Mountains Under Foot

One more entry, just received this morning! Photos will come as soon as they have a computer to upload them to – only WiFi access for the moment!

From Hazard’s notes:
Day 9: May 18, 2009
Travel:
From:Wayah Mountain shelter, NC
To: Nantahala Outdoor Center, Wesser, NC
Beginning: 8:30am
Ending: 4:00pm
Number of miles hiked:
a) Trail – 17
b) other – 8.5 + 1
c) cumulative – 135
Weather:
AM: Freezing cold this morning which is why we had the late start. Thankfully the rain had passed and we were left with blue sky and sun.
PM: Perfect all day – we deserve it after yesterday.
People: Bombadillo caught up with us when we stopped for water.
Animals: lizards, turtles, salamaders
Money: $18 for bunk at NOC, $13 for dinner, and $18 for food resupply. $315 cumulative
Notes of the day:
AM: Pounded out 9 miles before noon and had lunch on top of Wesser Bald where there was an observation tower that we climbed and could see for miles and miles. What a clear day.

PM: All down hill for the most part. Really rocky and killer on the knees. When we stopped for water Bombadillo met up with us. He wasn’t sure 15 was going to make it this far (he also thought it was 6pm when it was closer to 3:30). We wondered where we were so I pulled out the book and said, “this campsite isn’t labeled but if we see a shelter we are less than a mile away”. The other two were kind enough to point out the shelter tucked in the woods not but 100 ft away. When we got to the NOC we grabbed a room in the bunkhouse and took showers. Sporting the short-shorts and black fleece look I headed down to where we paid for our room and charged phone and iPod on an employees laptop. We stuck our thumbs out and got a ride into Bryson City by “Steve who works at the bar” ( he was kind enough to give us a number to the bar in case we got stranded) and Spoon, Bombadillo and I had a Mexican feast at the local restaurant. Afterwards Spoon and I walked to the Ingles Supermarket for food supply while B tried to get a sweater from “Fred’s” ( no joke) but when he found us in the Ingles he was wearing a collared shirt over his yellow underarmor. We reminded him that we thought he had left his room key under the leg of the table at dinner so he left again. After we all met up we had to stick our thumbs out for another ride. We didn’t have much luck until a guy, who had seen Spoon and I in our hats walking to Ingles earlier, spotted us and gave us a lift. He was from Texas and was up kayaking the Nantahala River. Really nice guy. Found some WiFi for emails then bed.
Main concern of the day: The insanely long and steep trail out of here tomorrow.