Day 13

Miles: 8.1
Total Miles: 151.9

The day started pretty early down at our campsite by the river. We packed up after yet another giant meal from the same restaurant. Dave took off early up the large climb out of the NOC while Ben and I waited for Kelley who was doing a shakedown of her pack. At noon we decided to head up without her because it was getting hot and the climb was going to be bad enough without the intense sunshine.

I had a good pace for the 6-mile climb plus the extra mile to the first shelter arriving there in about 3 and a half hours. Dave had been hiking with Leapfrog and they'd arrived not much before me. We made dinner early in the shelter and waited for the rest of our group to get in. Along with Ben and Kelley came West or Almost There, a 29 year-old from Charlotte and another Gooch Gap bunk mate, and Austin and Veronica or Bogus and Pixel, two 22 year-olds from Texas. Once everyone'd eaten we decided to hike the extra mile further to the peak on Cheoah Bald. It proved to be completely worth it as the view was amazing at sunset. We were joined by Mountain Water, a retired health care lawyer, Cropduster, a 25 year-old from Tennessee who's just gotten back from the Peace Corps in Thailand, and a group of UF students who hiked 8 miles in the wrong direction out of the NOC on a weekend trip. The night was spent sharing 3 beers between all of us that Cropduster had found in the hiker box at NOC and sitting around a fire.