Barely any sleep was had that night due to the temperature dropping so drastically during the previous day. Tossing and turning, we tried to get comfortable in the tent inside the shelter. Even with three walls to block us from the wind we were not warm enough. Why is it so cold? It’s May in North Carolina. Cold is not what I packed for. After a night of attempted sleep, we reluctantly climbed out of our tents to pack up and were met with a biting cold morning air. “The faster we get moving the more we will warm up” Kyle said. He was not wrong and that was exactly what we did. No lounging around camp this morning we got moving as fast as we could. Our shoes were frozen from the night before and we smacked them against the side of the shelter just long enough to squeeze our feet into them. Within minutes the sun had warmed everything up and I was dripping with sweat. “How many more do we have to do today?” I asked. “11 more miles and two more climbs!” Danny yelled from ahead. Yayyyy. We broke for lunch at a parking lot right before a climb to Wesser Bald Fire Tower. I could not wait to eat my ramen. As we sat, a guy in his mid twenties got out of his car holding a six pack. This dude looked like he was on spring break in Florida. Hat on backwards, sunglasses, and his beer in hand he asked “Heyyy guys watcha doin? Why do you have such big backpacks?”
“We’re thruhiking!”
“Ohhh the Appalachian Trail?”
We nod.
“Right on that’s badass man” and went on his merry way up the mountain. Badass. I guess we were badass. The view from the top of the fire tower was absolutely gorgeous. We had a 360 degree view of the mountains all around. You could see where we came from, where we were, and where we were headed. The mountains far off in the distance were dusted with the slightest bit of snow. Ah the Smokey’s. Let’s hope they weren’t snow covered when we got there in a few days. The weather was supposed to turn bad the following day with temperatures dropping into the 20’s at night. We made a plan to hike to Rufus Morgan Shelter outside the NOC and spend the following day in town at a lodge to avoid the rain and potential snow. The NOC (Nantahala Outdoor Center) was an outdoor adventure land with an outfitter, white water rafting, hostel, and food. Unfortunately they were still shut down because of corona, but the Nantahala Log Cabins down the road were open for business and we planned to spend the day there. Our trek to Rufus Morgan was long and arduous. After the fire tower, we had 5.4 more miles to camp and they seemed to go on for hours and hours. Up over one ridge, down a little gap and then back up we went. The final descent to camp was a steep and treacherous rock climb down where you felt very exposed. Totally worth it for the views though. One step after another we trudged to camp and just when we thought we would never make it, a wide open campsite appeared in the distance. Whooping with glee we ran to the site and set up our tent. Let’s hope tonight is warmer than the last.
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