| Mile | 120.5 |
| Miles Since Last Update | 10.9 |
Woke up at 7, ate breakfast with slim Jim and One More at 730. They were playing ELO in the kitchen and vibes were very good. Said bye to Freddie the trail dog and got dropped off at winding stair gap. By then it was almost 930 which was kind of a problem. Weather was “good” but there were no clouds, and there was no breeze, and after hauling a fully restocked pack up the first 1000 feet or so, my cookie filled body started to fall apart from the heat. Need to stop eating breakfast before hikes, it just wrecks me. Made it the 11 miles to wayah shelter tho. Took some detours to see some views and got into camp at 4ish. Lonestar and Super J are here, who we met at Stanimals around the bend, so it is nice to be around some familiar faces.
One of the detours was to siler bald, which was very pretty, but very steep. A couple day hikers came up while Notyet and I were chatting and they were bewildered that people were thru hiking this early.
I’ve committed to a 16 mile day tomorrow by booking a room at the NOC. Not totally sure why I did it but I’ve just been craving a private room for a while I guess. 3000 ft up, 6000 down, it will be a doozy but I’m going to start early and think positive or something and hopefully I don’t die. Should get over the ascents before the sun starts killing me at least.
There’s no rain tonight, clear skies, and no wind so I set my hammock up without the tarp. Hoping to see some stars which might give me a morale boost. Also I have a near perfect hang at about -3 degrees with feet up. I do legitimately believe now that I sleep better in the hammock than in a bed. If I ever return to some kind of “home” I need to figure out how to weave that in.
Views from siler bald
Wayah Bald watchtower
Views from wayah bald
Wayah shelter
View from my open hammock