Date: 2009-04-19
From: Franklin, NC

To: Wayah Bald Shelter
Miles today: 11.7
Weather: light intensity drizzle

Slept very well after a huge meal. Up at 6:30. The plan is to go out of Franklin this morning. I will have breakfast with Moonlight and some of his friends from North Carolina, a retired school principal originally from Michigan. Then we plan to get out and hike 8-11 miles in the afternoon.It's raining today, and many of the hikers in our small tribe are going to take a zero day, just hang out and watch TV. But Neither Moonlight nor I are as strong as some of the younger hikers, and we didn't come here to stay in an inexpensive, albeit accomodating, motel.A quick word about my fellow hikers. While I was #504 is the register at Amicolola Falls at the start, I tend to walk and camp with the same 15 or so hikers. There are the super hikers who put in 20+ miles per day, but they come into camp very late, and tend to be gone in the morning, never to be seen again. Of our little tribe, a surprising number are 50+ years old, slightly less than half of the group. The elder statesman is AT73, a 73 year old gent that looks like Santa after a long stretch on Jenny Craig. AT73 hiked the whole trail in 1994, and has done major stretches several times since. He is the only repeat hiker in our little tribe. Windmill, his hiking partner, is early 60s. There are 5 or 6 others in the same general age range. Moonlight and I are the same age, and are the perhaps youngest of the old guys.   There are a half dozen in our tribe who are a year or two out of college, or out of their first job. The youngest is probably Scree Freak, a British guy from Dorset who's hiking for 3 months and starting university in the fall. And there are a couple of 30-somethings who are victims of the economy and figured they'd rather hike than sit around and wait for the phone to ring. There's the young British guy, a Canadian woman, and outgoing Israeli, and a Welsh woman named Kermit that we just met and is staying at the motel -- so we're an international set. I am also surprised that I'm not the heaviest hiker out here; not by a long shot. But a couple of the heavier guys have already gotten off, which disappoints me on a personal level. That said, my pants are already getting very loose, and the weight is coming off.Times up on the computer so I'll write again in Bryson City, 40 miles down the road.(three days later)Moonlight's friends Don and Tammy were wonderful, and treated us to blueberry pancakes, eggs and sausage in Franklin. The waitress was a hoot, a native American who has published 2 books, and was currently working on a novel involving ancient Indian myths. You're in a remarkable place when a waitress has a night job as a published author! Don and Tammy then gave us a ride back to the trail. Great folks, who have offered us a place to stay after we get to Nantahala in 3 days. Most others in our travelling tribe decided to stay in town. Only Photoshop decided to get out on thre trail. Frankly, I can't see the point. I've seen Franklin, NC, it's nice, but it's time to get on. Despite the rain.Moonlight and I were on the trail by 10:30. Notwithstanding the rain and the cold and the persistent fog, we made good time. I got to my first bald at Siler Bald. This is a field of about 50 acres, grasses that are about 6 inches tall. It looks like a cow pasture, only no cows, no houses, and no fences. There are multiple theories about their origin. Some say that they are ancient Indian cornfields. Others say they are a natural phenomena. Whatever, I've heard there is concern that trees are now encroaching on these small and unique ecosystems, but I don't know. At Wayah Bald there is a huge stone tower with reported great vistas. The vistas were lost on me. We climbed to the top, but it was too cold to see much, and we were too close to our final destination to tarry.Reached Wayah Shelter about 5:30. 11 miles in good time. Rain all day. I set up my tent and ate quickly, discovering a great new meal in the process. You take 3 sporkspoons of freeze-dried dehidrated beef stroganoff, add hot water, place it on a tortilla, roll and eat. Outstanding! At 1:00 am my tent failed. Water began seeping in the top of the tent at a rate that I couldn't stop. Having a superlight tarp/tent, I'm still learing its limitations. 8 hours of steady rain was its limit tonight. I grabbed by sleeping bag, my pad, and some dry clothes and bolted for the shelter, falling face down in the mud once in the process. With only 5 sleeping in the shelter, no one complained when I came in and asked them to move over. Thus endeth the night.Oh, I've got a seriously aching right achilles tendon.