Day 10-3/20-Glassmine Gap to Winding Stair Gap-7.3 miles

I woke earlier than usual and hit the trail by 8 AM. The upsides to an early start are an early finish, more time without bugs, and cooler temperatures. The downsides are being the kind soul that clears the night's spider webs from the trail. I hiked with a trekking pole in front of my face for a good bit. I hit the next shelter still fairly early and some of its occupants were still cooking breakfast. One of them, You Again, was a familiar face. He had stayed in my room at Hiawassee and had been with us for several days. His name comes from the fact that he hikes fast and stops often. He will often come up from behind after he's already passed you once or twice earlier in the day. He let me know that Switchback, another common face, had already hit the trail, and that they would be pushing through the stop at Franklin, NC. I could not, as Rhiannon had sent me a package containing some gear that I needed and some homemade beef jerky. I also saw two girls whom I had seen two days earlier at the shelter we had passed up to reach Standing Indian. That means they put in an approximately 25 mile day, big business.

The contraption you see here is some more trail magic, not the Wile E. Coyote booby trap it appears to be. It was hung like this by a ranger to avoid bears stealing all the goodies. It contained two or three different types of cake, and lots of it. Still, Gingersnap had to refill it often. I talked to one or two hikers who had run out of food at this point, and the cake was just the calories they needed. 

Another few hours on the trail had me out to Winding Stair Gap early, and it was about a mile walk along the road before my thumb proved its usefulness. The kind souls that picked me up were happy to take me into the Budget Inn where my mail drop waited. The passenger was a thru hiker class of '98, Huff and Puff, and he related some stories from his hike. The driver was a retired nurse who had just received a grant for making a goat cheese factory on her farm. My arrival at the Budget Inn had me staying alone, a nice change of pace from the last town stop, and I went about my usual resupply tasks. I gathered food and fuel with various other sundry item (Vitamin I being a crucial component) and made a special effort to not bring double the food I needed. My appetite still hasn't matched my output, and the postal scale has me approximately 6 pounds lighter in 10 days. I feel fine, so I can't really complain, but I need to put in more effort to getting some more food in me. At this rate I'll make Maine at the weight of a small child.

I also stopped by the barber, as the length of my beard was bothersome and I wanted a trim up top as well. Apparently a number 1 guard on the clippers is different in North Carolina than it is elsewhere in the country, as when she turned me around to the mirror I was almost hairless. The red beard isn't completely gone, but it would take a razor to get it any closer. I'm sure it'll be too long again in no time. I'm off to dinner at the steakhouse and then to bed. Shuttle is at nine in the morning, and I've got another 2100 miles and 13 states to go.