Date: 2016-04-24
From: long branch shelter

To: siler bald shelter
Miles today: 11.9
Weather: clear sky

Day 13- April 24, 2016This morning we woke up at about 6:30 and was the first time I was the one who wasn't ready to move. It was hard getting up because I was so warm in my sleeping bag and outside seemed chilly and dark. We eventually got up and moving and left by 8. Today we planned to hike over a section that could possibly be closed due to wild fires. Fortunately, it was not closed and the fires were out due to the rain. The first part of the day had a few challenges going up the mountain between Wallace gap and winding stair gap. At winding stair gap, a guy got out of his Chrysler 300 sedan and asked if we needed a ride to town. Dregs and I weren't intending to resupply here in franklin, but we're both starving and having food conversations beforehand. Dregs has said if anyone offered a ride he would accept, and he did. So we got into this strangers car with our packs. I felt bad to stink up his nice leather seats with my sour stench. He said his name was Joe and he's from Long Island. He shuttles hikers back and forth for a few bucks. It was 10$ round trip to take both of us into town and drop us off at a grocery store. At first he said he would wait for us but then gave Mike his phone number and said he needed to give someone else a ride and would be right back. We took a huge risk and left our packs in his car, expecting him to return shortly. We got all of our resupply items and got rid of packaging, divided the portions up, and even got subway to eat. Joe was still not back. We figured he was just held up somewhere and we would wait a bit longer before calling him. After waiting, Dregs called. No answer. Waited a bit longer. Sent a text. Waited a bit more; left a voice mail. Over an hour went by and we sat on the curb in front of the ingles store. All of our stuff was with some stranger that we couldn't get a hold of and had seemed to abandon us. Finally a call. Right after we put a time limit on when the cops would be called, Joe called us saying he was right around the corner and had no cell service in the area he was driving through. Not 5 minutes later, he pulled up and got us. I was so relieved. Lessons learned about leaving valuables with strangers. But Joe was super nice and a great guy who was caught up in driving some lady hiker to another spot who disagreed with his directions. He felt bad for making us wait but honestly, we are just happy to have gotten a ride, resupply, lunch and our packs wernt stolen. We still had plenty of time to hike the rest of our planned miles as well. We had about 5 miles left to hike but now with an extra 6-7 lbs of food. My back was killing me, but Dregs made conversation a bit to help me take my mind off of the pain. We made up an electrolyte drink too, which gave us instant energy and clarity of mind and finished the day off strong. The shelter was a long steep distance off the trail but when we got there, there was trail magic left for us. Sodas and candy left as nice treats! The shelter was empty, no one else around. We had our pick of the tent sites and opted out of the mouse infested shelter. The site is also the first place we have had cellphone signal in days, so we made a bunch of calls to friends and family. Dinner was had as another hiker named jackrabbit stopped in to chat. He set up his stuff up the trail and came pack less to our shelter. We chatted for a bit and he left. Now it is time to lay back and relax until the sun goes down.