Bye bye Georgia.

The last man to peel this much was asked to carry a bell.

The payment I received for hauling ass into Hiawasse was to discover it's a dry town, so no beer with dinner, and to be kept awake by guys who were taking the next day off. It's embarrassing to be kept awake by drunken singers that don't even know the words.

Groggily, I caught the 8am shuttle back to Dick's Creek Gap to get back on the trail. Hot weather and three serious climbs took their toll, I was restricted to 12 miles that day.

Despite the lowly mileage, a landmark as reached. In the middle of the afternoon, I left Georgia behind. One state down, thirteen more to go. North Carolina Ho!

That night, Amber, a girl from Tennessee, worried that some of our German cohorts hadn't ever had 'smores', produced the makings of this campfire delicacy.

It's hard to get across the insane effort this education required. Amber had hauled the ingredients (Graham crackers, marshmallows, chocolate) over 38 miles, catching the Germans who were a day ahead.

The makings of Smores are probably as heavy as my multi-day food bag.

An exceptional effort lead to an exceptional evening. Communal eating, discussing the correct marshmallow roasting technique, was a lot of fun.

The following morning was delightfully awful. Thick, chilly fog nestled over the campsite, and the shining sun was reduced to a hazy shadow of itself.

I loved it.

Crisp and chill, without having to worry about the risk of catching fire I was able to put in a hard day's hike. Caught up in the excitement I managed to miscount the shelters and do by far my largest mileage. (24.6) A great day, but unfortunately it distanced me from my friends of the previous night.

Next day, high (and tired), from my previous exertions I tried to take it slower. I took an actual lunch break, and found a point on the mountain with a good lookout and a sliver of phone signal to talk to home.

As is traditional, about half an hour after I'd told my Dad I was feeling good and injury free, I kicked a rock. It overextended my left ankle, spraining it slightly. Nothing too serious, but did leave me hobbling into camp grouchier than usual.

The following morning, after a Neurofen Plus, my ankle felt OK and I decided to push into the Nantahala Outdoor Center (NOC) and take a '0-day' there. (0-day is a day with no hiking.)

My push to the NOC wad greatly aided by other hikers. Usually I prefer to hike alone, picking my pace, taking my time, but twice yesterday I encountered hikers who's pace matched with mine and helped me over a hump or down a hill.

In cycling and other sports, keeping with a pack gives you broken air to work with, an aerodynamic advantage, on the mountain there's nothing as easy to point at, but it works the same. Keeping at someone's heels, or feeling their breath on your back gives you the impetus to keep going when lungs and limbs should have given up long ago.

Today I took a wonderfully lazy day. Resupply, food, icing the ankle, that's about it. I'm feeling tired, ready to sleep, and ready to hit the trail tomorrow.

G'night Y'all.
T.
P.S. I've things to share on how shelters work, and trail-names, and scouting and rope-use, but I'll forget the diary stuff if I don't get it down, so you'll have to wait.

Summary:
Hiawassse to Muskrat Creek shelter 12
to Rock Gap Shelter. 24.6
to Wayah Gap 14.8
to NOC 18.3