Date: 2009-04-11
From: NOC

To: Sassafrass Gap Shelter
Miles today: 6.9
Weather: overcast clouds

I'm filling in the details from the 9th and 10th. On the 9th I hiked the longest I have yet. It was a good hike for the first part. The hike up Wesser was a little long, but the view from the firetower was worth it. The rest of the hike sucked as it was almost entirely downhill, very steep, many parts were not well maintained and there weren't any views that were different or better than the firetower. Since the NOC was only a mile past a shelter, I was tricked 2 times by other structures that were not the last shelter. It   ed me off to no end. However, when I finally got to the NOC, I found Splice (S) and Cous-Cous (C) sitting in the restaurant. I was able to order food (double decker chili cheese bacon burger) even though the kitchen was closed. The food was great and apparently, S&C were in Franklin @ a different hotel. I asked if I could tag a long w/ them. After dinner, Drew & I found the boy scout canvas tents and squatted in one for the night. The next morning it was raining quite a bit. Drew decided to push on, but I wanted to hike w/ C&S b/c they are going more my pace. I got the package Amanda sent and the letter she sent made me feel a lot better, but it also made me miss her terribly. I'm going to carry it to the end. Drew said goodbye, and I wandered around the NOC for almost an hour in the rain trying to find S&C b/c I forgot to ask in which hostel they were staying. I finally found them in the restaurant. After breakfast, we hitched a ride into Bryson City for C's B-Day, and his friends were coming down to see him. We checked into a crappy motel (Relax Inn) and did some resupply. While we were @ the      store, S won $25 on a scratch off         ticket and C won $3 on others. It was kinda funny. We got some wings from Pizza Hut and asked the guys working there where a good bar was. Luckily, it was around the corner from our motel. A couple hours later S&C's friends (Blake & Jordan) showed up & we all went to dinner, then back to the motel to pre-game & wait for the bar to open. We got to Mickey's Pub around 9:30. We had a blast. There was karaoke that night. I sang Black Water (as usual), Blake and Jordan did 3 songs but they both can sing really well. Splice did one, but Cous wouldn't. We all got really drunk and just had a lot of fun. We closed down the bar and got back to our rooms around 2:30. I don't know how, but apparently, I had the presence of mind to set my alarm and drink a few glasses of water before I fell asleep. I woke up a few minutes later (I thouht) to find out it was already 8 am. I couldn't really go back to sleep, but I tried until S,C,B&J came to wake me up for breakfast. We were all feeling surprisingly well. A little dry mouthed and disoriented but no headache to speak of. We ate @ Bojangles for breakfast and B&J gave S,C and I a ride back to the NOC. We almost spent another zero day recovering, but we decided to hike instead. The hike out of the NOC wasn't nearlyas bad as everyone was making it out to be. I was 6.9 miles w/ only about 3/4 mile downhill/flat. The rest was all uphill. Very tiring, but our slow pace helped. The weather was OK. It didn't rain, but once we got above 3000 ft, it started to get cold and misty. We got to the shelter right after 3 (we started @ 11:30), and luckily, there were still some spots left. We ran into Butch just as he was getting to the shelter too. Butch, Splice & I got a fire going despite everything being wet from the downpour yesterday. We spent the rest of the day hanging out w/ the others around the campfire. People I met today: Gorgonzola - I actually already met him @ Standing Indian shelter, but ran into him on the 9th and again today, he lived in Tampa Bay, owned a martini bar (sold it). Soundtrack - very short guy, plays the flute and sings, worked in Puerto Rico last summer, vegetarian, loves Middle Eastern food. Dreamcatcher - nice older lady, has grandkids, always trying to give away bagels. Carpenter - is a carpenter, is afraid of mice, loves taking pictures. I also ran into the Trail Hotties @ the NOC. Their names are Scabs and Roach. The names are a little odd, and I get the feeling that they don't really like them. We might actually have good weather tomorrow. Hope so. Going to try for 16 miles. I love you and miss you, Amanda. Thank you, Lord, for helping me today. Goodnight (9:30).