Kirk and I found a hitch out of town really fast from an old vet who was on his way to mow his father's yard. He seemed real happy to trade a ride for a 15 minute conversation. He dropped us at Dicks Creek gap where some ladies had a phenomenal trail magic set up but I just ate breakfast and my food bag already stuffed to the brim so I couldn't really take advantage of it. It was a short 9 miles to Bly Gap which is just across the GA-NC border and it was relatively uneventful day except for seeing a big 12" thick tree take its last sway in the wind before cracking and falling over.
We got some real jokesters on the trail
Sunset through the trees at Bly Gap
The next day was a long climb up to the summit of Standing Indian Mountain where I camped for the night. There is a small grass field and a fire pit up top which had an amazing view of the sunset...that was mostly blocked by clouds. It rained for awhile and but stopped just long enough to enjoy a campfire before bed.
View from Standing Indian summit
I woke up to a thick fog that was so dense I couldn't see the fire pit just 20ft away and it left a layer of dampness on all of my gear. This put me in a bad mood right away and I figured the best remedy would be to start hiking. So I packed up and blasted through 14.7 miles throughout the day. The trail went through the Nantahala National Forest which had large sections that were charred by wildfires and it created quite an eerie atmosphere to hike in.
Right before reaching the 100 mile marker on the AT you climb a steep cliff to the top of Albert Mountain which has a tall lookout tower up top. I was hoping to camp inside but there is a locked hatch at the top of the stairs so I took some photos and set the gopro to take another time lapse of the clouds rolling past and casting shadows on the forest below. When I came back down the stairs all the hikers had left so there was nobody to take a picture of me on the tower. I didn't let this thwart my plans so I put my camera in time-lapse mode, strapped it to the underside of the stairs, hopped over the staircase and had a photoshoot of me climbing on the tower structure with an amazing background.
The next day was a quick 7.6 miles to Winding Stair gap where I caught a shuttle into Franklin and took my first full 0 day on the 17th. A lot of other hikers did the same and we spent much of the day hanging out at the local breweries. Here are some wildlife shots I captured during this last section of the trail.
Spider enjoying dinner