Monday, May 30th

Nantahala Outdoor Center (136.7 mi) to Brown Fork Gap Shelter (152.9 mi)

Hiking Miles: 16.2

Total Ascent: 5,756.2 ft

Total Descent: 3,662.7 ft

Total Grade: 580.9 ft/mi

Steps: 45,254

Helene dropped us off at the NOC (it’s just down the road from her) at 9:15 am and we resupplied at both the Outfitter Shop and the General Store. We saw Will, Kirk and Rider when we exited the General Store and crossed the main street. They had camped last night (where we had originally planned) and were getting picked up to conclude their hike. We then walked through the NOC activity area on our way back to the trail, and witnessed many vacationers enjoying the amenities.

I was very sore today, particularly my feet (toes) and I hiked slowly (no running). We both took it real easy and enjoyed the day and beautiful warm weather. It essentially felt like a “Near-O” day although we managed to clock 16.3 miles overall. During the hike, we saw some unusual sights – one being a nice tribute to a Service Forest Ranger, Wade Sutton, who had lost his life suppressing a wildfire on trail back in the late fall of 1968. There were several pennies placed on the memorial that hikers had left over the years..

We also saw an old boot that was overgrown by moss – you had to look closely (kind of an “I-Spy with my little eye” moment). That must have been there for quite awhile and had the right elements to harvest the growth. I also stopped to rest at a picnic table near a main road while Stevie searched for a water source that was shown on Far Out.

This stop was just before we hiked a steep ascent on our way to the Brown Fork Shelter, where we stopped for the evening. There we met another Father-and-Son hiker team whose names were Kenny (dad) & Kyle (son). The first thought that popped into my head after they mentioned their names was “South Park”. They didn’t have trail names yet however we secretly named them “Stan” & “Cartman” (Of course we did, being South Park fans). Kyle had recently got out of the Navy and began hiking the trail on May 24th with his Dad (who also recently retired at age 60). They mentioned they were early risers and hoped we didn’t mind the noise when they got up at 5 am. There was one other hiker (named Walk About) in the shelter who had been on the trail since May 10th, and he was going to take a two-week break from the AT.

The shelter was situated on the crest of a hill so both the privy and the water source was downhill from it. We scooped and filtered some water to make dinner, and then we put our food in the bear can and called it a night. Hopefully my feet had a chance to repair a bit with the leisure day. I needed it because tomorrow we would be entering the Great Smokies.