Day 11 – The rise of cheese

He started the morning with another free pancake breakfast at Franklin Baptist Church. After refueling, we returned to the hostel, grabbed our bags and headed back to the trail. The shuttle to the trail was full this morning! After another good night’s sleep and recharging, we were ready to get to work!

Back on the road

Today’s hike started with a climb from Winding Stair Gap. The morning started off foggy, creating an eerie atmosphere as I walked through the forest. The forest was silent, except for the patter of light rain falling on the dead leaves on the forest floor. As we climb in altitude the fog intensifies, giving the impression that we were walking through a cloud. Lihat juga d89LjskS. Which would make sense, since the humidity was very high and the humidity permeated everything. Although yesterday we talked about taking the blue blaze (side trail) to Siler Bald, due to the fog we decided to skip it since we wouldn’t be able to see anything anyway.

For the rest of the morning the fog continued and stayed quite cool and humid. For a couple of kilometers the terrain was mostly downhill, with some minor climbs. Until the long climb to Wayah Bald, which topped 1000 feet in a couple of miles.

sun chaser

While the climb was long and high, for the most part it was not very steep. Which made it slower and more manageable. As we got closer to the top, the fog started to lift and the sun started to come out from time to time. Just in time for us to enjoy the views from the top.

At the top of Wayah Bald, we came across a paved path that went straight to the stone observation tower. I was able to climb the observation tower and get great views of the mountains in the distance. I also took the opportunity to have lunch and enjoy the views. After a long rest, I continued to the next shelter to drink some water and filter it before continuing on my way.

The next two hours were largely calm and comfortable. The sun was out most of the time, it was warmer and the terrain was largely easy. Probably the most hectic part is walking through a prescribed, non-active burned area that was previously burned. At 5 pm, our group decided to end the day at a stealth site after 13.8 miles of hiking today.

Naming ceremony

The final order of the day was to officially name a member of our group with the name of their trail. While we were at our zero in Franklin, I proposed a route name of Queso, due to the fact that while at the Mexican restaurant she may have drank the last of our queso because we ran out of fries. After some contemplation, he decided to accept the name, but we wanted to make it official while we were on the road, so at the last resupply I bought a glass jar of cheese (a lot of weight, but a sacrifice I was willing to make) and a bag of chips so we could fold up and officially celebrate his new name. During a brief ceremony I knighted her as Cheese, of the order of the Appalachian Trail, with a stick of cheese, and then she drank some cheese from the ceremonial cheese jar. It was a pretty fun and ridiculous end to another day on the Appalachian Trail.

Statistics for the 11th:

13.8 miles

3,589′ ascent, 2,785′ descent

Winding staircase between the Burningtown Gap stealth site

3 DSLC (Days since last cathole)…

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