Day 9&10 (first zero day)

Today was another beautiful day on the trail with amazing weather. We got in early to our campsite last night so we went to bed early for us around 8:45. Shortly into our hike, we came across Mama Bear and Bear. We really enjoyed meeting them! A very nice mother/daughter team. We asked them if they had seen the six pack family and Mama Bear said they are over by the shelter we were near. We got to meet and chat with the six pack family, which was super cool and inspirational. We also thought it was neat that in one spot there were three families because I’m sure that doesn’t happen too often thru hiking. Today we also got trail magic from this lovely couple which included hot dogs, Gatorades, and epic snacks. This was great timing as we had a lot of climbing ahead and still a lot of miles left to reach the Natahala Outdoor Center. This ended up being our second 20 mile day and it was really nice to end it at the NOC. The check in went smooth and we had ourselves a nice little bunk room that unfortunately required a substantial hill climb to get to from the base area. We had a large and delicious dinner. 

Our zero day at the NOC did not disappoint! We started out the morning by shuttling into town and had ourselves an amazing protein and fruit filled breakfast at a local diner. Everyone there was so welcoming and nice and loved hearing about our journey thus far. Our waitress told me the granola in my fruit and yogurt parfait was homemade and I told her the granola was unreal, and as we were getting ready to leave she handed us a bag of granola to take on the trail. Once we got our thru hiking chores done, my dad told me we needed to get down to the river base area because he believed there were white water kayakers and canoeists. Once we got there, he was correct as there were many out there doing their white water maneuvers.  I sipped on a root beer (my sister’s favorite) and my dad got a beer from the outdoor bar and enjoyed the action. I could tell my dad was on a high as he always wanted to come here. What an afternoon on a beautiful zero day. Our choice of venue could not have been better.