Date: 2012-03-10
From: Siler Bald Shelter

To: Wayah Gap
Miles today: 1.7

"Superb hostel, the best on the trail!"-- Scooter, from the Aquone Hostel registerCold, cold night last night on Siler Bald. Some standing water around the shelter was frozen and once the cold gets into my system the only way to warm up is to start hiking uphill... and UPHILL it is out of the shelter on the shelter loop back to the trail. I must have been so overwhelmed by the cold that I somehow took the wrong turn onto the AT and started walking southbound -- even after double checking that I was headed in the right direction. The shelter loop - AT junction at Siler Bald is poorly marked, especially for those coming from the half mile long shelter loop.  So after a mile of a pitched ascent and another mile of a brisk descent I find myself back at the shelter loop sign. KRIPES! I hate walking the wrong way, especially on steep trail.  So back i go again to where I started.Once I've got it together I start on the nicely graded descent of Siler Bald down to Wayah Gap where Steve Bennet -- Wiggy, GA-ME, 2010 -- picks me up and shuttles me to Aquone Cabins.  So my 1.7 mile nero ends up being nearly 5 miles... but what the hell, I'll be chillin' with a couple of other hikers all day and night tonight, and as per the website and Steve's pitch the hostel looks like it may be the nicest one on the trail.Steve (Wiggy) hiked the trail with his brother in 2010, the year of the 5 foot snow drifts in the Smokies, and they started in February so they "post holed" their way through the Smokies. Steve said he and his brother had to alternate taking lead every half hour because it was so difficult to break trail in 5 feet of snow... quite a different story this year.Anyway, the hostel is everything it's advertised to be: it's a beautiful place. Steve, a former green beret, has built 3 large cabins on his 4.5 acre lot, and what is ostensibly the largest cabin is used as the hiker hostel. The bottom floor seems to be Steve and Maggie's residence and Cabins' office, while the top floor is used as the hostel.This main cabin is one large, well appointed, living room / kitchen / dining area, and three bedrooms (one with its own bathroom) with two proper beds apiece and a large bathroom. If they had a flood of hikers the other cabins are available for use.  The main cabin has a porch, hot tub, barbecue and Steve is expanding the porch out to a deck. $20 a night... wha'?!  Why go in to Franklin at all? They'll receive your packages here, shuttle you to 3 different points on the trail (Wayah, Burningtown, and Tellico Gaps) do your laundry, and cook you dinner all while nestled in the mountains near beautiful Nantahala  Lake -- they'll even rent you a canoe! Again, it begs the question: a beautiful place like this, run by a friendly thru-hiker --  why go to Franklin?!  On the bad news tip: HT1 has come down with pneumonia. He's been here the last 2 nights and his wife is making the 7 hour drive from Jacksonville to take him back off the trail. He's a very nice guy and says this was a good test of how to approach the trail next time. He also passed along news of three other hikers who left the trail at Franklin with leg problems. Tough going early on.The only negative here at Aquone is that there is no cell service whatsoever -- not a single bar. Nothing. They allow you to use their phone and computer freely between the hours of 6-8pm and whenever you have a quick call or email to post, provided the phone is not in use. They've had pretty good business here just by word of mouth, and word in the registers, as Steve just opened in January and none of the guide books have Aquone Cabins listed. This is such a great way to refresh the legs, and I believe I may be the first one to approach Steve about "slack packing" this section -- he has 3 drop off/pick up points on the next 15 miles of trail. So I floated the idea of a 15 mile slack pack from Wayah Gap to Tellico Gap and he and Maggie are amenable to it -- that means 2 nights here and still getting a good days hike in tomorrow.  I just might do that.Orange Lightening shows up in time for the massive dinner.  Good company. Great place!