Kim had to return home.

Besides wildflowers making frequent appearances on the trail, I also saw a lot of fiddleheads. These are curly new growths of ferns that remind of the decorative ends of violins and other stringed instruments.

Maybe I could have saved time if I didn't stop to take so many photos, but I couldn't help myself.

The climb didn't provide many views, but one spot allowed for a full view of the Nantahala River Gorge, now several hundred feet below.

I reached Sassafras Gap at 2:15 p.m., much later than I had hoped. Because I had hiked to here before, I was using this spot as a benchmark for my progress and a measure of my chances for getting to Fontana early tomorrow.

When I saw the sign and the mileage I needed still to go, disappointment set in. I realized I would not reach my intended destination today, and that would change how much I hiked tomorrow.

I was going to have to adjust my expectations.

I didn't stop at the shelter at Sassafras Gap. Instead, I pushed on to the top of Cheoah Bald, which was just over a mile farther.

From one side of the top I could see a long range of the mountains I had already crossed. From the other I could see the Smokies, where I was heading.

I wasn't enjoying the view as much as I might have liked, though. I remained preoccupied with tomorrow, recalculating my options for reaching Fontana.

I saw Quiet Man at the top of the bald. He continued down the trail while I stopped to text Kim and let her know what I was thinking.

My foul mood only got worse as the trail descended. It crossed a series of knobs, and though each one was not particularly high, they were becoming an annoyance by their repetition. These were the true meaning of what hikers call "pointless ups and downs."

As I walked up one knob, another came into view. I knew instinctively the trail would turn just so it could continue over that knob instead of going around it.

There were six of these knobs in succession. Yes, I counted them.

At least I was no longer depressed about not reaching my original destination. Now I was fuming over these stupid knobs and the stupid trail crew that chose to go over, not around, each one.

Finally, I reached Stecoah Gap at about 7 p.m. I was glad to discover Quiet Man was there when I arrived. He told me he had just tried to call a nearby hiker hostel. This was an option I had forgotten about when I was considering what to do while coming down the mountain.

Quiet Man said the hostel was all booked up, though, so that eliminated it as an option.

He added that the hostel owner told him hikers often camp just down a forest service road, past a closed sign and barricade. I passed it when I arrived at Stecoah Gap. It looked much like the road I camped at on Day 2.

Quiet Man and I decided to take that suggestion. First, however, we took advantage of some trail magic that was sitting on a picnic table at the gap.

It is bad trail etiquette to leave trail magic out overnight where animals can get to it. Nevertheless, we were not going to complain. The stash included bananas, apples, a couple boxes of snack cakes, and several bottles of water. We tried to eat as much as possible so we wouldn't be leaving food for animals to scavenge.

This also solved a need to cook dinner.