Tellico

Day 10

Hiked today : 21.6
Total hiked : 129.3
To katahdin: 2049.0

Today was a long day. Ron picked us up at 7:30 but we had to pick up some other hikers and loop around which took 2 hours. We heard some fairly interesting stories ron had to tell along the way. One of which was basically the entire history of Tellico gap, which is where we were going to pick up those hikers. So for about and hour he enthusiastically told us everything there is to know. Since Andy doesn't have a trail name, he dubbed him Tellico. After passing where the uni-bomber from Atlanta's hiding cave, we started towards winding gap which is where we were getting off
So we got to the AT at 9:30 but with fresh legs and full bellies we trucked on. It was by no means flat, but we were determined to make it past the 20 mile marker. When we passed a shelter about 12 miles in we decided to stop for lunch. Here we met shepherd. He hiked the AT and ended in December. He then realized he hated society and came back a month later to do it again. He was nice and funny, a hippie mixed with a mountainman. Kind of sad that he didn't really have anything to keep him home, but as long as he is happy I suppose.
We passed tellico gap which was kind of annoying since we were there this morning. After a few miles from there we got to a fire tower and since the fog lifted we were able to see for miles all around. We got to camp just before the sun set and ate our food. Now we will sleep well. The smokies are in a few days which wll be difficult but welcomed since we are growing tired of the same scenery.
via BB