Date: 2021-04-18
From: Reservoir Road 

To: Forest Service Road 286 - stealth site
Miles today: 16.4
Weather: overcast clouds

Settled up at the hostel this morning. $30 per night for two nights and $45 of bonus shuttling. I didn¢t go for any of the pizza, ice cream, or beer (lagers only).  Gotta be me. I paid for my stay with a portion of a gift card that my coworkers (organized by Russ) passed the hat around to give me as a ¢stay away as long as you want¢ present. People¢s kindness has been a little overwhelming, truth be told. Grinder, Storm and I were dropped off in the same spot as the day before only going north away from the hostel instead of south. They had arraigned for our packs to be dropped off 13 miles up trail where we planned to camp for the night, so I had another day pack for the hike. Charlie, our hostel host and shuttle driver joked that I may have set a record for slack packing my first 30% of the trail. I think that if someone like Grinder, who since 2013 had nearly completed the entire trail mileage four times, suggests something, it¢s wise to do it. Part of the walk was through an area where freed slaves lived for a while along the banks of the Brown Mountain creek. There are still stone walls, a chimney or two, and a few foundation stones remaining as well. Hard to imagine what it had to have been like for those newly freed after the civil war, trying to start from nothing to survive and care for their families.  They had to work as sharecroppers, with 1/4 of their harvest going to the landowner. The Community disbanded in the 1920¢s when they sold their land to the US Forest Service. Makes me think. The second 5 miles began at 1375 ft of elevation and went up to 4045 feet. So the first five miles took me two hours and the next five just about 4. I keep telling myself that 2 miles is just about the distance of a walk around my block at home. For whatever reason, that helps me rationalize the distance, leaving out the terrain.At the top of the climb we came to Bald Knob. A bald is simply what they call a mountain top down here that has no trees on it. Strangely, Bald Knob may have been a knob, but it wasn¢t bald, mostly covered with dead or dormant trees. >span class="s1">The walk down to our meeting spot with the shuttle driver and our packs was chilly. The meadow where we had planned to camp was nice, but in checking the weather, I saw that a cold night was in store for Monday and if I didn¢t move further on, I would probably need to make camp Monday night above 3600 feet. Little known meteorological fact: the higher you go, the colder it gets. So I departed from Grinder and Storm at 4:45 and moved up the trail another 3.5 miles before setting up camp.I am writing this Sunday night, laying in my hammock with no cell service and holy Mary mother of God! - an owl just hooted so loudly and close by I nearly soiled myself. I¢m going to aim to hike about 15 miles tomorrow (the last 4 all downhill) and get below 1200 feet before the cold weather hits. Ok, blood pressure is dropping back down to normal heart attack levels. It¢s nearly Hiker Midnight (sunset in the real world) so I¢ll post this on Monday as soon as I have connection again.