Date: 2012-09-18
From: Campsite near Bartram Trail to the West

To: Wayah Bald Shelter
Miles today: 3.0
Weather: fog

I woke up this morning and could still hear the rain beating on the fly of my tent. I unzipped the screen and then unzipped the fly and was amazed to see the dog sitting in front of my tent soaking wet! He had slept right in front of the tent fly all night long. I packed everything up into my pack inside the tent and then I got on my rain jacket and pants and got out my umbrella. I stepped out of the tent and I noticed the dog had gotten into my trash bag. I picked it up and then went to Beaux to see how he was doing. His fly on his tent was not fully pitched and the bottom (the foot) of his tent still had mesh showing allowing water to run into his tent. He said he was completely wet and wanted to wait until it stopped raining to move on. I got my camera and headed back down the trail to see and take pictures of the historical landmark listed in the guide book about a mile and a half back down the trail on a short .2 mile side trail. WIthout my pack I moved very quickly back to this site. The blue blazed trail was short and ended at a road. Across the road was the first ranger station in Nantahala. I took several pictures and realized the dog had followed me to this location. I even took pictures of the outhouse that accompanied the main house. I returned up the trail and back to camp. When I arrived the rain slowed and then stopped. Beaux climbed out of his tent. He said he had a horrible night and needed to take a zero day to dry his clothes and sleeping bag. We discussed options and he decided to stay at the campsite and explore for a few days and possibly try to go into the city of Franklin. I packed up my tent and headed North down the trail. I stopped by Wayah Bald and took pictures of the tower and tried to take pics from the tower. It of course was very foggy and not much to look at (at the time). I then pressed on to the Wayah Bald shelter. There I met 2 guys already in the shelter. I ate a quick snack and decided to move on to the next shelter. As I began to move out one of the guys informed me the next shelter had been closed for renovation. After looking at the time and options I decided to stay at this shelter and try to dry my equipment. We built a fire and the 2 guys dried their boots. A guy stopped in the shelter and said he was going to take a short break and head on to the next one. He said his trail name was "Shiva". He was trying to hike as far North as possible as late in the season would let him. He had started at Springer Mountain Georgia. I told him the next shelter may be closed and he said he would head for the one after that one. He asked if we had seen a girl pass by and I told him we hadn't. He then left. I settled into the shelter with my stuff spread out all over to help dry it the best it could. After dark I saw a headlamp headed toward the shelter. The dog ran out to greet them. It was the girl that Shiva had asked about. She had gotten onto the wrong trail and had to walk a total of 25 miles that day to get to us. She asked how far the next shelter was and I told her it was closed. She set up her tent outside the shelter and we all went to sleep.