carter gap to franklin, nc

it was our coldest night yet, and extremely windy. i was happy nico and i moved our tents to a spot where the wind was a bit less intense. the trees above us creaked all night.

around the campfire last night we had debated the merits of sleeping with your clothes piled on top of you vs. wearing all your clothes in layers. i’ve always sided with the clothes piled method, but nico had enough cell service to do some internet scouring and the internet says layers, so i tried it. i had literally every stitch of clothing i had with me on. two pairs of socks, two pairs of long underwear, my rain pants, puffy jacket and my rain jacket and gloves, buff, and hat all in my sleeping bag, and i’m happy to say it seemed to have worked. i also brought a 3am snack as i’m pretty sure some of my early morning cold is from simply running out of calories.

i got up the second i saw the sun on the mountaintops across the valley. it was freezing. nico was already out of his tent packing up. we decided to pack up and walk rather than staying for breakfast.

we walked until we crossed over to the other side of the mountain and were in the sun. we ended up stopping for breakfast at the very outlook i left my tripod at in 2020. it was warm out of the wind.

after breakfast it was a bitter day of hiking. it was cold and the wind was howling. the forecast had called for 45mph winds all day. if you could get out of the wind and in the sun it was lovely, but those places were few and far between.

we hiked up albert mountain to the fire tower there. i climbed the steps to the top and snapped some photos of the scene.

we chatted briefly with some day hikers who were floored with the fact that we were hiking to maine, before we took off and .3 miles later we hit the 100 mile point.

we continued our descent of albert mountain stopping at a shelter for lunch. we chatted with some hikers there who were planning yo go into franklin for the night to skip the even colder night forecast for tonight.

as we hiked on that thought kept feeling better and better, and only a few miles from our destination we found a ridge with cell service and i was able to reserve a room at the sapphire inn.

now all we had to do was walk past our destination and go another 4 or so miles to winding stair gap and get a hitch. on the way we passed rock gap, which is where i had to leave the trail in 2020. though i didn’t feel much at the time (there were hikers there and we were talking) i now feel something profound, but i can’t really put a name to it. it’s got a lot of sadness and anxiety, but it’s neither of those feelings.

we hiked on, but the top of my right foot was extremely painful, so i slowed my pace a bit for the last 4 miles. we finally got to winding stair gap, and nico popped out of the woods just as a car flew past. he threw out a thumb, and though the driver had to stop and turn completely around, he came back to pick us up!

we piled into his car which smelled strongly of cigarettes and cigars and headed into town. apparently he was a former AT thru-hiker attempter trail named ‘in tents’. he had come from indiana, only made it 200 miles, bit loved franklin so much he moved his family there. he showed us where things were on the way in and drove us all the way to our hotel.

almost immediately dan arrived via another hitch. we walked up the hill to outdoor76. i got some freeze dried dinners and a second pair of socks. nico’s shoes had developed a hole and he had been thinking of a new pair so he spent a while tying shoes out. outdoor76 has a little bar, so dan and i sat down and had a beer.

from the outfitters we went straight to mi casa mexican to feast, and then back to the hotel for showers, then back out to mcdonalds for mcflurries.