Day 10

11 miles

We had our town step on today. Only Thirteen miles into Winding stair gap and we arrived shortly before 1 pm. The original plan was to go in, resupply, and come back out but as the weather got worse and worse we all decided to stay the night and head back to trail in the morning. This wasn’t at all how it went but such is thru hiking.

We were picked up after about half an hour by the hostel owner who goes by the name of Zen. And rightfully so. This guy is the epitome of Zen. He’s got a higher pitched half hippy half surfer voice that is just a half second slower than everybody else. Great guy nonetheless. He operates a fantastic little hostel called Gooder Grove in Franklin, NC.

Luckily for us and not so lucky for our plan the brewery was very close by. We headed over and the many beers ensured. We eventually made our way to a local dive bar called Mulligans. It’s your quintessential dive bar filled with locals, cheap drinks, and of course, karaoke.