This is a video slide show of our hike to Long Branch Shelter from Standing Indian Campground. It was sunny when we left Atlanta and the forecast was for temperatures in the 50’s in nearby Franklin, N.C. Yet as we drive the 2 1/2 hours north to the Appalachian Trail, there is a line of clouds and a cold front moving in from the Northwest.
Mobile checks at the Weather Channel has the forecast in constant flux — and deteriorating quickly. By morning, there would be 8 1/2 inches of snow on the ground.
Fortunately we heard rumors of a new shelter built near Glassmine Gap in 2012 – but the two-story structure is not yet marked on my A.T. map or in my guidebook. In fact, there is very little information on the Internet about the shelter. So we send search parties in both directions and run in to a day-hiker who confirms it’s location at the headwaters of Long Branch.
Thanks to all those hardworking volunteers who built such a great structure. It would have been a long night without it.
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