March 27 and 28 - 135 miles

Since I didn't hike today I am combining yesterday and today. The night of the 26th ended up being one of the coldest nights yet. I was trying to finish my blog, but I couldn't stop shaking. I finally finished and went to sleep. During the night I woke up and my feet were really cold. I had to take my down jacket and wrap it around my feet. I think air is coming coming in through my zipper, and the draft tube isn't blocking it. I need it to work through the Smokies.

After waking up to frost on my tent, I packed up as quick as I could and headed out. We had a good climb up and then got to the top of Wayah Bald. At the top was an observation tower which gave some pretty cool views. At around 6 or 7 miles in, I met up with Elizabeth. She had started at NOC and hiked all uphill to meet us. She offered a few bananas and snacks, and we were on our way again. The last 5 plus miles were all downhill. Normally I enjoy downhills. However, this was straight downhill.

I think I started running down the mountain as soon as I could see NOC through the trees. At NOC, we treated ourselves to some beers and snacks. It hit the spot. Michelle showed up a few minutes later. All of us grabbed lunch at Rivers End. This is a place I used to alawys eat at when kayaking down the Nantahala in middle school. Before I walked in I knew exactly what I was going to get...Chili Sherpa. It is meat, chili, and some other things on rice. I threw it down and then had some ice cream, granola, and chocolate syrup to finish out the meal.

Afterwards, Michelle and I went into Bryson City. The others stayed at the NOC.

Today, we all met back at the NOC. I did some laundry and bought more gear. Today, it was more capaliene pants and another dry bag more my food. After this, we all piled into my car and went to Bryson City for a resupply. Ingles and Burger King were the two stops. Michelle dropped us off and headed back to Atlanta. The rest of us have been just sitting around the last few hours. Other hikers have been coming and going. The new faces and some old.

We are going to sleep on one of the porches of one of the buildings. We are planning to get up early and begin our trek all uphill. Tomorrow is going to rough. It is about 8 miles of all uphill. Most people do the 8 miles and quick for the day. We will see how we feel and might put in more. Until then, have a good evening.

The Smokies are two to three days away.

I meant to send this and am glad I didn't. After typing up the blog for the last two days about 10 of us went over to a parking lot to listen to people play guitar. Then others started playing including Stickerbush and Danger Mouse. Both were pretty good, and it was cool the listen to both of them.