NOVEMBER 2023 Monthly Running Challenge

not the best picture, my window is dirty and they fly away if I move too close.

I left work a little early on Thursday and we drove south 3 hours to Fontana, NC. We rented a little cabin at Fontana Village. On Friday, we met our shuttle driver at 6:00 am and he drove us to the starting point of our hike. We then hiked 19.62 miles (5,008 feet of elevation gain) of the Appalachian Trail from Winding Stair Gap to Tellico Gap. It was cool starting out but climbing the mountains warms you up quickly. It was cloudy and misted rain off and on all day but not enough to pull our rain gear out of our packs and put them on. We saw one other hiker and 2 deer hunters scoping out a place to hunt. We were about a mile from where our parked car was when we passed 2 different sets of hikers heading to the fire tower. The tower was almost 9 miles from where we passed them and we told them there was no way they could make it there and back before dark. Turns out both of them had parked where we did. They had used Google maps to find the parking area but then got on the trail heading in the wrong direction. There was another fire tower only a mile from the parking area but it was to the north and they were both heading south. We finished our hike around 4:15 pm where we had parked our car earlier that morning and drove an hour or so back to Fontana Village stopping to have dinner at their little restaurant on the way to our cabin.

Wayah Observation Tower - In 1929 a wooden fire tower was built here. In 1935, the Civilian Conservation Corps constructed this tower from quarry stone. At the time, the tower had 3 floors with the 3rd floor housing all the equipment needed for fire detection and serving as living quarters for the towermen. Use of the tower for fire detection was discontinued in 1945 and the Forest Service decided to remove the top level in 1947 and replace it with a concrete slab for public observation.

Siler Bald

Me and my hiking friend.

On Saturday, we met our shuttle driver at 6:20 am and were on the trail at Stecoah Gap at 6:45 am. It had rained overnight and was still cloudy and cool. The sun came out around 11:00 am and warmed everything up nicely. We saw 3 other hikers heading in the opposite direction and saw 4 bear hunters who were trying to locate their dogs. We hiked 14.65 miles (4,275 feet elevation gain) and finished at the Nantahala Outdoor Center around 1:30 pm. We had lunch/dinner in their restaurant before heading home.

Saturday morning sky.

We took a quick snack break at Sassafras Shelter which was about a tenth of a mile off trail.

You can see the Nantahala River down below where we were heading.

"I beheld with rapture and astonishment a sublimely awful scene of power and magnificence, a world of mountains piled upon mountains." William Bartram 1775.