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We made good miles and had lots of fun with no rain today. Plan B for the tent pole was an early stop, ride to Helen, GA from Unicoi Gap via GA 75. From there we sent a message to Bibler and replacement poles are in the mail. We will try the local outfitter for a temporary splice kit.

The fun part was dual: we talked to other hikers and finally had some easy hiking on an old overgrown fire road.

We saw 2 more eastern deer. One disappeared into the forest, but the other stood her ground - about 20 feet away and let us take her picture. One hiker saw the disappearing rear of a bear. Birds continue to be wonderfully noisy and constant.

Lunch was at Low Gap shelter with time out to hang and dry gear. For afternoon tea we stopped at Blue Mtn Shelter. We expected lots of hikers and found none. So we signed two registers in one day. We laughed as we hiked to Blue Mtn because we first climbed to the top of a sneaky pretender hill that wasn't quite high enough. So we had to go down to the next gap where we could see the trail climbing to the next peak which also turned out to be a little too low. Blue Mtn was there the third time.

Problems Make Life Interesting.

So nice to be inside for a storm! We watched the weather channel while eating breakfast.

We tried to fix the tent pole at the outfitter. The repair sleeve was so big, short, and stiff that it broke the pole again. We walked down to Ace Hardware and explained our problem. The friendly Ace Hardware man sold us a foot of heavy plastic tubing. It just slipped over the pole and looks like a perfect solution. (He is the one that said problem...)

Got a ride out of Helen, GA with people going to a blue grass festival. They had fiddle and guitar in the back of the mini-van.
The highway follows the Chattahoochie River to its head waters at Unicoi Gap. That is where we hit the trail again.

Met another Ridge Runner at Indian Grave Gap. He told us it was turkey hunting season in GA. At least we will know what is going on if we hear shotguns.
Afternoon tea was at Swag of the Blue Ridge (not sure what a swag is here but it looks like a wide saddle to me). Since this is a weekend we are meeting lots of day hikers.

One of our favorite flowers is on a long stem with a single leaf above a single waxy white flower with a yellow center. The leaf looks like an umbrella. We found out it is a Mayapple.

The flowers continue to amaze us with their variety. We have seen wild Magnolias in the forest. Squawroot is another interesting flower. It looks like several pine cones placed side-by-side. Also Bluets- small blue flowers with yellow centers growing in masses.

We woke up to a rosy red sun just coming over the distant mountains. The view didn't last for long. Within a half hour we were in heavy fog again. The fog was falling in big drops from the tree leaves.

Eight, eight we got up late waiting for the rain to abate. It didn't and hasn't. We didn't really see any views today with rain and mist but we did see five thru hikers. They thought we were section hikers.

The most exciting section of hiking today was bouldering over Albert Mtn in the rain. I used hands, feet, knees, and any available foliage to lever myself up. The view at the top was pure fog. I took a picture of a geodetic marker at the top. Ken thought he saw Mt Rainier, WA! (The joke is that Rainier was always hidden by clouds when we hiked in WA.)

We saw an owl, a buzzard was interested in us and a centipede had day glow orange legs. I see lots of snails but the one today had a shell the size of a quarter and the snail was indigo. I hope I get to CA before it gets to my flowers.

Hiking was so fun today that I didn't even mind the weather.
The forecast is not good. Flood warnings, heavy rains, tornadoes south of us. We will stay in Franklin, NC tonight and hike Wed in better weather.

At our first re-supply (a quick walk through Neels Gap) we talked about bouncing some rain gear ahead. We are carrying both Frogg Toggs and a poncho. Luckily, the store did not have outgoing mail. We are very comfortable with a full rain suit and a poncho covering pack and us.

NC hiking is still in woods to thick to see neighboring hills, land features like lakes or even the bottom of the hill that we tread upon. We have actually walked through 8 foot tall tunnels in rhododendron dells or scrub oaks.

Things we forgot to tell:
On the first afternoon we saw a tree that had been struck by lightning. The tree was still standing, but it had exploded. Shards of wood up to 15 feet long were scattered for 50 feet in all directions.
We heard that the red salamander was actually a red newt.
This afternoon the weather cleared a bit and the sun dried things out. Immediately we asked - Why aren't we on the trail hiking. Guess we are hooked.