Date: 2014-03-25
From: Nantahala Outdoor Center

To: Nantahala Outdoor Center
Miles today: 0.0

Day 13- Rest day! And we rested until we were bored! We had a good night's sleep and when we heard the rain hitting the roof we had no concerns! We got up to a slight dusting of snow on the ground and cold temps. It snowed off and on all day and by the time we walked back from dinner the snow was gathering on the ground and elevated surfaces. The forecast is for the snow to stop and the temps to stay at very unseasonably cold levels. We anticipate starting our hike uphill tomorrow in the icy cold temps with clear skies. Being a rest day we did things like the laundry, washing out our cook pot and bowls, organizing our food and planning the next 10 days of our hike. And we read and caught up on our email. There were a couple of questions asked when people signed the guest book so I will answer them here. Someone asked about how our dehydrated food was working out. Great is the answer! The dinners seem to be about the right amount of food and we are loving the fruit I dehydrated and will probably wish I had done more. I only prepared about 80 dinners so at some point we will have to make our dinners from Ramen noodles or Lipton Quick Side Dishes. Our favorite dinner so far has been gravy mix, dehydrated chicken or beef, a veggie and instant red skinned mashed potatoes. That may not sound so good to you but try it after hiking 15 miles with a heavy pack on your back and it will taste like 5-star cuisine! Someone else asked about the gear we were carrying. I think I listed most of the clothes I was carrying and Squirrel has a similar set. We have a Rainshadow 2 Tarptent, down sleeping bags, neo-air air mattresses, a MSR Pocket Rocket stove, a cook pot with 2 insulated bowls, an aluminum cook pot, 2 spoons, several water bottles, 2 water bottles for purifying our drinking water, a Steri-pen for purifying water, Aqua Mira for purifying water when the Steri-pen stops working, my Kindle, bandanas, rain jackets and pants, umbrellas, 0-6 days worth of food, 2 phones and charging cords, a spare battery to recharge the phones, hiking sticks, vitamins, ibuprofen, a first aide kit, the guide book pages up to Virginia, toilet paper, personal care items and a partridge in a pear tree! Oh, not that last thing, but lots of that stuff listed is in waterproof bags or ziplock bags. I may have missed something but I am sitting in a warm, dry cabin at the moment and not in need of much gear. Frank and Nancy made a trip into Bryson City today to grocery shop and mail some food boxes ahead to themselves so they did some grocery shopping for us too. We in turn got them a couple of fuel canisters at the outfitters here before they closed. Teamwork is great on the trail! We all went back to the River's Edge restaurant for dinner tonight and we were joined by Andy and High Loon. We all had delicious meals that will fuel us as we climb up 3,300 vertical feet in about 8 miles to get out of the Nantahala River Gorge. One observant reader of this journal caught a typo when I wrote in yesterday's journal about getting up in the night to go to the 'barroom' instead of the bathroom!! Really it was the bathroom (which was the closest tree!). I got a big chuckle out of that. I guess I better let Squirrel proofread these before I post them!All is well.