Travel Rabble: AT Day 162 - Kincora to Camping at the Apple Shelter site

October 19
Miles: 25
Total: 1792
We were up at around 5:30 and enjoyed the pleasures of getting up in a hostel complete with a kitchen. After putting on some hot water for coffee, we enjoyed our breakfast of granola, bananas, orange juice, and milk (procured from the store the night before).
We were out and at the AT by about 7:10 when Jamie realized he forgot a piece of his sleeping pad (he uses it to improve the fit of his pack's waist belt), so after a jog back to the hostel we were finally moving by 7:30. It felt like waking up so early was sort of a waste, but on the other hand if we had been up when the other hikers were getting up we would have left a lot later- we like to chat as many people who read this probably know.
We made great time to the first shelter and had a cup of coffee to celebrate! We also took some time to take a look at our food situation and decided to forward our next food drop a ways and just resupply at the grocery store in town (we realized that if we had discussed this earlier that we simply could have bought more food the night before, but alas we are not good at looking too far ahead). We ended up calling the post office later in the day and they were nice enough to forward our package over the phone. With that all set and out of the way, we decided to book it the remaining 20 miles and hitch into town tonight to resupply so we wouldn't have to worry about it tomorrow (which is good because there are some pretty awesome views in store with Roan Mountain and the "balds"). To add to our "carrot", we had heard of "Bob's Dairyland" from our hiking friends The Birds, and a legendary burger was in store.
So we hiked hard. We came upon a bench right on the trail around lunchtime with a great view, dedicated to a long time trail angel by the name of Vango. While we ate, we met Scott, the proprietor of a popular hostel not far away, who was actually coming to fix up the very bench we were sitting on! We chatted with him for a bit and then continued on our way.
With fall in full force, it has become very noisy whenever we walk through the leaves, which are now all crunchy. This makes talking difficult. At one point we came to a pine forest and it was like stepping into the quiet of a snowfall. The difference was really stark!
We also took a quick detour to see Jones Falls. We don't usually take side trails, but someone had taped a little note telling us that we "couldn't miss it", so since someone went to that trouble we decided it must be true. It was quite pretty and we even took a picture to share with you!
Well, we finally made it to the road that lead into town at around 5:30. The road was super busy, but it actually took us about 25 minutes to catch a ride, I'd say one of our longest and certainly the most cars passing. A nice lady named Hope picked us up on her way to get gas (30 cents cheaper in NC vs. TN apparently). We resupplied in about 10 minutes at the grocery store (motivated by BURGERS!), and headed over to Dairyland. Jamie ordered the "Holy Cow burger": 3 five ounce beef patties, swiss cheese, cheddar cheese, bacon, lettuce tomato, and onion rings). Shannon got the "Boss Burger", which was a toned down burger with 2 five ounce patties and no onion rings. We also managed a plate of chili fries and a couple of Dr. Peppers to boot.
By the time we were done, however it was 7, which means it was dark. Not easy for hitching! After a while a guy named Mark who was hanging out in his van just offered us a ride, very nice of him since it wasn't even on his way. We finally got on trail around 7:30 and continued on for about 15 minutes before we got to the site of an old shelter they just took down. Nice flat areas for camping though and a spring nearby. There are two section hikers here as well and one of them is currently playing a kind of flute. He is pretty good! I wonder if he'll take requests...
Anyways, that is it for tonight. Roan Mountain awaits us tomorrow so it is off to dreamland for us!