Date: 2017-04-19
From: Locust Cove 

To: Cody Gap
Miles today: 8.4
Weather: broken clouds

Day 22 on the Appalachian TrailApril 19Miles Today: 8.4Total Miles: 155.7It rained hard for almost the entire night last night. I woke up this morning to the inside of my tent being a bit wet and the entire outside of it being covered in mud from the rain hitting the ground so hard around me. Feeling discouraged by the rain when I woke up at 6:45 I decided to go back to bed and possibly wait it out. I woke up an hour later and could still hear the rain hitting my rainfly so I just lazed around in bed and looked at the map for the day. Nothing seemed like it would be too difficult. After waiting an hour or so in my tent for the rain to stop I eventually gave up and got out. Turns out it wasn't even raining, it was just the water falling from the trees above and the rhododendron bushes around me... I probably could've gotten going a lot sooner than I did. Oh well, it turned out for the best anyway because my late start led to my dad and I getting a ride into the town of Robbinsville. Once I got out of bed, I quickly broke everything down and got it stored in my bag. Jay and Sarah offered me some of the breakfast they were cooking up. It was blueberry oatmeal with banana chips, honey and coconut. Typically I'm not a fan of oatmeal but this was damn good and it was nice having a hot breakfast for a change. It seems like Jay and Sarah whip up some pretty good meals in the very large pot they carry with them. I thanked them and headed off. About 2 miles down the trail I got a text from Dad saying there was a guy at Stecoah Gap offering rides to town. I told him I had a mile to go and would be there shortly. At the time I really didn't have a need to go to town but once I got there I changed my mind when the man offering the ride said there was a pizza buffet for $8. Sold. Plus we could throw our wet stuff in a dryer at the local laundromat. We hopped in his truck and were soon in town. He drove us around and showed us where the laundromat was and then took us to the pizza shop. We thanked him and headed in. I grabbed 4 full plates of food, one at a time, and brought them back to our table before sitting down to eat. I had a huge salad, a bunch of pizza, spaghetti, breadsticks, and several slices of dessert pizza. I quickly devoured the food in front of me and then realized I was going to have one hell of a time hiking the remaining 5 miles for the day. Once we finished our meals we had a 1 mile walk across town to the laundromat. The sun had come out and it allowed us to dry out our packs a bit while walking. When we got to the laundromat we put all our down gear in one dryer and other wet items such as clothing and dry sacks in another. While everything was being dried I took the remaining gear I had that couldn't go in the dryer and set it up on the lawn outside in the sun. After 20 minutes, everything I had was completely dry. It was a good feeling knowing that I would have dry gear to stay in tonight. We packed up and headed out of the laundromat. We set up outside of Ingles and began to hitch. About 10 minutes passed and a man in a truck pulled up and told us to hop in the back. He didn't even ask where we were going, he already knew and brought us back right where we needed to be. The ride in the back of the truck was awesome. It felt nice to be flying down a highway at 55mph and having the wind blow through my hair. We began hiking right away once we got back to Stecoah Gap. We began climbing right out of the gap and my full stomach was not making it an easy trek. It was pretty slow going to start but eventually I picked up the pace. After a steep climb I ran into an older man named Octo. He just turned 84 on the 12th and I talked with him while we both continued to hike to the shelter nearby. He's been doing small section hikes for years now and is slowly working his way north. I've gotta say, for his age he was doing a damn good job. When I first ran in to him he had just done the steep climb that I had done and it didn't look like he even broke a sweat. Once we got to the shelter we continued to chat with some other people there. I offered to walk down to the water source and fill his water while I did mine. He took me up on the offer without hesitation. When I returned he thanked me and tried to give me some food in return. I told him it wasn't necessary and that I was glad to help and save him a trip down the steep path to the water source. After a bit more conversation I headed on my way and said farewell to Octo. I hope he is able to continue on his journey north. It was a pleasure to meet him and with any luck I'll run in to him in Fontana tomorrow. From the shelter it was 2.9 miles to Cody Gap where we planned on staying. I quickly finished up the miles and was at camp by 5. With gray clouds rolling in I was hoping to make it there before the rain started. I was successful and quickly had everything set up in case the skies decided to open up. Not long after I got to the Gap, Dad showed up. About an hour and a half after him, Joe came rolling in. Then Jay and Sarah. We all made and ate dinner together, did some caching up, and listened to some music I was playing off my phone. Right around 9 everyone headed off to bed. Tomorrow is looking like a pretty easy day. Another day with short mileage and a booked room at the lodge to look forward to. I'll be falling asleep to the calls of several different owls that are nearby tonight. They are making quite the ruckus right now and it's really cool to listen to.