Date: 2014-03-22
From: Betty Creek Camp

To: Siler Bald Shelter
Miles today: 16.2
Weather: broken clouds

Siler Bald ShelterOne Hundred Miles! Day 10- This was a WOW sort of day with several highlights. We got our usual early start, 7:30 AM and our first challenge was Albert Mountain and the last 1/3 of a mile was straight up, steeper than the two mountains that greeted us when we entered NC. We climbed up and over huge rocks and huffed and puffed our way to the top. At the summit we passed the 100 mile mark! Woo-Hoo!!!! Our reward was a beautiful view of the NC mountains. There was a fire tower on top so we climbed up that too and took some photos. We had pretty good cell service so we checked the email, made some reservations for March 24 and 25, and posted a trail journal from earlier this week. By then we were frozen so we bundled up and headed down. The trail down was very gentle, the complete opposite of the trail up on the other side so we made good time. This being Saturday we met up with a bunch of local day hikers. The first two we met were older guys and they were interested in our hike. One of the guys was a basketball fan and he told us that Syracuse won their first round game against Western Michigan (sorry about that Bob and Joanie!)! This made us very happy! Shortly after that encounter we saw a man and a woman walking towards us. He had a daypack on and she was carrying a plastic grocery bag. When we got close they offered us trail magic and handed each of us a sandwich bag full of treats! They were from the Nantahala Hiking Club and were out doing trail magic on this nice day. Their hiking club is responsible for maintaining this 60 mile stretch between the NC/GA border and the Nantahala Outdoor Center. We thanked them for their trail efforts and then thanked the profusely for the bag of treats. Let me tell you what was in this treat bag: a tiny Twix bar, a snack-sized Snickers, a snack-sized M&M's, a small clementine tangerine and a hard-boiled egg, that she had dyed for Easter! How sweet is that! Plus there were small salt and pepper packets in the bag! We ate the eggs for lunch and were liberal with the salt and we both agree that it was the best egg we've ever had! Then when we got to Rock Gap there was a guy shuttling hikers into the nearby town of Franklin, who offered us a ride. When we declined he then offered us each a banana which we quickly accepted and ate on the spot. We continue to be amazed by and grateful for the caring and generosity of the local people. Trail magic powered us through our second consecutive day of 16- plus miles. We increased today's plans for a 12 mile day to a sixteen mile day because today's elevation gradient was more conducive to longer miles than tomorrow's. We are camped at the Siler Bald Shelter and it is not the greatest place we've camped at on the AT. The tent sites are poor and we will probably spend the night sliding to the bottom of the tent! Oh well! This shelter is also a half mile off the trail and 3 hikers have stopped by to get water or use the privy but no one else is overnighting here yet. We know many hikers were heading into Franklin tonight so we may be alone-which would be weird!All is well. P. S. Update from our tent where we found good 3G phone service: we did not end up camping alone as 3 guys, who we hadn't met before decided to spend the night here. It was fun to get to know them around the campfire. As I type this there is an owl on the slope above us calling to his friends while the lights of Franklin, NC twinkle in the valley below.