Date: 2017-04-18
From: Nantahala Outdoor Center 

To: Locust Cove 
Miles today: 10.2

Day 21 on the Appalachian Trail April 18Miles Today: 10.2Total Miles: 147.4I ended up sleeping really well last night and woke up feeling rested even though I was up way later than I should've been. It's a good thing too because today required every bit of energy I had. I'm completely exhausted and it's only 7 right now. I'll be heading to bed shortly after finishing this post and I'll probably sleep in a bit tomorrow since it's going to be a short day.My alarm sounded at 6:45, I woke up and laid in bed for another 15 minutes. I started to pack up from inside of my tent since it was raining and I figured I could get a decent amount of it done by sitting inside. By the time I finished what I could complete from in my tent, the rain had let up a bit so I rushed to get my tent down. Almost 100% successful in keeping my tent dry. A few drops of rain snuck in while I took off rainfly. Nothing I wouldn't be able to dry out later with my towel. I left camp at 8:30 and headed up to the NOC to dump some trash and leave behind some food I didn't want from my supply box, mostly ramens. By the time that was finished it was just before 9 and I was headed up the nearly 4,000 foot climb to the top of Cheoah Bald. It drizzled for a bit at the beginning of the day but I had on my poncho to keep my pack and myself dry. A lot of good that did... after 30 minutes of continuous up I felt like I was in a sauna and I had to take it off. By this point the rain had stopped but go figure, not 5 minutes after I took it off the rain started back up again. Instead of stopping to put it back on I carried on and enjoyed the cool drops of water falling from the sky as I trudged my way up the mountain. I expected to run in to my dad not far in to the trail but he had left at 7am without me knowing. As I continued to climb I realized the day wasn't going to be as difficult as I had originally thought it would be. Of course it was still going to be hard but no where near as bad as I expected. The miles and elevation gain were actually coming quickly and I arrived at the Sassafras Gap Shelter in about 3 hours. My dad was there when I arrived. He said he had only been there about 10-15 minutes before I showed up. We both sat around the shelter for a bit but as more people showed up the shelter got crowded and loud. Didn't take long for us to want to get out of there, and that's what we did. We both headed out of the shelter at the same time. Dad let me pass ahead and I made short work of the 1 mile climb to the top of the bald. Unfortunately for us, we were socked-in by fog for most of the day and we had no views throughout it. From the summit it was a short 2.5 miles down to Locust Cove which is where we intended to spend the night. That short 2.5 miles felt like a hell of a lot more than that due to a nasty blister that had been bothering me for most of the morning. By this point it had gotten large and was extremely sensitive. Every step was painful and I had a noticeable limp for the rest of the day. Once I managed to struggle my way to the Cove I set up my tent right away to ensure it would stay dry and be able to air out. The rain had stopped but there was no telling when it would come back. We're expecting rain everyday for the next 7 days. Joy! About a half hour after I had gotten to the Cove, Dad arrived. He got to setting up his hammock and was done shortly after. We then chatted about grabbing a room at the Fontana Village for Thursday night and then heading on for the Smokies on Friday morning. I called and 5 minutes later we had a room to sleep in, dry our gear and rest up in before the Smokies. No word from Joe today but I let him know our plans and he's welcome to join. Once that was settled I went through my food bag and organized everything from my supply box, had some snacks, and made dinner a bit afterwards. Jay and Sarah showed up while I was cooking dinner and they have set up their tent next to mine. Sounds like they will be heading to Fontana tomorrow while we won't be there till Thursday so we may not see them for a bit after tonight. I hope they continue to do well on the trail. I forgot to mention in yesterday's post that we got to talk to Murph. He's been off trail for a couple days now due to an injury and is aiming to be back this coming Saturday. He'll be starting up at the NOC and we're hoping he can catch up to us so we can all hike together.