April 15h - April 19th
I am very fortunate that to have family that lives close to the trail in the Western North Carolina area. So to me, it only makes sense to take advantage of it while I can.
So after hiking to the Winding Stair Gap near the town of Franklin, I made a brief overnight visit to my Mom's house in Cullowhee, North Carolina. While I was there, I was able to resupply my food, wash my clothes, and sleep in a comfortable bed.
Feeling refreshed, I caught an early morning taxi from my Mom back to the trail. She dropped me off in the same spot she had picked me up the previous evening. After watching the four wheels of her Ford Fusion motor off in the distance, my attention was drawn to the small White Blaze on a wood post across the busy highway. After carefully crossing the highway, it was time to get back to business!
Today I have scheduled myself to hike 10.1 miles over Siler Bald to the Wayah Shelter.
Most of the people that I had previously been hiking with, went into the town of Franklin, NC to resupply and to also find a comfortable bed. Franklin is 10 miles away from the trail, so hikers going into town have the option of hitch hiking or waiting for one of the scheduled shuttles.
My personal Taxi allowed me to arrive back on the trail much earlier then others, so I found myself entering vast wooded wilderness alone. At first it was quite an eerie feeling, being several miles into the woods with no one else around. But that aloneness quickly subsided when I approach a beautiful waterfall with a bridge marked with a white blaze.
After a brief pause at the waterfall, I continued the climb over the mountain towards the shelter where I would end my day. As I got within a mile of the Wayah Shelter I began to feel large raindrops falling on my jacket and could hear the rumble of thunder off in the distance.
Once I got to the shelter, I assessed that I would need to quickly set-up my tent because occupancy in the shelter had already reached it's maximum.
I was able to secure my tent and began cooking dinner when the skys opened up and sheets of rain began to fall. This would be my first thunderstorm on the trail. When the weather is bad, there is not much to do around camp, so I called it an early night and was ready for bed by 6pm. The sound of heavy rainfall outside my tent made for a great setting to sleep like a baby.
The next morning I rose early to tackle a 16 mile day of hiking to the Natahala Outdoor Center (NOC) in Wesser, NC. This day had its own special charm. Being a Saturday, my girlfriend Pam made plans to hike the last 8 miles of my day into the NOC.
I met Pam at Tellico Gap, who was dropped off by my Mom. We then slacked packed our way towards the NOC.
As we descended the mountain towards the Natahala River, we could hear the growing sound of an announcers voice echoing through the woods below. When we finally arrived at the NOC we realized that we had arrived in the middle of a Professional Kayaking tournament.
Now that we had finished our day's hike, we both agreed that we deserved a big pizza! So we went directly to the River's End Restaurant and ordered the largest one available.
That night, we went back to my Mom's house to relax where I would be taking my first Zero Day the next day. A Zero Day is a term used by thru-hikers to refer to a day off the trail, which means Zero miles of hiking during the day. A Nero Day is a similar term that means only hiking a few miles for the day or near Zero.
Sunday morning, I awoke to my first Zero day. After hiking for 11 straight days and 135 miles I was more than excited to get some rest. I spent the day with my family. My Grandfather, who has taken special interest into my hike, came with my Aunt Jeany to see me. They brought lunch with them and while we ate, I shared with them the news from my journey. It was a very enjoyable day and I felt my body thanking me for the much needed rest.
Early Monday morning, I caught a ride with my Dad back to the trail for a 14 mile hike out of the Natahala Outdoor Center to Stecoah Gap. He arranged to meet back up with me at Stecoah Gap and allow me to slack pack the entire day. After carrying a 40 pound backpack for over 100 miles, I look forward to any chance I get to slack pack. Slack packing is when a thru-hiker carries a very light backpack, with only the bare essentials inside.
The opportunity to slack pack changed my typical days hike into more of a ridge running workout. My fast pace allowed me to finished the 14 mountainous miles within 4 hours. My timing was perfect! As I arrived to Stecoah Gap, finishing my hike, my parents car was approaching the parking lot at the same time. Happy to see them, I hopped in and motored off towards the closest eating establishment.
The next morning, I would slack pack one last stretch before arriving at Fontana Dam and the entrance into the Great Smoky Mountains.
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