My story begins a couple of weeks before the hang, when FIMB put it out there that he wanted to do a trail run during the hang. I'd been working on my physical fitness level for the last year--after my last trip with Jeremy. I knew he'd challenge me to try harder than I thought I could, and decided to put it out there that I'd be willing to give it a go at the Art Loeb trail run up to Pilot Mountain and back.
Fast forward a week, and I was trying to figure out what to bring for food to the hang. Finally, I thought to myself, Wait a minute, stupid, you work at a pizza place. What should you bring?. So, I signed up to pack in some pizza for Friday night.
The week previous to the hang, I managed to pull something in my right foot. This made me a little nervous about the trail run, but I was going to finish the thing, durnit!
The drive up from Gainesville on Friday wasn't bad; I only got lost once, in Athens, GA, when the turnoff for US 129/441 wasn't clearly marked. I lost about an half-hour there, going around the SR 10 loop the entire way to find my way back to 441. The remainder of the drive went very well, despite some pouring rain on the mountain roads leading into the Pisgah.
I parked the car and searched for the trail head before heading out. Loading up my pack and a pair of pizza boxes, I went past the Cat Gap trail head, due to not having written down the (wonderful!) directions that Running Feather had posted in the planning thread. D'oh! Only a couple of minutes were lost, however, before I went back to the Cat Gap trail and headed towards the hang.
The hike in was pretty easy (made so by Sluggy and Lump's photos in the trip planning thread; thank you for those, by the way!), though I recall thinking that the trail was somewhat steep in a couple of spots (hah!), and I made it to the campsite in good time. Everyone greeted me warmly, and most expressed consternation that I'd hiked pizza into the woods.
An hour later, I had my rig set up in its spot for the weekend, and I was trying to cook a deep dish pizza over a bed of coals. I think deep dish are going to be relegated to car camping from here on out; they're just too dense to heat up over a fire. Calzones, on the other hand, are just about perfect. When wrapped in aluminum foil, they can be heated from both sides, making them very easy to cook evenly.
Friday night carried on until 11-ish, maybe midnight, for me. Great conversation was had huddled under the communal tarp as the rain came down. I retired earlier than some, expecting to get up at ~5 AM the next day in order to be awake and alert for our trail run.
Saturday dawned cool and damp; it had poured overnight (though I, apparently, slept through the whole thing) and the temperatures were in the low sixties. Jeremy and I made the decision to wait another hour past when we were scheduled to go running before making the call on whether we wanted to do the whole eighteen miles or not.
After "coffee", I rose and greeted everyone, enjoying a bit of conversation under the tarp once more (I did mention that everything was wet, right?). Soon, FIMB had risen and we decided to go for a shorter run than initially planned. Between the iffiness of my foot and the expected rain combined with the mid-50s to -60s that we would be getting at the elevations we were going to head to, we decided to drive up to Gloucester Gap and then run the ~3 miles to the top of Pilot Mountain. There would be about 2,000 feet of elevation change in those three miles, but the car would never be more than an hour and an half away. Should something unfortunate happen to either of us, help wouldn't be completely out of reach.
As it turns out, that was a good idea. By the end of the run, my right foot was hurting quite a bit. Not enough to prevent me from being able to move if I needed to, and not enough to prevent hiking, but enough that running any further on it would've been less-than-pleasant. However, the run itself was a lot of fun, even if it was a little scary in a couple of spots due to the damp conditions.
On the way back from the run, we passed a parked vehicle on the side of the road and some smoke coming from the opposite slope. We stopped, only to find out that a transformer had blown and was trying to burn down the forest! Very thankfully, it had been quite wet the last few days and the forest wasn't burning at all, but we had nothing with us to put out the electrical fire. We drove back to the lot as quickly as possible to inform the rangers of the problem. They were very receptive to FIMB's warning and promised to be on top of it as soon as possible.
In the parking lot, we saw Running Feather, Hangin' Burrito, Sluggy, and Lump. Sluggy and Lump were going into town to pick up some of those giant crayons and charcoal to be sure that the fire would get going with a minimum of fuss that night. They were also kind enough to pick a couple of things up for me while they were in town--a big ol' thank you again to them! Soon enough, FIMB and I were headed back up to the campsite...
Saturday afternoon, FIMB led Rockdawg69, MedicineMan, Poof, and I on an hike up to the top of John Rock and then back down to the parking lot. It was a gorgeous hike at a fairly easy pace, and the view from John Rock was not to be missed. We made it to the top just in time, as the heavens opened up literally five minutes after we reached the overlook. Heading back down to the lot, MedicineMan was kind enough to show off some of his knowledge of wild flora (of which I have next-to-no knowledge whatsoever), and I have to say, "Thank you!" to him as well.
We reached the parking lot just as revbknox and DAAAAAVE! were headed out. Goodbyes were said, and they headed on their way.
That evening, a wonderful fire was maintained by our resident firebug, Michelle the Camper. Great conversation was had, wonderful food was shared (that chili rocks, by the way, FIMB!), and new friendships were forged as old ones were renewed. Oscar's circus skills were amazing, as was FIMB's ability on the slackline. That night wound up being a late one for me, as I stayed up chatting with everyone until they retired one by one. Finally, RF and I wound up putting the fire to bed before heading home ourselves.
Unfortunately, Sunday morning came too soon. Some folks left very early, while I wound up packing up with the last group--carolinasbackpacker, Running Feather, and Hangin' Burrito. We headed on down the trail and wagon-trained it to Hannah Flannigan's, an Irish pub in Hendersonville that's worth the trip--their burgers and onion rings are wonderful!
It was at this point that I picked RF's brain on where to go in the Linville Gorge. He recommended Hawksbill Mountain and a couple of day hikes from there. I thanked him and headed on out towards the Big Ditch.
I was parked by 5:00 and summitted Hawksbill by 6:00. I futzed about on top of the mountain, enjoying the view, for about fifteen minutes before heading back on down the--in places, very steep--trail towards a junction that I'd passed on the way up. I turned down the junction, looking for a campsite for the evening, and spent about fifteen minutes hiking, passing the first campsite I'd come across to camp at the second one.
Here, I decided to do a set-up video. Unfortunately, during the video, as I had my hammock set up but not my tarp, it began pouring on me. It took almost eight minutes to get my tarp set up properly--mostly due to panic-induced clumsiness on my part. By the time I was done, everything I had with me was soaked through.
My first instinct was to say, "Screw it, I'm still going to enjoy the Gorge," but cooler counsel prevailed. Yes, my insulation is about as moisture-tolerant as possible, but I was forty-five minutes from my car, I had only half a liter of water (and the car was the nearest water source that I was sure of) for hot drinks, no one knew where I was (I did not camp where RF recommended, and wasn't sure if I'd see him the next day or even the following day), I was on a fairly ill-used trail judging by its overgrown condition, I was alone, and it was possible that the temperature would get down to within ten degrees of my insulation's rating. I would probably have been okay overnight, but "probably" isn't a good thing to bet one's life on. I decided to bail and head home that night, as I wasn't as prepared as I would like.
I still think that was a good call, as evidenced by the fact that this trip report exists. Had any of the above criteria been different (someone with me, near the car, dry clothing to change into, more water/fuel for hot drinks, etc.), I would probably had tried to tough it out. But, considering the circumstances, I'd rather not find out the hard way that I'd made a bad call.
Anyway, this past weekend was a wonderful time. Thank you to everyone who helped make it happen!
Video:
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) laughing with you, not at you. 
Good call, great video. Even as I type this a thunderstorm is approaching, and I'm going out to take my dog for a walk, because, by golly, all afternoon I've been promising him (and me) that I would do so. Hope we don't have to bail.
Originally Posted by MedicineMan
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