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Day 23: We had a late start this morning. We got shuttled into town by Uncle Johnny’s along with other thru hikers. It was super fun to meet other thru hikers and chat! They were very experienced so we were picking their brains. We love to learn so we were sponges. We ate a quick breakfast and resupplied in town. We didn’t head out for the trail until 12:45 PM. Due to destruction of the bridge across Nolichucky River from Hurricane Helene, our first part of the trail entailed being guided across the river in a raft by a local rafting company guide, compliments of the ATC. We gave him a generous tip considering commercial rafting will be closed on the Nolichucky River. We didn’t do the detour near Iron Mountain Gap as we continued in the AT as advised by other thru-hikers that were South Bound. We wore headlamps for 2 hours that night trying to find a decent campsite. We ended up finding a campsite within a mile of Iron Mountain Gap around 20 miles. Total climbing for the day 5,761 ft. Day 24, 17.5 mile day, 5,148 ascent. Day 24 was Ryan’s last day with us. We didn’t realize we were actually going to summit Roan mountain that day until we had been climbing for a while. We wanted to complete the last 6,000 footer (before the Whites in NH) with Ryan so it worked out well. Speaking of Ryan, I need to explain his trial name, Tree Stand. Every time Ryan pees and goes up ahead and finds the perfect tree to lean his poles against. Our shuttle driver Nate picked us up at Carver’s Gap and drove us the Mountain Harbour B&B where we got a room for the next two nights and plan to zero there. Nate dropped my dad and I off and we sadly had to say goodbye to Ryan as Nate was driving Ryan back to the airport. I knew Ryan would be back soon so this goodbye was not nearly as tough as the one we did in Maine at the bus station when we were headed to Georgia. There were no tears today saying goodbye but it was still surreal to say goodbye to my husband again. We checked into the B&B, showered and ordered takeout from the Mexican Restaurant. It was delicious. We sat and ate dinner with Shannon, one of the owners of the B&B and chatted. Shannon and her husband own the B&B and we enjoyed meeting them and felt very welcomed by them. My dad and I were very cozy in this B&B and had a relaxing night.
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