11 miles

Winding stair gap (109.2) to Wayah shelter (mile 120.2)

I really struggled to leave the motel this morning. I was not exactly excited to get back on the trail. Homesickness was, once again, biting hard.

Got a lift back to the trail from Ron who runs the Baltimore Jack hostel. He didn’t accept any payment for the shuttle, explaining he was going there any way. I thought that was pretty cool.

The morning was rainy and cold but it turned into a beautiful day.

I got some Trail magic near lunchtime. There was a cardboard sign with an arrow pointing to a park off the trail. I followed it of course. If there was a seedy looking van with “free candy” scrawled on the side I would have gone. When it comes to food hikers lose all ability to calculate risk vs reward.

Thankfully it wasn’t a serial killer, but a dude with the trail name My Friend and he had Hot dogs and soda and a lot of other supplies. There was already a captive group of hikers there.

I managed to drag myself away after three hotdogs.

By the time I made it to the shelter it was full, but I found a tent site. A flat tent site!

Started to rain not long after I went to bed. Fell asleep to the patter of rain on the tent and thunder and lightning flashes in the distance. For once it was not freezing.