Date: 2017-04-13
From: Wayah Bald Shelter

To: Nantahala Outdoor Center
Miles today: 16.5

We woke in the morning to a blood red sunset, illuminating the spotless sky and thick fog which filled the valleys like water which left mountain islands poking up through. Liz and I left the shelter last, but it wasn't long before we started seeing/passing our last night's companions. We stopped several times throughout the morning for a couple overlooks, which seem to be becoming more prevalent. We opted to take a 0.1mi side trail up the steep face of rocky knob after which we rested for a bit, had a snack, enjoyed the view of the last of the fog dissapating, and I taped one of my toes to prevent a blister. We crossed a gap and met a day hiker who jokingly warned us the Maine isn't all it's cracked up to be... a claim which I was well equipped to refute, to his amusement (since the 2 other Mainiacs ahead of me had had similar reactions). We continued the ascent to the peak of Wesser Bald, since we wanted to have lunch on the fire tower at the summit. Though the trail was fairly steep, my legs actually didn't tire, which is a nice improvement over the start of the trail. The panoramic views from the tower were spectacular and we could trace the peaks had crossed over the previous 2 days, could see the Nantahala river clearly in the valley below, and could most likely see the Smokies to the north (though we couldn't pick them out specifically). We took a quick lunch but were soon driven away once again by the small gnats. While we had originally planned on camping at the shelter 1mi before the Nantahala Outdoor Center and passing through in the morning, we heard there was camping available at NOC (seperately from the cabins, which we didn't want to stay in since we had just been in Franklin) and so we decided to push on so that we could get a burger and beer for dinner tonight. The trail quickly turned very steep and rocky and in combination with the particularly burnt trees that decorated the ridge we felt like we were hiking through Mordor, a feeling we've had throughout NC with all the burnt sections we've seen. The full decent for the afternoon totaled 2500ft, which our knees began to feel as we continued downwards. We passed Bear (also known as The Chairman because of the camp chair he carries) having lunch, Tropical, and Fireproof as we hiked. We also passed a unique group of male hikers, 2 of which were hiking shirtless and one who was only wearing a backpack and a small plaid loincloth, a sort of tiny kilt???? We didn't linger near them and soon enough reached NOC, where I had stopped on the road trip down to Springer almost 2 weeks ago. We grabbed a burger and beer at Rivers End restaurant with LogJam and Cole and some refreshments at the general store and headed over to the camping area and got some TRAIL MAGIC in the form of an orange from an off duty ranger in return for our opinions on this section of trail. We reported a couple of downed trees on the trail and some garbage that was left at a shelter a couple days ago, and then continued on to claim our spot in tent city with all the other hikers who didn't want to get cabin.After establishing camp we headed back to NOC and sat by the river with a bunch of other hikers and enjoyed the warm afternoon sun and the freezing river water on our feet with our drinks. We got some more TRAIL MAGIC from a young couple who traded the last couple slices of their pizza for a chat about the trail and our experience thus far. As the sun set we headed back to camp and joined the PA4 (also known as the PennMen) at their fire with the other tent city hikers. As we chatted the stars came out and a couple of early fireflies began their dance.Liz and I (and several others) had setup our tents on the other side, so we headed back there and took the opportunity to enjoy the stars (we even saw 4 satellites) and the sounds of the river before heading to bed.