I woke up to a warm bed and a homemade hot breakfast of eggs, sausage, fruit, blueberry crumble, home fries, juice and coffee – it really was an amazing spread. I have to say, for an unplanned stop, this cabin in the woods has been fantastic and knowing that it was 18 deg this morning made it even better.
I planned a reasonably short day of only about 9 miles, so I took the second shuttle out and started hiking around 930 am. I spoke with some folks that stayed out in their tents last night and they woke up to ice crystals inside the tent in the morning. The folks that stayed in Sassafras Shelter last night closed it off as best as they could with tarps and claimed that they stayed decently warm. I’ve made some new hiking buddies, Festus and Bubbly, it’s nice to have company and it’s great how friendly everyone is on the trail.
Cable Gap Shelter is the happening place to be tonight, over a dozen tents plus six people in the shelter itself. We had a boisterous fire to socialize around while I enjoyed my ramen and instant potato dinner. My right foot is feeling pretty bruised so I tried to slow the pace and take it easy today, we’ll see how it’s doing in the morning. I’m looking forward to hitting the Fontana Dam milestone tomorrow. It’s the last stop before venturing into the Smokies and some headphones that Kacy shipped me should be waiting at the post office.
Day 18 Mileage: 8.5 mi [Stecoah Gap -> Cable Gap Shelter ]
Total Mileage: 167.3 mi