Mountains-to-Sea Trail   Feb 25 - Mar 4, 2007
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Day 1	Newfound Gap (US 441) to near the Barnett Knob lookout tower	Daily mileage: 40.6	Trip mileage:  40.6
Day 2	Near the Barnett Knob lookout tower to an old road	Daily mileage: 34.4	Trip mileage:  75.0
Day 3	An old road to Graveyard Ridge Trail	Daily mileage: 33.2	Trip mileage: 108.2
Day 4	Graveyard Ridge Trail to a flat area	Daily mileage: 27.0	Trip mileage: 135.2
Day 5	A flat area to the summit of Mt. Mitchell	Daily mileage: 38.6	Trip mileage: 173.8
Day 6	Summit of Mt. Mitchell to near Linville River	Daily mileage: 42.8	Trip mileage: 216.6
Day 7	Near Linville River to the junction of BRP & US-221	Daily mileage: 41.4	Trip mileage: 258.0
Day 8	Junction of BRP & US-221 to Deep Gap (US-421, BRP MP 276.4)	Daily mileage: 40.2	Trip mileage: 298.2
Day 1
The road to Clingmans Dome is closed until April 1st, so I had Sherpa drop me off early Sunday morning at Newfound Gap. We made plans to meet at Oconaluftee Visitor Center later that day where he would be waiting with my dog Suzi. Not much to say about this day, it was just an all-out speed hike to knock out the GSMNP section as quickly as possible. I met up with Sherpa and Suzi in the mid-afternoon and he decided to hike in a few miles and spend the night. I took a few minutes and took some photos of a pioneer-type village next to the Visitor Center and we began our hike to find our campsite for the night. Walking the Blue Ridge Parkway is a little dull. We came upon the access road to the lookout tower and it looked like as good of a spot as any to camp. We hiked the access road for about 75 yards and found an old roadbed leading to the left and it had a nice flat area for camping. There was also a "water source" nearby. I use the term "water source" very loosely here. It was a murky pool of stagnant water that neither of us was very comfortable drinking. We filtered it and boiled it to be on the safe side. We enjoyed a dinner of apple turnovers, chicken, pasta and peanut butter crackers. It was a beautiful night, so we decided to sleep outside under the stars. There is a slight chance of a shower tonight, so I set up my tent nearby in case it started to rain. There was a barking dog in the distance that didn't shut up all evening long. We were startled awake when this same damn dog started growling and snarling within I'm guessing 50 yards of our campsite. It was 4:30am and it scared the *@$% out of us. We shined our headlamps around but never saw the dog but he sounded extremely aggressive. We grabbed our knives and waited awhile to see if he would attempt to enter our camp. After a few minutes, it grew quiet and eventually we heard him barking further down the Parkway.
Day 2
We awoke to a brisk morning and there was a light coating of frost on us and our gear. Sherpa needed to get an early start this morning to be at work in Atlanta later today, so we skipped breakfast and broke camp. Sherpa headed back down the BRP and I continued on my journey. Today was a lot of BRP walking and it quickly grew old. The scenic overlooks certainly helped but I was looking forward to getting off the asphalt and into the wilderness! It was later in the day before we finally jumped off the BRP and headed into the woods. After a few miles of strolling along the MST, we came to a small clearing. It looked like a great spot to camp for the night. It was only 5:30pm, but we were both ready to rest. I set up camp and Suzi found her a sleeping spot near me where she would spend the night. It was another beautiful night, so I decided to sleep outside again. It was a clear night, lots of stars and a very bright moon. I sat by a fire, drinking hot apple cider and working on my journal via my Pocketmail. I heard some loud voices approaching and a small group arrived in my campsite. It was a counselor with several youths who were with a local outdoor club. I chatted with the counselor for a few minutes and they continued on down the trail. It was a welcome meeting. I hadn't seen anyone all day except for a few BRP Maintenance vehicles that I passed earlier in the day. I turned in around 8pm and fell quickly to sleep. It was a rare night for me, I actually got a lot of sleep. 11 1/2 hours! woo hoo!
Day 3
Journal details coming soon.
Day 4
Shortly after our day got started, we passed a couple of road cyclists. It was a man and woman and I was impressed to see how easily they had just climbed a long ascent on the Parkway. They would pass us again roughly 4-5 hours later. As we were making our way to the meeting point, I noticed large amounts of smoke off in the distance. As the day progressed and we continued getting closer, it was obvious it was a forest fire. I don't know if it was a control-burn of some sort or an actual fire. Suzi and I arrived at US-276 earlier than we expected, so I cooked us some grub. I had some mashed potatoes and Suzi had some of her food and some treats. After resting for about an hour, I packed everything back up and we started hiking down US-276. We covered about 1.5 miles when I saw Sherpa coming up the road to resupply me.
Day 5
Journal details coming soon.
Day 6
Journal details coming soon.
Day 7
Journal details coming soon.
Day 8
Journal details coming soon.