After that 1.8 miles I hit the top and Santa's Helper was there with trail magic. A depressing day was immediately turned around. Santa's helper is amazing, he traveled 5 hours to do trail magic and will continue to travel up the trail throughout the season as hikers get further north. What an amazing guy. Also at the top was a great view from a stone tower (photo below).
That night we stayed at Wayah Bald shelter. The following morning, after about 2 hours of hiking, we came upon a big tent. Since it was roughly 10am I assumed it was just some weekend campers. As I approached Nitrous called us over. It was more trail magic! Possum and Grits were making blueberry pancakes. (photo below, the people are Nitrous with his pack on, UV with the bandana and Gator) they also had candy bars and carrots. They were in for the long haul too, they had arrived the night before doing dinner trail magic and were staying there until Wednesday doing trail magic the whole time. It's things like this that make the experience so amazing and also makes me want to give back to the whole community when I am done. It is like we are part of a big family, everyone helps each other and looks out for each other. Just amazing. The hiking for that day was pretty reasonable, 10.7 miles to Wesser Bald shelter. Wesser bald also had a tower with a great view. (photo below)
Today we took an easy 6 miles to the Nantahala Outdoor Center. It has laundry, food, beds and showers! The little things become amazing after six days in the woods. Tomorrow looks like a rough 7 miles of uphill but in 2.5 days we should hit Fontana Dam and then it's on to the smokies.
It seems like more people are getting way more into following me then I had expected. If you are looking for more info I would suggest getting the AT Guide written by AWOL. It has amazing descriptions and info about features and also has an evaluation line that shows what the climb/descent is like at all parts of the trail.
Arlen, the book I read was written by Awol. It felt like I was walking the trail. I know with my foot problems I would never be able to take walking so many miles. I am so happy for you to be able to experience the outdoors. It is great to see all the views. I wonder if you will see any bears. Awol said he saw over 20 in the course of his trek. Have a great day!
ReplyDeleteA great update. Nice to have a sense of the folks sharing the trail and the experience with you. I'll be able to add some post-its to the large trail map on the kitchen table.
ReplyDeleteIt was also good to get a call yesterday with more news. I'll look for the kilt to be delivered and then forward it to the most timely mail drop location.
Tomorrow or Friday when you get to the Fontana mail drop you will have some weight to carry. The box of food you requested was about 11 pounds and Jan also sent a box. Regarding your "trail angel" comments -- the reward of food is bound to be a highlight. Hopefully the added weight isn't too much of a price to pay.
Take care and be safe.
On to the Smokies....