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We got a great start out of Franklin riding back with trail crew (Nantahala Hiking Club) members Alan & Diane Bruce. We were on the trail by 8:30 in the rain ready to take a waterfall picture... camera still in the motel! We went back to the road, stood in the rain and finally got a ride back and picked up the camera and (wow!) our water filter that we hadn't missed. Then we rode back to Winding Stair Gap with the Pres of Nantahala Hiking Club and by this time the rain had stopped for the day.

We heard that this area has gotten 6" of rain in the past two days. You can imagine what the trail looks like or what the hiking is like as the trail runs with water. Mud and leaf bits stick to our legs and our bandanas can't rub the mess off. If this was CA the hills would be sliding. Everything is saturated.

Still, it was a fun hiking day. We saw 8 thru hikers and 4 had paid someone to drive their packs ahead. They are called slackpackers... we are backpackers. 

We camped on a ridge. When the last light faded we put our heads on our fleece and then we could hear and feel thump, thump. Scary! I thought of Blair Witch Project. We sat up, unzipped the tent, looked around and saw nothing unusual. It happened more and I thought I would have to get up and camp elsewhere. Then Ken noticed that two trees beside us would bump when the wind blew and we could feel the vibrations through the ground and roots. Too much excitement.

Great day for hiking. Sunny most of the day, but not to hot. The trail on the other hand was steeply down in the morning and steeply up all afternoon. We arrived at Cheoah Bald just in time to set up the tent and enjoy a wonderful sunset.

We stopped at Wesser for hamburgers for lunch. Very handy, the restaurant was 30 feet off the trail. We sat on the porch overlooking the Nantahala River. Normally the river would be full of rafters and kayakers, but the river was borderline overflowing and pretty rough. We even saw a 15 foot log float by.
We talked to several thru-hikers and a couple of section hikers there.

Yesterday we saw the proposed site for a new shelter in memory of Ann McDuff. We hiked with Ann and her husband, Larry, in New Mexico and Colorado last summer.

We arrived at Hwy 28 at 8:00 tonight and our rule is to camp at the first flat spot we see after 8. Ken called for a shuttle to the village. Security picked us up, waited while we registered and gave us a Village tour. We need to pick up our box at the PO between 10:00 and noon, saw the grocery, outfitter, laundromat and found internet access. We will use all tomorrow. (Our first roll of film is ready for viewing at Snapfish.com.) The restaurant was closed by the time our tour was over. I worried that we would meet Security again as we cooked Mac&cheese in our room.

Cheoah Bald had a photogenic sunset and a good view of the moon but was too foggy this morning for a view of the sunrise.

Hiking was more up & down in the trees with wonderful birds and flowers. We saw an endangered lady slipper, then eight more as a group.

We passed a few hikers on the trail. One woman with 2 large dogs is from South Africa and another hiker is from Israel. So far no other westerners. Arthur from RI told us his name and we couldn't understand because both "r's" were silent when he pronounced his name!