franklin, nc to wayah bald shelter

we got up pretty late. we had the curtains drawn in the hotel and the sun came up without notice. we packed up, ensuring our batteries were topped up and headed across the street to mcdonalds. they were only open for drive-thru customers and so we went next door to hardee’s for biscuits. i also got a side of french toastlets with some telephone pole syrup.

from there we walked about a mile to ingles for the last bits of our resupply. i grabbed some lunch things like avocados and an apple, and also some ‘extreme’ sour patch kids. i’m not really sure what it says about the world that ‘extreme’ marketing is apparently a thing. i also grabbed a 6 pack of beer for everyone to share.

when i got out dan was already gone. while he was waiting for me a shuttle came up with some other hikers, so he got in and took off. he got off trail a few miles before nico and i and it would have been a hard place to hitch to.

i packed my food into my bag, gave nico 2 beers, and packed the other 4 for dan and me. i went back into the ingles to ask where the best place would be to get a hitch to winding stair gap. there was some debate, but i eventually left with a plan. as i exited, a guy who had chatted us up on the way into the store was just reaching his car. “which way are you going, any chance you’re going by winding stair gap?” i asked. he wasn’t but was happy to take us. sweet.

he dropped us off at winding stair gap just as a pile of other hikers were exiting their shuttle. ‘fox bait’ an older woman hiker and some others who i’ve been chatting with at some of the recent shelters were among them. we all started off, but as usual nico and i forged ahead and barely saw them again all day.

the hiking was pretty nice, though as usual, the wind was bitter and fierce. the trail had damp spots that i think were still partially frozen just beneath the surface that made it extremely slippery. we saw needle ice as long as i’ve ever seen, and a few other places, the trail was frozen over with ice that hadn’t yet melted.

the two specials of the day were silar bald and shortly afterwards, wayah bald. the views from the tops were spectacular.

siler bald:

wayah bald:

we hiked in to wayah bald shelter later than usual, but still with enough time to relax and munch some of our goodies. i packed in a bag of flamin’ hot cool ranch doritos which i ate in it’s entirety along with a beat up banana from clayton, and an apple. i took a brief nap and texted with magz, and had a somewhat late dinner.

sadly, dan decided to camp a few miles away at a gap. it was so cold after dinner we decided against drinking the beers and just went to bed.