Date: 2018-05-05
To: Mountaineer Falls Shelter 
Miles today: 16.4

Day 31- Overmountain Shelter (387.2mi) to Mountaineer Falls Shelter (403.6mi) People were going up and down the ladder, flashing their headlamps towards us, and even smoking in the barn throughout the night. I slept really hot last night with my sleeping bag and got my long johns wet with sweat. This rendered any sleep combo without my sleeping bag too cold. The conclusion: our worst sleep on the trail!The forecast predicted rain for today; thunderstorms potentially starting at 9am. We had set an alarm but all the commotion in the morning meant we were up before it and hiking by a record 7am. In some ways, it was a gift. We didn't know we had more bald highlands to hike across and we got terrific light. For the first time, we think our guide book is wrong.The AWOL guide said it was only 7 miles to US-19 with an absolutely insane downhill after crossing over from NC to TN for good. We never found the scary descent yet it took us much longer time-wise to cover those 7 miles.A quick hitch into Roan Mountain, TN (the town) showed us that our perceptions of the Roan Mountain Hiker Fest were way off!! It was a trail maintenance day (everyone had already set off) with live music in the evening. This meant no farmers market; the thing I had been food dreaming about for days. Local cheeses, artisanal breads.... yummmm.Josh thought I would be upset but we got a ride to Smoky's Bakery and had the absolute best pizza of the trail. Also, Saturday's special is buy four pizzas, get a fifth free! We gorged over some soda with Wings and another Canadian we met just before the road named Double D.Before hitching back to the trail, the guys wanted some more cold drinks which brought us to Bob's Dairyland and we all got milkshakes. Someone discovered they had wifi so I updated the journal and Josh watched sports while Wings video chatted with his girlfriend who is preparing to join him for a couple of weeks.The hitch back to the road was easy but we were left with a warning. It's best to hike the next 9 miles to the shelter. If you have to stop before, don't camp even remotely close to houses, dirt roads, or the cemetery. A local family had their land "taken" to accommodate the trail and the brothers will run you out if they've been drinking.Luckily, we had been planning on going to the shelter and we made jokes about it as we hiked. As you can imagine, this meant we were stunned when we found Cinco de Mayo trail magic at a random backcountry road crossing. Two thruhikers from 2015, Lookout and Rico Suave, had Coronas and chips and salsa to eat while they made juicy burgers and delicious pork tacos. They had made a lot by hand and it was really amazing. They even had veggie burgers for Wings. We were their last hiker trash of the day so they gave us the final beers to pack out and individually-wrapped Reeses cups and little Snickers. On top of the greatness, the hiking to the shelter was cool! We passed the 400 mile marker, took a quick side trail Jones Falls, and walked along the Elk River.It was nice getting to Mountaineer Falls Shelter and seeing some of the cool people we had met at the converted barn the night before. Our dinner was beer and the rest of our pizza. The cherry of top of this marvelous day? We never got rained on!!