Day 57. Aqua Blaze, 20.8 trail miles. We had a change of pace today and did an aqua blaze-kayak across Watuga Lake, along the trail. It was us, steady, Dr Quinn, Optimist, Big Sexy, Stick and Dog Tag. We did 9 miles in 4 hours with great weather. Super pretty lake and nice to change it up. There’s storms tonight so we contacted Shep from Sheps Place, who we met back in the first weeks when they did trail magic at Unicoi Gap after kick off. He is the adventure preacher and is working on getting his hostel up and running to serve hikers. His buddy SmokeShow Joe is from Phenix City which was fun. It was so amazing, they are kind and generous. His friend staying with him helping him out is actually from Phenix City where we just lived-such a small world.