A chilly morning sunrise. We've been trying to start early to beat the heat.
We're off trail at the Mountain Harbour Inn in Roan Mountain, TN. There is a hostel and bunk house on premises, plus a formal B&B with all the amenities. Most hikers stay in the hostel...but not us! My brother and family were ingenious enough to give me a gift certificate to the B&B for my birthday, so we're staying in luxury. Fluffy towels, fancy soaps, and full breakfast - thank you, Chris, Chris, and Ruby!
We just finished our longest stretch between towns so far - 9 nights. I've never been so glad to see a shower! We were filthy from head to toe. Finally getting shampoo on on my hair felt nothing short of miraculous; I think I heard angels. Shiz and I have agreed that 9 days is too long and in future we'll limit our between-shower time to a week or less. Live and learn...and then shampoo vigorously.
Our tent pole failure.
Aside from 9 days of filthiness, our biggest challenge this stretch was that the top pole of our tent cracked in a critical place. We originally thought that we could limp it along to the larger outfitter in Damascus; but when a piece of the pole sheared off completely, we knew that wouldn't be possible. After our initial panic, we managed a temporary fix in the middle of the woods using a hemlock splint (kudos to Shiz's whittling skills) and tightly wrapped blister tape. Fortunately we had cell service to contact REI. We'd heard that they treat thru-hikers well and that's an understatement. We had a new tent arrive to meet us here in Roan Mountain for only the price difference of the new model versus the old (minus a 20% discount just because REI is awesome) and free shipping. REI, if you ever need testimonials for your customer support, just let us know!
Lashing the splinted tent pole to the outside of my pack because it can no longer bend.
As the temperatures warm up, we're witnessing the woods bloom into spring. Wildflowers coat the ground (we both wish we'd paid more attention to the gardeners in our lives so we could identify them) and the trees are budding at lower elevations. We're also seeing more and more wildlife - chipmunks, squirrels, deer tracks (although we haven't seen a deer yet), snakes, and butterflies. Shiz swears that he heard a bear puffing outside our tent one night and now sleeps with a big stick close by. I choose to believe that it was a large squirrel; that lets me sleep better. The views continue to be incredible and impossible to fully capture by photo.
We're excited to cross into VA during our next stretch of hiking. Damascus, VA has been a long term goal for us, and it feels like a milestone to see that as our next town stop. In some ways, we have our days down to routine; in many other ways, we're still learning every day. More on that next time.
Sweet Pea
PS. Shiz has compiled all our pictures (those on the blog plus many others) and videos into a Google album. Click on this link to take a look: https://goo.gl/photos/yVaQgu5Xce88YoVb8
The Nolichucky River, on our way down to Erwin, TN
The Barn Shelter - an old barn that was converted into a hiker shelter
One of our more impressive bear hangs :-)