Date: 2019-04-02
From: Big Branch Campsite

To: Nantahala Outdoor Center
Miles today: 9.6

Day 5 started cold and snowy. It was very cold during the night and we were all trying to stay warm and off the bottom of our tents. One or more screech owls would screech frequently throughout the night, communicating something only they know  Bear Bear had set her alarm for 6:00 for some reason, but no one wanted to get up. Around 6:30 it started sleeting and that turned to a light snow. It was hard to get out of the sleeping bag but we did by 7, amidst the light snow. We were all bundled up shivering as we heated water for hot chocolate and apple cider. Katie had the quote of the day: ¢I need a full cup in order to f@&$ing heal my soul¢.  It continued to snow as we all packed up. Our destination today was the Natanhala Outdoor Center 9.6 miles away, and 3,200 lower in elevation. The first 1.3 miles were downhill and quick. It was snowy from the 4,926¢ we started down to around 4,300¢.  There was an accumulation on us and on the ground, maybe 1/2-1¢. As usual, we are so cold until we start hiking and then we warm up quickly, needing to shed cloths.  The team had breakfast at Tellico Gap before climbing back up 800¢ to Wesser Bald Firetower.  We didn¢t see any snow after descending to Tellico Gap. I saw some people I¢d met previously up at the Wesser Fire Tower. Beast and Pinky and her friend Belle (who I¢d thought was Elle). They were surprised to see me but we¢d skipped north 15 miles when we got back on the trail yesterday morning. We did we something weird at the Wesser Fire Tower.  There was a pink tent at the base of the fire tower.  The tent was not covered by a tent fly and was quite wet inside. There were two backpacks, a bottle of liquor, a large camp stove, two sleeping bags, air mattresses, and a cooler with food.  There was no one around and clearly hadn¢t been for some time.  We didn¢t find any identification. We did report what we saw when we got to the NOC.On a day we lost so much elevation I was surprised by how much uphill we did, 159 floors. We met some interesting people today. One was a frail elderly woman who looked to be in her 70s. Her husband had died and she decided to do a thru hike on the AT. She was from Greenville NC and had already come over 120 miles. She looked like a strong gust of wind would blow her over but she was slow and steady. She caught us several times during the day as we¢d stopped for some reason or another. As we descended towards the NOC there were deep gorges on one side or the other as we worked out way down. They seemed to go hundreds of feet down. Not something you¢d want to fall into. In the middle afternoon those in the front of our group saw someone ahead of us slip and fall into the gorge, falling/slipping around 50 feet down the slope. The middle aged man was shaken up but seemed to be ok. We assisted in the rescue using line to initially pull up the mans pack and then the man himself. I asked his trail name and he said it now was ¢Ooops¢. We arrived to the NOC around 5 and enjoyed a massive dinner before the local restaurant (there¢s only one) closed at 7:00. We saw several hikers we¢d met previously. We had lots of leftovers, including pizza we are planning to have for bfast. Most of the Gainesville Gang are having blister issues on their feet. My knees didn¢t like all the steps down today. I hyperextended one knee a little, and it didn¢t like that. All of us will bene from tomorrow¢s planned 0, a day where we won¢t do any hiking. We will have two nights at the NOC, and will resupply, do laundry, and maybe go whitewater rafting. We will back on the trail on Thursday, having to hike back up the other side of the gorge. We are all looking forward to sleeping horizontally in a cool (not frigidly cold) room. Steps: 36,000Floors: 159Total Mileage: 34.7 miles