Date: 2019-03-08
From: Wesser Bald

To: NOC Wolf Den Hostel 
Miles today: 5.9

Day 19 6.8 miles Wesser Bald to NOCLast night in the wee hours of the morning everyone in our shelter heard a creepy yell in the darkness.Well everyone heard it but me. Supposedly according to Sunshine ,I was the culprit that yelled like a little scaredy-cat in my sleep, however I have no recollection and remember there¢s the possibility of big foot or other strange animals out there that may sound like me. We later woke up to guess what?Yeupp rain. Don¢t get me wrong, I love rain I really do, as a kid if it was not thundering my Mom would let me play in the rain and I would build the coolest dams and splash through every puddle I could find.However a week of record cold ending with rain that later turned to sleet can start to beat an ole man down. Not complaining just the facts. The great news is my new Arcteryx Traverse jacket and North Face Venture rain pants actually seem to be keeping out the rain. Attention disclaimer, please don¢t go out and buy anything just because it may work for me at a given particular moment,I¢ll report how the gear works or fails as I go along but understand I¢ve heard so many contradictions on gear ,that the last thing I want to do is influence someone to spend good money on something that might not work for them. It¢s the funny thing about gear it¢s a love hate personal relationship. My wife recently asked me how and if I¢m hurting .The answer is YES!However the pain is moving around to different places . In the words of Nimble Will Nomad ¢ Your going to hurt but as long as the pain is not in the same place everyday you will be fine¢ So far no blisters however the wet weather has caused my heel to crack and bleed , kind of painful but good ole superglue and Leukatape to the rescue patched up and good as new. My hands are the same way. So our hike today was relatively short and we were in great spirits again since we would be getting to civilization and later showering and getting a hot meal and a warm bed .Paradoxically I long to be on the trail , yet I long to be off the trail hmmm...After being pelted with tiny ice balls and rain all morning , we descended into the NOC Natahala Outdoor Center at 11:30 am. We headed straight into the restaurant and ordered the best cheeseburger I¢ve had in a long time. Jimmy and Sherry joined us and will magnanimously take us to Wolf Den Hostel in Stecoah Gap and then Jimmy will slack pack us two 15 miles days back to back. Tomorrow he will drop us off at Fontana Dam and we will slack pack sobo back to Stecoah Gap. The weather is supposed to be stormy tomorrow at times. The following day we will hike  From Stecoah Gap back to the NOC ,approximately 30 miles in two days big distance for me but with out my 30lb monster it should be very doable.Tonight at our hostel we have The very famous world renown Artemis!!We will be honored to hike with her tomorrow, she¢s really just like one of us but has one of the most popular YouTube sites out there. Very funny young lady.Also I¢m rooming with Joel ( Gett¢n There)today is his Birthday. And Katarina from Germany is in the next room, it amazes me, this is the fourth person from Germany that I have had the honor to hike with, not to mention one from Australia and one from Tasmania and two from Canada. Pretty cool to come way over here and do this trail that¢s in our back yard!Well it¢s close to regular midnight, 5 hours past hikers midnight. But tonight I¢m safe and sound and hopefully nobody screams in the middle of the night.