Hiawassee, GA to Franklin, NC

3/20: After staying at the Budget Inn in Hiawassee, we took a shuttle back to the trail at Dick’s Creek Gap. Despite the zero day, our legs didn’t feel fresh as we hiked. It was a beautiful day though, sunny and a high of fifty, which is perfect hiking weather. As we neared the end of our 9.3 mile hike, we crossed into North Carolina at the border! That was such a morale booster after a long day. We were done with Georgia! Only 13 more states to go. That night we stayed at Bly Gap and said hi to our usual crew including Sunshine, Otter, Hagrid, and Turtle. After hanging out around a fire and talking, we went to bed warm and happy.

3/21: North Carolina welcomed us with what seemed like a 90 degree incline that was a mile long. Whew! Good morning legs! But after we passed the top of the mountain, the terrain got a lot easier and we cruised most of the way to Standing Indian Shelter. Since we got there early, we grabbed a shelter spot because we heard it might snow that night. Sure enough, after we ate “ramen bombs” (a packet of ramen and a packet of mashed potatoes together in one pot), it started snowing and then hailing hard for a minute or so. We were happy to be in the shelter! But during the night, the wind howled up from under the floorboards so we were cold anyway. And Emily got up to pee twice, so that was also a bummer for her. Trail rule #458: Don’t drink a lot of water right before bed, especially when it’s super cold. Live and learn, my friends, live and learn.

3/22: It was a bitterly cold in the morning when we woke up. Kori bravely ventured out of her sleeping bag and got breakfast ready (pop tarts and cold oatmeal) while Emily bravely stayed in her sleeping bag and put off filtering water. And later she bravely went down to the creek to filter water after some looks from Kori. After camp was broken, we hiked to Carter Gap to eat lunch. The weather had warmed up with the sun and it was gorgeous out. There we had tuna and mayo packets on tortillas. We had already hiked a little over 7 miles, and it was only 12:30. The hike had consisted of gentle up and down hills, so we made great time! After lunch we saw some spectacular views of the mountains in between the trees. When we got to camp, we met up with a friend we met in the shelter last night, Blue, and we camped together along a winding dirt road at Betty Creek Gap. We hiked 11.6 miles, our farthest yet! While we cooked dinner, Blue talked about his years as a young adult driving to California in a van and his years there growing up. We made a plan to go into Franklin to resupply with him on Sunday and he said he’d buy us a beer at local brewery. We’ll take him up on that one!

3/23: Another cold morning, but at least it wasn’t windy. It was a slow start because neither of us wanted to get out of our sleeping bags. Once we started hiking, Kori warmed up quick and started shedding layers. Emily’s hands continued to be popsicles though. It started to warm up around midday and by 1, we were both in t shirts and shorts! Emily’s hiker hunger kicked in and she ate a tuna wrap, a fun size Snickers bar, two cheese sticks, a Lara Bar, and some turkey pepperoni for lunch, which was over 700 calories. That’s the fun thing about being a thru hiker, we’re always trying to eat more calories! We set up camp at Rock Gap Shelter and as soon as we set down our stuff, a guy came up from the parking lot and told us that he set up some trail magic! So we headed down the .1 mile and had a thru hiker feast! Good food and good company felt great and we basked in the sun and got a little sunburnt (sorry mom). Afterwards, we headed back to camp and planned to get up early so we could catch the shuttle into Franklin. We had another nice night talking to people by the fire that Otter made, and he named it Giancarlo after a camp counselor Kori and I had mentioned, which was hilarious.

3/24: The next day we woke up at 6 to walk 4 miles to Winding Stair Gap where we got a shuttle into town. We picked up some food for lunch, including sliced turkey, cherry tomatoes, and an avocado to make wraps. Long after we had eaten them, Emily was checking her phone and saw that there was an avocado recall for listeria contamination in 5 states, including North Carolina! The single healthy thing we’ve eaten in 2 weeks could give us listeria!?! So we checked the tag and luckily this particular avocado was not a carrier. Whew! Anyway, we’re resting up in Franklin for another day and then we’ll hit the trail on Tuesday. We’re getting stronger and more hungry every day, and we’re so excited for the next part of our adventure :)

Happy trails!