Wayah to Wesser

I had crazy dreams lately of people I haven't thought about in a LONG time, mostly high school friends. I have thought during the day of these people briefly too...I'm sure that is it, but it is funny the things you think about when all you have to do all day is be alone with your thoughts. Oh, my sleeping bag stayed dry last night - SCORE! It had been damp in the morning after moisture seeped in from rain at night where the two walls were touching.
As I was walking, I met Apple, a trail maintainer of the N.H. club and he mentioned there was trail magic at the bottom of the mountain and possibly a Frapachino left. It is amazing how fast I went down (I'm usually pretty slow at descents) at the mention of a potential coffee beverage reward at the bottom! I stopped around 1:30 and had a big lunch and another helping of Ibuprofen, which helped push me along the rest of the day. I had been getting a 2PM blues lately, but I think I haven't been eating enough during the day. This really helped. Today as I was crossing Tellico Gap to head up to Wesser Bald (360 degree view) when I noticed some bikers hanging out at the gap. I quickly passed and moved on by. Halfway up the mountain, I saw someone behind me without a pack and got a bad feeling, remembering the bikers and what they say about crimes that happen on the AT are usually locals that cause trouble at gap road crossings. I book it up the mountain - and can't shake my non-pack wearing biker. Oh man, I was tearing up that mountain as the reality of what potentially was going on was setting in. That is some motivation for getting up a mountain! I burned some serious calories exerting myself to the max, cursing the weight of my pack as I went and the mysterious person was gaining on me. I was hoping fellow hikers would be at the top of the bald, but no such luck, so I got my knife out and got ready for the possibility of defending myself. Oh yeah, I'll be honest...I was scared. By the time he got up the mountain, he was as out of breath as I was and after a short conversation at a distance I determined that I wasn't in any danger. Two others scrambled up after, all cursing they'd even had the idea of climbing up here and not knowing what they had gotten themselves into. :) It turns out these guys ride their Harleys around the country and had heard there was a nice view up here so decided to try it out. Very nice guys from New England and very interested to hear about what I was doing too.