Day 25

What an AMAZING day! I planned 8.5 miles but pushed 12.11 miles because of how good I was feeling. It started with getting up, enjoying a hot instant breakfast with 2 packets of Starbucks Via instant coffees and then as soon as I got hiking, the sun appeared. (That’s what is going on in the 1st picture.) Every day, I make sure to touch a white blaze and give thanks for being able to do this. (That’s the reason for the other picture.) Then when I got down to the first gap, there were two amazing trail angels standing next to their van. Shepherd and Wayward are AT thru-hikers, class of ‘21, and came out to give back to the trail. I am SO thankful since I am almost out of food (had to give a meal away because I didn’t realize it had dried ground shrimp in it (I’m allergic) so when I saw they had brownies, Twix bars, Doritos, hot dogs with chopped onions, mustard and ketchup, I was giddy with joy. (The ketchup came out quick so I had more ketchup than hot dog but, hey, all calories!) It was nice to dump my trash too! It’s always hard to pull away from trail magic but a hiker’s gotta hike. These miles won’t walk themselves. After the amazing trail magic, I had a SERIOUS “Jacob’s Ladder” climb (647 feet in .54 miles). It was almost straight up and while they started putting some wooden planks down to make stairs, most of it was just steep ground and you felt like you were just going to tumble down. Right when I started yelling, “haven’t they heard of switchbacks?” It finally started to switchback. I hear this is new. It used to go straight up all the way. Thank you, switchbacks! That was the worst of the day. After that, I had a very peaceful hike and enjoyed the rocky sections. It was a very dry section of trail so I had to be fully loaded with water. I felt good when I reached my planned stop at 2:52pm and decided I had to keep going. I made it to the last shelter before reaching Fontana Village (Cable Gap Shelter). I only have 5.1 miles to walk tomorrow to get there so I’ll have plenty of time resupply at the Fontana Marina, get a $3 shuttle to the Village and hit the post office to get my new pack. I’ll check in to my room, which I was able to get cheaper with the hiker rate, move my pack belt from my old pack to the new pack and ship the old pack back to ULA. (Amazing customer service! ULA stands by their gear and will do what they can for their customers. I highly recommend the ULA Circuit pack. Other than the handle breaking on this one, it’s the best pack I’ve ever tried. I’m sure it was a fluke and the next one will be perfect.) Anyway, we had a fun group here at the shelter. I set up my tent next to a small trickling creek. I just wouldn’t get water from it because it’s right below the muldering privy. LOL! Still, it will be nice to listen to. The guys started a fire that I enjoyed for a little bit but then headed to my tent to call it a night. I’m beat! There’s no cell service here at all so I’ll be uploading this as well as my Relive videos on Instagram and Facebook tomorrow. Good night!