Date: 2015-03-11
From: Stecoah Gap

To: Nantahala Outdoor Center
Miles today: 13.4
Weather: overcast clouds

Ranger found us another great place to stay for several days while we hike north of the Nantahala Outdoor Center (NOC). We have a cabin at the Fryemont Inn in Bryson City. It has lots of amenities and it¢s a short walk to any of the restaurants and shops in the center of town. Yesterday after we unpacked, cleaned up and did our laundry, we headed for the tasting room at the Nantahala Brewery. When we were at the brewery last year, we saw our names on the ¢Pay It Forward¢ board and learned that Pintsize had bought us a beer. The chalkboard is still there, but we had to buy our own IPA this year.Our starting time this morning was linked to the opening time (7:00 AM) for the Everett Street Diner, a great place for breakfast. Ranger and I stayed with basic breakfast fare, but Princess went straight for the coconut cream pie. Ranger¢s son and his wife (Hawk & Hummingbird, 2008 Thru-Hikers) lived here in Bryson City several years ago, and Ranger made the connection with Beverly (our waitress), who remembered them. I¢ve included a photo with Beverly. If you ever get a chance, try their breakfast - and the price is fair. We decided to go SoBo again today, we like meeting the NoBo hikers, and the NOC is a good place to meet for a pickup. So Ranger dropped us off at the Stecoah Gap trailhead a little before 8:00 AM, and we headed south. It rained overnight, but the trail was in decent shape, the temps were in the mid 50¢s and no more than an occasional sprinkle of rain. We stripped off our ponchos before the top of the first hill and hiked for several hours without them. Within a couple of hours we met several hikers, including the trio of Silverback, Ironman and Just Pete(?), whom we¢ve met before. Everyone was in a great mood and appreciated the respite from the rain. A little further along we met Hootie who had a gift package for us. Several days ago, when we passed the stone tower on Wayah Bald, Princess realized that she had lost her favorite pair of wool mittens. We saw Hootie just a little later hiking the other way and asked if he would check for them. It turns out that he found them and kept them for her. So she was reunited with her gloves. We really appreciate Hootie¢s thoughtfulness in returning them to her. Whistler was not far behind Hootie.Sometime later we met Private Benjamin and Cookie Monster. Private Benjamin linked up with us through TrailJournals last year and we met a couple of days ago on the trail. It was good to see them again, and this may be the last time this year. PJ hopes to do a thru-hike in 2017. The weather was turning sour, so we didn¢t talk for long, but agreed to stay in touch. We wish them the best.Not much later we came across 2 couples: Lewis and Clark, and Red and Lewis. We met them on the AT last year. L & C indicated that they were making up a short section that they didn¢t complete last year, and they might do parts of the trail again later this year. We saw Bruny & Bow again too. Bow said her father appreciated the photo I included a couple of days ago. They looked perfectly comfortable with the wet conditions and the long uphill pull - youth is good. Other hikers we saw again included Red Ice, Code Red and Princess Tiny Elf. It was raining when we saw PTE, but she was in great spirits. She said she was in her element, that she loves rain. And we met Bree for the first time.So as usual, we loved hiking SoBo. But the rain was an issue. We endured a heavy, wind-driven rain for a couple of hours during the descent from Cheoah Bald, and got pretty soaked in spite of our ponchos. The good news was that the temperature was mild and we didn¢t get cold. The rain tapered off for the last hour or so as we hiked into NOC and we were able to wash off our muddy gear in the Nantahala River. Before we left with Ranger we took a couple of minutes to buy our AT Thru-Hiker permits for the Smokey Mountains. thru-hikers have to pay $20 to hike the Smokeys, carry a copy of their permit and finish within 8 days. Last year we were challenged to show our permit by a ¢ridge-runner¢ on the last day of our hike through the Smokeys. Back in Bryson City, we did our usual chores and chowed on a tasty Italian dinner at Anthony¢s. Tomorrow we hike into Fontana, then come back here to the cabin for one more night.