Date: 2014-03-27
From: Franklin - Winding Stair Gap

To: Wayah Bald Shelter
Miles today: 11.0
Weather: clear sky

Day 15: Thursday, 27 March 2014 Winding Stair Gap (109.8) to Wayah Bald Shelter (120.8)Decided to take advantage of the free pancake breakfast, so we got up at 6:30am to be ready for the van pick-up at 7:15am. Surprisingly, there were only 5 people from our motel out waiting.The church's vans came and whisked us away. The First Baptist Church was behind Outdoor 76. We filed in and were greeted by really, really nice people. We got in line for pancakes and bacon (if you're not a vegetarian).Apparently, the place was packed yesterday but only about a third full today. One woman told the story of how this breakfast got started. Several years ago, the church had an assistant pastor who had hiked the AT and suggested that the church do something to help the hikers, and suggested a breakfast. It started as a weekend event and has grown to 4 weeks EVERYDAY! In the room where they host the breakfast, they put up the posters from every year that are signed by the hikers for that year, and pictures from hikers who finished and sent them photos back. I think she said that they've been doing this for 8 years! Now THAT'S serious Trail Magic!Someone took individual photos, printed them off and had note paper and envelope to be able to send the photo to a loved one! Guess they pay for the postage! WOW!!!After the minister had a few words and we got to socialize a bit, the vans whisked us back to our motels. That was great!Well, we misunderstood the times for the motel shuttle back to the trail head and missed the 9am shuttle. We had to wait for the 11 o'clock shuttle. I'm a bit nervous about the late start because we're hoping to do 11 miles today. It's not the distance but what obstacles I'll meet on the trail - rocks, roots, and such, that give me pause about the time.We started up the hill; it at least started out to be a nice day. With the snow, parts of the trail still had a lot of snow or it was muddy. I'm just so afraid of falling. But on we walked.We crossed a road and met a woman, Murphy from Florida, sitting, waiting for a shuttle from a hostel. It was 3pm by then and the idea of a hostel sounded like a great idea! She got her ride and we ate 'lunch'! We had about 5 more miles to go! Well, I'm pretty sure I can do a mile an hour, so the latest we might get in is 8pm! I HOPE we get in sooner, like before dark! Slog on!It was probably around 6-6:30pm when we got into the shelter area. There we met The Tortoise and Paul, the daughter/father team, RW, Meticulous, and Walking North, who was already asleep in his bag. Walking North is a 72 year old German, so I can understand why he's asleep already. There was also another guy with a dog, but he was set up in a tent.It was supposed to rain so I wanted to stay in the shelter, and besides, all the tent sites looked like they were on slopes! I spend enough energy hiking all day; it's rough when I have to spend energy at night to keep from sliding off my air mattress!It looked like there would be enough room in the shelter for us, but Walking North was spaced out a bit more. Tortoise and Paul called to him, waking him enough to tell him to move over. Well now there's room for me! Buffalo asked the others if they'd mind if he just slept on the platform floor, across at our feet! No one seemed to mind. It was getting dark and Buffalo made dinner. We went over to the camp fire and ate. Meticulous came over to heat some water to put in her water bottles to then put in her sleeping bag! Hmmm!I seem to get full pretty fast with our dinners and don't eat my "half", but that's probably OK that Buffalo gets more! We sat and chatted with Meticulous, but then it was time for me to go to sleep, since I don't do well in the dark, even with a headlamp.Sometime after Buffalo went to sleep, I stretched out and felt a "mass". Not knowing if it was his head or feet, I tried scooting up a bit so I wouldn't kick him off the platform! I'd never hear the end of THAT one!Lights out from The Mum!