Day 30

Day 30 - Spring past Sam's Gap to campsite N of Temple Hill Gap - 21 mi - 337 total

We were glad to be alive this morning and not squished under any downed trees. Thankfully the rain had stopped and as we packed up we were able to hang our raingear up on nearby branches and mostly dry it out. Just before we were ready to go a little old lady came hiking up the trail towards us. "Grandma", as we so affectionately dubbed her, stopped as she got to us and insisted that we go ahead of her since we were "most certainly faster than she was". Still in morning-mode, we weren't totally prepared yet for the mile or two of uphill climbing ahead of us, but we weren't going to argue with Grandma and we started hiking anyway. A good 15 minutes later, after a good loooonnggg uphill battle and lots of huffing and puffing, we looked back to find Grandma practically on our heels. Damn! That lady was moving! Now feeling even more pressured than before (and with our egos at stake) we found it in ourselves to ramp it up and leave Grandma behind in the dust. The rest of the day was spent looking over our shoulders, pretending she was after us. Our hard uphill climb eventually took us to the top of Big Bald but it was too windy to hang out for too long so we headed down the north side and up the grassy slope of Big Stamp to the "treeline" where we stopped. After a while of sitting and eating we noticed people on top of Big Bald so we took off so we wouldn't get caught up talking to them. About 6.5 miles later we crossed US 19W at Spivey Gap and took another break at the Ogelsby Branch (a stream) to rest and have a snack out of the sun- it was hot: in the 80's.  Refueled and re-energized we set off in hopes of getting close to Erwin to make it easier to get into town in the morning. We found a great spot on a ridgeline overlookng the town as dusk approached. Mike set up the tent while Laura built a small fire and hung the bear bag (and she did an awesome job!). We sat by the fire and eventhough there weren't really any stars out because of the clouds, we're dry for now. Tomorrow looks like rain, and hopefully we'll dodge in by going into Erwin, but who knows after that!