The night in the hostel was really great. The Lodge of Legends proprietor is really generous, she drove us to a pancake place for breakfast and then to the grocery store for supplies. She had a full stock of food and supplies at the house that we were able to pull from so we only needed a few things from the store before getting back on the stair.
She continued to chauffeur us around and dropped us off at the trail right round noon. We met up with the other half of the tramily (trail family – El Dorado, Caboose, and Double Stuff) by chance at the gap. They’d stayed at the Econo Lodge overnight and relayed the news that Branch Manager had left the trail to manage some personal issues.
The plan was to hike 3 miles but Festus, Bubbles, Pin Drop, Kiwi, and I got there far too early in the day and all decided to press on to the next shelter – making it a 10 mile day. It rained for about 20 minutes early in the day but it cleared up to reveal some of the best views of the trail so far.
We stopped at Charlies Bunion to snap some tramily pictures.
It was a long 10 miles and when we arrived the shelter was already overflowing, so the group ended up in tents. Made up some dinner, scrubbed some dead skin off my feet, and met some new people.
Overall, it was a great day. The forecast for the next two days is constant rain, which is just about how long it’ll take to get out of the Smokies and be able to camp away from shelters. The folks of the bubble are great but having to sleep in such crowded shelters gets old fast. Tomorrow will be a race to the next shelter to see who sleeps in a tent in the rain and who gets a spot in the shelter.
Day 24 Mileage: 10.2 mi [Newfound Gap -> Pecks Corner]
Total Mileage: 226.0 mi