D19 & 20

Day 19 - Mountain Monday

• Miles Traveled: 9.7
  
• Shelter: tent on a hard slope at Big Branch Campsite
  
• High Point: Wayah Bald and tower
  
• Low Point: hitting hangry in 78°F

Breakfast of hiking champions, only when I can't find grits and hot sauce.

 

Finally got a photo of a wild hare! 

We had another great morning hiking. We hit Wyah Bald about 10am And the views were amazing. The weather is still phenomenal and we are happy to be hiking!!!

Since we started hiking we have heard this deep thumping sound in the woods. After talking to other hikers and doing a little bit of research on the internet we found that we were hearing a Grouse. I am still trying to figure out how to post videos in this blog. But we found a great video that explains what we are experiencing. Either was we trying to find this elusive Grouse and see him beat his wings.

(Cool) Grouse Informational Vid Link

Camped with Jelly Bean and her Dad. They were pleasant company for the evening.

Day 20 - Mostly random thoughts from the trail.

• Miles hiked: 9.6 miles
  
• Shelter: tent at hobo village on the Nantahala river
  
• High point: reaching a pivotal point that we drove past on the way to the trail head
  
• Low point: the descent into the NOC was brutal

We woke up at the bottom of our tent. The tent site from the previous night was anything but flat. This seems to be trend, but we shouldn't be surprised... It IS the mountains.

We hiked through more burn area and up to Wesser Bald for some amazing views.

I like to entertain the idea that I might be getting better at climbing mountains. This may not be entirely true but I do believe my aerobic activity threshold is getting better. Yes. That's is probably true.

The above photo is Russ on the top of a mountain as high as all the other mountains. He is at the very edge and going to descend the mountain along the trail. Photos don't do anything justice out here. It's the feeling you get when you are walking on a ridge and you have no idea where the trail can go from here.

Lizard. 

Also... Russ is eating skittles that he finds on the trail. I am not. We will see who survives the longest.

We had a very long and hard descent into the NOC (Nantahala Outdoor Center on the Nantahala River). I finally get why they say the downhills are harder than the uphills. It is all your weight (or most of it, if you are using hiking poles) coming down on one foot, one leg, one knee, one hip and all of your back. After a few thousand steps, you feel it in every joint. Crazy thing is... What goes up must come down. We were happy to reach the shore of the river and soak our feet in the cold water.

We also were guided to the best campsite on the river by some of our fellow hiking friends and enjoyed the river rushing by all night.