We woke up to a mix of rain and slush. In the next couple of days it’s supposed to get so cold that it will snow, especially as we get into the Smoky Mountains. It was really hard to crawl out of our sleeping bags knowing that when we break down camp we’ll be hiking through more rain. Again, we packed away the camera to keep it safe. Luckily, the majority of the rain let up, so we just had to hike through some light mist. Further up the mountain was snow and we were glad we pushed ourselves the night before.
Everything this morning was downhill and we only had 3 miles to go – miles that went by quickly. It was magical seeing the parking lot below. Shortly after arriving the shuttle showed up. For $3 each, we got a ride to the lodge. Our room wasn’t ready, so we went to breakfast and sat in the lobby with all of the other hikers desperately looking for a break.
We met up with Sam again (the EMT who had the gifted MRE’s). He had a room a town over, but had no clue how he was going to get there. We offered to split a room, which he readily agreed to. After doing laundry and catching up on editing, we all went to dinner where we sat with other hikers. So far, you aren’t alone very often when you are hiking the AT. As social as I am, I am good with it.
All 3 of the guys got their own large pizza. I had a fried green tomato BLT with a side of fries. Everyone had pizza leftover, but the number of slices varied. We took it back to the room where Ben planned to devour more. I stopped at the lodge to call family since our cabin didn’t have cell reception.
Ben and Sam looked forward to the Smokies to plan out their days. On my way back to the room I stopped by the front desk to pick up my resupply. We chose to order off of Amazon Prime. It came in 3 boxes and one envelope! Holy cow, I’m going to have to carry all of that over the next week. Just then Ben showed up and helped me take them all back. Sam also got a package from his EMT co-workers back home. We picked through them all and prepared our food bags. Ben and I had ordered too much and plan to ship some forward. Life on the trail is fairly expensive, especially because nothing is convenient. You can’t buy in bulk because you have to carry it (so sorry Costco). If you need anything, you have to order online and wait or pick it up in resort towns, which also comes with a price. A night with a roof has a decent price tag, so lots of hikers will try to split rooms – often as many as they can pack in. It reminds me of trips with friends in my early 20’s when we would have a sea of air mattresses in one hotel room. Ben and I planned as best as we could knowing it might be expensive. But already I’m wondering if we’ll have to switch things up a bit to save dollars. For example, we could take our zero days (no hiking, rest days) at the shelters in our tent instead of a hotel. We’ll see how it pans out. Although, so far, I’ve been extremely grateful for our nights with white linen sheets, hot water, and king beds. I might need to get a little better at this whole “living like a bum” thing.
After organizing resupplies, we all crashed. Sam made a bed under the table with the cushions from the couch while Ben and I got to be comfy on the king. At least we were all warm and indoors.
-ansel