Mt Mitchell= No Joke

Greetings Faithful Readers.

Here is a brief tale of a recent trip to Mt. Mitchell to have a hike along the MST that runs over the top. It really was a great trip. Not really feeling like humping a big pack, I took advantage of the great 9 site campground that is right at the top. You have to park down at the parking lot, and carry your gear to the spot of your choosing. 12 bucks. I had the place to myself. With the weather a good bit below freezing at night, plus the fact that it is often rainy and foggy seems to keep away all but the nuts like me during October.

Anyway, when I got there, the sky was SO blue, with a nice breeze and a nip in the air. I set up camp and commenced to firing up the stove. I had a Navy shower with a inch of boiling water and a squirt of Dr. Bronners Almond soap. Two cups of hot tea, some GORP, and I could not have been more content. The photo here was taken with the goal of capturing that spirit. One hippie dude did show up, and we shared tales and lies aplenty. The Ranger even hung out for awhile since the place was so quiet. He had excellent bear stories. Hippie dude turned out to be broke (big surprise!) so the Ranger charged him 1/2 price, and I paid the tab. He promised a giant pancake breakfast in the morning as thanks. Sold!

Well, it was off to bed early, which is the norm when it gets dark at 5:30. At 1:30 I was woken up by something slapping me in the face, and some kind of huge noise. Well, turns out a big storm has moved in during the night. Winds at least 50 MPH. They had totally blown the tent down around me, hence the roof slapping me in the face. I got up and got dressed, and went outside. The clouds had come down right on us, and the wind was real intense. It wasn't raining that hard, but it felt like needles at that wind speed. So I race around and set up the tent. Most of the stakes had been pulled out of the ground, and several were missing. So I used some big rocks, and did the best I could. Back to sleep, only to be woken up twice more with the same issue. Basically it was just intolerable. So I decide to break camp and bail. By now it was 5AM, and my nerves were shot. So I just took the whole muddy tent, fly and all the crap inside, and just dragged it down to the car and threw it in the back. I then had to try and sleep in the car until they opened the gate at 8 AM. The picture here shows the tent mess back home. Inside that pile of mess is my sleeping bag, pad, a folding chair, pillow, and a few odds and ends. I ended up getting my pancakes at the Dennys in Marion. They were yummy.