Date: 2016-05-04
From: Franklin, NC

To: Wayah Bald Shelter
Miles today: 11.5
Weather: broken clouds

I woke up in the comfort of the hotel room, the promised overnight storm never materialized. I caught up on trail journals and email, and then walked to across the street for an all American breakfast - McDonalds! Dollar General was right next door so I looked around and got a couple lunch snacks.Franklin has a wonderful shuttle for hikers for $3 and it picked me up at 9 and took me up to the trailhead at Winding Stair Gap. At the Gap, there was trail magic in progress and a couple of Trail Angels were cooking breakfast for hungry hikers. Granny and Old Goat were their "trail names", and they had been doing this for two years, stopping at a road crossings with parking lots and cooking up a feast and providing free meals to hikers. This morning was pancakes, this afternoon would be pulled pork sandwiches, and then hot dogs when the pork ran out. They also had coffee, hot chocolate, soft drinks, and assorted cookies and cakes. Trail Angels line these two are a Godsend for hikers as you grow really tired of "camp food". God Bless them! My thoughts ran back to the Shelter Wisdom from yesterday, "Live, Love, Give".I started up the trail at 10 due to the shuttle ride and talking with Granny and Old Goat. The weather was clear and cool after the cold front moved through last night. At 1 pm I arrived at Siler Bald and I was climbing to the summit, I met Norman Smith out for a day hike. Norman looked out over the verdant hills and exclaimed, "If you can't appreciate this there must be something wrong with you!" Norman was right of course, and we talked for a while about thru hiking and the Trail. He day hikes when he can and his enthusiasm was infectious.I continued to the summit, took pictures, ate my lunch and marveled at the beauty of these mountains.On my way north I passed Norman again as he headed back to the parking lot and we compared notes on what hikers he saw as he walking. He was truly glad to be out there and I wished for him his dream of thru hiking the AT.The trail took me down about 800 feet only to climb back up another 1000 feet; and then down 200 and back up as other 300 to climb Wayah Bald. On top of this bald was an observation tower with spectacular views. The tower was named after John Byrne who had been a World War I soldier and Forest Service supervisor over this area.After some picture taking from the tower, I hustled down to get to the shelter as it was getting late and a lot colder. The shelter was about 800 feet down the bald and seemed a lot farther than the 0.9 miles on the map. At the shelter were 6 others, all from Florida. The main topic at the moment was the weather, as tumors of snow were floating around. Storm clouds were arriving and one of the girls had the weather radar on her phone and it showed successive waves of heavy storms heading out way. I was glad that I made it when I did because as soon as I finished my dinner and hung up my food bag the first wave let lose and pounded the shelter. The seven of us talked while the storm passed through, and then headed for our sleeping bags as soon as there was a break. Jazz Cowboy and I shared the shelter while the others were in tents or hammocks. Hiker midnight came at 9 pm tonight, with the sounds of rain on the tin roof of the shelter to lull me to sleep.