I woke up at 6:45 am today to go wash my laundry and some of my teammates’ clothes as the electricity finally was restored after 10:00 pm last night. I try to keep this blog positive but also realistic for any future AT thru hikers. In short, our stay at the NOC (Nantahala Outdoor Center) was very lousy. The room was lousy, the food was average and priced extraordinarily high, the resupply provisions were basically candy and crackers, and the laundry facility was at least a third of a mile from our bunkhouse. Basically nothing at the NOC is geared toward hikers’ needs. We look so forward to our taste of normalcy when we come off trail that it’s incredibly frustrating to have the experience we had yesterday. But, sometimes the reality is that when you are the only game in town you can treat your customers anyway you want. OK – enough complaining.

Today’s hike was the most difficult yet, but i also felt the strongest today of any of our hard days. Immediately after leaving base camp this morning we began an 8.5 mile climb from 1,700 feet elevation to approximately 5,100 feet. It was a brutal climb but the weather was beautiful with lots of sun and a few breezes. After reaching the summit we had another 2.5 miles down to our campsite tonight. I must have burned 5000 – 6000 calories today. Very challenging to take in that many calories. Our group separated for today’s hike and Snapshot and I were paired up. We have very similar hiking abilities, our pace is roughly the same, neither of us like to take frequent breaks and we don’t spend a lot of time talking but rather focusing on the hike. So, as hard as today’s hike was it was very enjoyable and I feel as though my trail legs are starting to materialize. Tomorrow will see less of an elevation climb with cloudy weather and a good chance of some rain.

Wishing everyone a Happy Palm Sunday.