Two weeks of hiking is a lot of walking. 105 miles of walking, actually. And after the cold ascent over Albert Mountain, we were more than ready for a hot shower, dry hotel room, and a chance to restock our dwindling food supply.
We’d found a dirt-cheap hotel within walking distance of everything we needed (Ingles, Outdoor 76, pizza) who had room for two sopping wet hikers. Hallelujah!
Bryan the Dude picked us up at Rock Gap, and dropped us off at the front door. Once we got our key, there was an important decision to be made: hot food or hot shower first?
We were too cold and tired to walk anywhere, so a hot shower it was. Then we got a hot pizza from Domino’s. With luxuries such as electricity and wifi, we were able to video call our family. It was the first time we’d really been able to talk to someone from home.
As hikers, you end up spreading out across a couple days depending on your hiking speed and experience. You may share a campsite with someone and then not see them again for days. Zeros (days where you don’t hike any miles) are beautiful moments when you get to reconnect with people behind you or in front of you.
For instance, we swung open our door to go get some bagels in the morning and Shane stood there in the hotel parking lot! He was waiting for his shuttle to take him back to the trail, and would be heading towards the Smokies.
Later that day, Stealth and Blues Clues walked through the door of Outdoor 76, where we were getting some quick supplies. I was wearing the day pack Stealth had given me back in Hiawassee. They’d been teasing us about how much food we’d bought and Stealth had joked we’d need a separate backpack just for food. He had a little, compact daypack that he gave me “for all your food.” The story has a fantastic ending though: We ate all that food in five days without needing to go back into town and I love the daypack. I gave him a chance to take back his pack if he wanted it, but he said it’s mine to keep. Perfect.
We also ran into Chris and Rob. Hikers are very intent about doing their laundry. We have limited access to fancy things like washing machines and dryers. Church Mouse and I were lucky, we both had some base layers we hadn’t worn yet, and so didn’t need washed. Others were not so lucky. You could tell who was washing their clothes based on who was lounging in their rain clothes. The Hilltop Inn had four hikers, (me, Chris, Rob, and Frank,) crowded in it’s tiny basement laundry room. The washer said it took twenty minutes: it did not. It took longer. The dryer rattled and coughed its way through each load. Nevertheless, all of us had clean clothes at the end of it.
If you feel like I just rattled off a ton of guys’ names, you’d be correct. Jess (one of the only women our age we’ve met who’s thru-hiking) called it a “dude fest.” There’s other women out here, I know, and we’ve met some pretty incredible ones: Jess, Superior, Frosty, Erin, Double Back and Rest Stop, Windchime and Julia. Even so, it’s been mostly skewed male. More than once, Church Mouse and I have set up camp and been the only women there. We’re both used to this, but I can’t wait for more women to come on trail and to meet some of these amazing ladies!
You know that burger we’ve been craving? The juicy one, topped with bacon and melted cheese, saucy, hopefully on a pretzel bun? Franklin is mostly closed down on Monday. Out of the multiple restaurants in town, only one burger place was open. When Sami and I arrived, it looked closed. Sure enough, it was closed. Frank had also been craving a burger, but he found a pizza place in walking distance and we all headed there. It was still a fantastic pizza… but it was no burger.
The next morning, the local church in town had a free breakfast for hikers. We headed down to the church basement and they filled us up with freshly made pancakes, bacon, and homemade jam. We also ran into Poncho and Foxy Lady again.
After that, it was time for our shuttle back to the trail. While we’d been in town, the mountains had switched from the warm weather we’d had in Georgia to a cold spring. Even though we stepped off the shuttle into a blisteringly cold wind, even as other hikers hurried onto the shuttle for their town day, I sighed in relief.
It’s good to have boots on the trail.
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