A Series of Unfortunate Events – Day 12

The morning came quietly, but the day ahead had its own plans.

I started my morning around 7am, breaking camp and having breakfast. It was on the move around 7:45. Little by little, I am adapting to my assembly and disassembly routine, and each morning I feel a little calmer than the last.

Today would be a city day and I had plans to head to Franklin. My resupply was already ready before I got back on the road yesterday, which made the day seem lighter before I even started.

The 3 miles to Winding Stair Gap, a well-known road junction outside of Franklin, were quick, and before I knew it, I reached a group of hikers who had stayed at the shelter the night before. Amos, David and Bri arrived shortly after me.

While we were together I started talking to Garrett, Chuck, about aqua blazing, instead of walking a section, you take a kayak and travel it through the water. We talked about how cool it would be to do an aqua blaze from the NOC to Fontana Dam, following the Nantahala River through a completely different version of the trail, and whether it was possible. Chuck also mentioned that he could take a shuttle with one of the other groups if they had room.

Not long after, a man offering transportation services arrived and Chuck and I decided to go for it. Along the way, we talked about Chuck’s time in the military, the mileage we were doing, and our plans for the city.

Chuck would stay in a motel and go on a hike tomorrow. I didn’t really have any plans other than replacing my shoes at Outdoor 76, so I planned to go hiking that afternoon.

We picked up two other hikers, Jillian and Caleb, and continued toward Franklin. The shuttle dropped us off at Outdoor 76, where employees greeted us warmly as if they had been waiting for us the entire time.

We walked to the basement, where the hikers’ meeting area is. Outdoor 76 was fully equipped with chargers, a luggage rack, a lounge and laundry options, a little oasis tucked away beneath a vendor.

I plugged in my portable charger and headed to resolve my shoe situation. I called an employee, told him about my foot problems, and asked for a solution and a recommended shoe to try. He immediately sat me down, measured my feet, and brought out three different shoes for me to try on. And like Goldilocks, I found my perfect shoe.

Now I would be using the Altra Olympus 6.

After paying for the shoes, getting my Outdoor 76 benefit for being a hiker, and signing the AT 2026 sign, I headed downstairs to grab my gear and begin my hike to Cafe 808 for a real meal.

I got to the cafe, found a place to sit and ordered my food. As I started pulling out my chargers and plugging everything in while writing, I realized I had left my charger at Outdoor 76.

That would be a problem.

I finished my huge burrito and turned around to head back to the vendor. Someone had mentioned a hiker meal at the Sapphire Inn, and anyway, I knew I had time to kill until then.

When I returned to Outdoor 76, my charger was still there, thankfully, as were Bri, Amos, David, and Chuck. We all sat down and talked about Bri’s life in Australia, David and Amos’ upbringing in Amish Pennsylvania, and the why behind us all being here, each story a different path that somehow led to the same path.

Little by little, everyone began to return to their hostels and motels.

Chuck and I decided to go to the hiker section. When we arrived, there were a lot of hikers, food, and locals. Nomad was there too, and he and I continued talking about how to walk, slow down and enjoy the ride, and avoid losing too much weight along the way.

Most of the outfitter’s hikers were also there. As the afternoon progressed and a truly impressive amount of hot dogs was consumed, I began to think about what my next plan would be.

Alex and Cody had said they would be at the NOC on the 23rd and if I could reach them in time, they would take me down the Nantahala River. Chuck and I still wanted to see if we could do water fire from the NOC to Fontana Dam. We had exchanged numbers and planned to arrive there on the 23rd.

Anika and McMurphy asked me if I wanted to join them on a ferry back to Winding Stair Gap. I decided to travel with them and stealthily camp on the summit of Siler Bald, one of the first truly open peaks to the north, known for its wide, grassy views.

It was around 6pm when I arrived and I wanted to get to the top of the bald before the sun set. He would practically be running, but he was willing to try.

When I arrived, a large group of young people were already at the top and they had about five huge Walmart tents set up. I spoke to them briefly and tried to see if there would be room for me.

I ended up setting up my tent on a very steep part of the bald.

As I prepared, out of nowhere, lightning and thunder began to form over the mountain in front of me.

I wasn’t expecting that.

I started watching the radar and feeling the direction of the wind to decide if I would go down towards the shelter below. The last place I wanted to be was exposed bald during a thunderstorm.

The young people came up to me and asked me what they should do. I, in no way, wanted to be responsible for his safety. I told them I didn’t think it would hit us, as the wind was blowing the storm away from us. Still, I stayed glued to the radar for the next half hour before I felt confident that we would be okay.

The rain began to pour down and I quickly headed to my tent. I started making dinner under the hall when I realized I couldn’t find my kitchen utensils. I started to worry about leaving it at Outdoor 76. I ended up eating a dry dinner and settling in for the night.

Around 9pm I woke up and needed to go to the bathroom. I could hear the young people above me, still talking and laughing. The rain had stopped, I put on my Crocs and walked to the tree line to relieve myself.

My headlight illuminated an orange cylinder to my right as I took care of business.

You have to be kidding me.

I had completely forgotten that the foot vent at the bottom of my tent had a hole in the mesh. Since I was on a slope, my kitchen set rolled off the bottom of my tent and ended up here.

Pure misfortune and luck at the same time.

I decided I would make a real dinner at that point.

As I walked back to my tent, my foot caught one of the guy ropes and sent my Croc flying into the darkness. Then, on the wet grass, in the dark, I hopped on one foot, five meters down the hill to retrieve my shoe.

This was really turning out to be a series of unfortunate events.

Ah, but it gets worse.

When I finally grabbed my Croc, retrieved my bag of food and returned to my tent, I opened it and discovered that my bag of peanut butter, yes it was in a bag, I thought the plastic container would be heavier than it was, had exploded all over my bag of food.

At that point, I said screw it all, ate the peanut butter out of the bag, rolled over and went to sleep.

All of that would be a problem for the Apollo of tomorrow.