Day 7 Hiawasee, GA Zero Day

Spent the afternoon watching the Masters.

Ready to get rolling tomorrow AM. Feel all rested and a lot fresher legs. Supposed to be cold but that only matters at night (low 30’s Fri night).

Some random thoughts from a bored hiker:

It’s always nice to run into hikers you’ve seen before. You talk about where you started the day, where you are heading to, how much the last mtn sucked, and complain about any piece of gear you’re not happy with. I’ve got 2 guys I’ve run into several times: Alexander (Big Foot) a recent grad of U of NH. Played OG on football team. He makes me feel like a tortoise but we seem to end up in the same spots. Rick (from Omaha) is about my age. Here I’m the hare but, once again, we end up at same spots.

Backpack and walking stick are 2 items least likely to forget. It just feels weird to walk without pack. The walking stick (approx 95% of hikers use trekking poles) I notice within 10 steps if missing.

The shuttle driver I had Wednesday is an experienced thru-hiker. Said on a difficulty scale of 1 – 10, what I just finished is a 4. Buzz kill! I thought that was hard. From here through Smokie Mtns, he said is a 6. So, I got that going for me…which is nice!