Onward to North Carolina (ECT Day 94)

• Hiked Today: 21.2  mile

• • Appalachian Trail (58.4 – 79.6)

• Total Hiked: 2,004.1 miles
• Total Paddled: 99.5 miles

Weather: 55 – 75°F, mostly cloudy, but times of sun, breezy, humid

Elevation: 2,650 – 4,665 feet

Tray Mountain Shelter to Courthouse Bald 

6:35 – 7:11 am: I packed up somewhat stealthy although the folks inside the shelter were also getting ready. It helps when not the only one making noise. I retrieved my food from the cable and got to scooting. It looks like the shelter guys were setting up for breakfast there. I made a mental note to stick around at the shelter one of these times for that social experience.

7:11 -9:33 am: A pleasant morning hike. The weather plays such a big factor out here. You get some sunshine and it truly brightens everyone’s mood. I could feel that in my interactions with other hikers this morning. Keeping it moving at a quick pace this morning, I bombed up the killer Kelly Knob.

9:33 – 10:57 am: I took a long second breakfast break at the top of Kelly Knob including a complete pack dump to dry out. I even got to the bottom to pull out my quilt. The last few days have made everything feel damp and so this is my best tool to combat that… dry out when I get the chance!

I think I had about 8 hikers pass me by while sitting up there. First up were Daniel and Whitney (88% sure I got there names correct) who started their trek at Flagg Mountain on the Pinhoti Trail. They stopped and had a break and chatted for a bit. Then a woman hiker whose name I forgot. Then came Isaac followed by Smokey, Burger Man, and Sparky who all had stayed inside the shelter last night. There were a few more who’s names I don’t recall either. So many!

10:57 am – 12:30 pm: I had a nice hike down to Dick’s Creek Gap. The guys in the photo above were cruising. They had town on their minds. At first they just took off up the hill and got ahead of me. I wasn’t keeping up haha. Then, I caught up as they returned from a side trail water source. That’s when I got the chance to chat with Burger Man. He got his trail name when volunteering for a super trail run race or something and showed up with a cooler full of burgers to chef up. I lost them near the road crossing when I stopped to get water. It had been a while without for me; I think since breaky break.

12:30-1:15 pm: I had lunch with Loose Screw at the picnic tables at Dick’s Creek Gap. She was waiting for the shuttle into town. It’s her first long hike and she’s crushing it. Chelsea came too, but I decided to keep it moving rather than hang and go into town.

1:15 – 4:30 pm: Cruised. This seems to be my trend lately, trying to cover my miles in the afternoon. I had two pretty exciting wildlife encounters. The first was a big snake that was just off the trail. It did a thing with it’s tail that I thought was a rattle at first. It was close enough where I didn’t see any of the rings/rattles though. Plus, it didn’t really look like one to me. Who knows…

Next was this awesome moth! A Luna Moth, and apparently one of the largest in North America I guess…

4:30- 6:20 pm: In the late afternoon, I walked and talked with Skitttles from Australia. This was fun and also an engaging conversation. She’s traveled a bunch around the world (including a giant U.S. road trip) and had great stories to tell. We also got into politics some and it was very interesting to get her perspective about things in U.S. Additionally, I was intrigued to hear about their democratic system in Australia, which seems like it’s much better for offering more than a two party system. She admitted it’s not perfect either though.

While chatting, we passed out of Georgia and into North Carolina together!

I parted ways with Skittles at the end of the day when she eyed a spot to set up her hammock.

6:20-630 pm: Pumped it up this hill and found a spot at the top. Truthfully, it wasn’t a great, but it was to the point in the evening when I was super tired and willing to take it rather than hike on and look elsewhere…

6:30-8:15 pm: Set up, got my food hanging rope prepped, ate dinner, then got all my smelly items tied up in the tree and finally organized everything for the night.

8:15 – 9:15 pm: Wrote and perused on phone some, but like other nights on the AT, I was very tired!

9:15 – ??? pm: Watched some of The Last of Us before falling asleep.

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