Albert Mountain

It rained throughout the night on and off but I actually stayed dry! I feel much more confident in setting up this slightly complicated tent to be rain proof. I really started late today. I was the last one to leave camp. I was so worn out from yesterday that i didn't want to leave my tent. All my cloths from yesterday were still damp. It was quite shocking to go from a warm sleeping bag to a freezing cold wet pair of dirty pants. They did dry off as I hiked thankfully.

I traveled through more sections of burnt forrest today. I particularly liked this section. It was like a tunnel that just kept going and going. There was am occasional break in the trees at the side that would reveal a great wide open view of the surrounding mountains.

My hands flared up again today, it was really hard to keep my mind off if it. It spread to more of my arms and also my ears. It was another bright hot sunny day with no clouds. Despite the itchy burning misery, today has been the most beautiful section of trail that I've hiked so far, climbing up Albert Mountain. It looked like a tropical paradise coming up from the south. It was a narrow trail with a mountain on one side and a cliff on the other. It was a long way down. The mountain side had so much water dripping and falling out from the rocks and so much moss. It was all so lush and green. It was so stunning! Closer to the top I had to actually use my hands to climb up the rocks it was so steep. It was hard but also fun! At the top there was a fire tower that I got to climb. That tower marks the 100 mile maker of the trail! 

I made my way to the next shelter where Ben and I planned to stay. We made reservations for Franklin for the next 2 nights. It was a physically rough day because of the rash. When I got there the whole campsite was on a hill and super out in the open. The shelter was full in my opinion but they said that they could make room. I didn't feel like being sardined into that place, it was too much after such a long day. All the tent spots that were flat were taken so I decided to hike in hoping to find a decent campsite along the next 4 mile stretch to Franklin.

I found a few but they were on the trail and it felt too exposed. I ended up hiking all the way to Winding Stair Gap which is where the road that leads into Franklin is. It's 10 miles to Franklin so I ended up hitch hiking. A wonderful lady named Beverly was dropping a guy off at the trail. I wasn't sure if she was stopping for me or what but she offered to drive my back into town for free since that's where she was going. She's an official shuttle driver in the AT guide book. Most shuttle drivers just use their own cars which she did. She told me that if I didn't have a reservation then I probably wouldn't get one at this time. I had just gotten to the gap at sunset. She offered to let me stay in her house in one of the spare bedrooms upstairs. 

Another hiker was in the car for the ride named Inspector Gadget. He injured himself and stayed with Beverly for the past week while recovering. He was going to be a thru hiker but now he's just skipping around hiking the highlights of the trail because of some major medical concerns he's experiencing. 

We stopped at Bojangles for dinner then over to her house. She lives up the side of a mountain in this beautiful winding neighborhood. We almost hit a deer pulling up, it ran right in front of the car! It was great having a shower. I smelled so badly. I could literally see all the dirt washing off of my body. And sleeping in a bed with nice clean sheets. I felt so much better. I'm glad that i hiked those 16 miles to make it here.

Tonight I'm at mile 109.5 with 2080.3 left to go.