Day 15

Wesser Shelter- Swim Bald

Woke up fairly early with the intention of making it to the "NOC" by noon or shortly after. Stopped for a quick snack at Rufus Morgan Shelter where we had a laugh at a past thru-hiker's misspelled rantings written on the wall and plenty of clever bible tracts. Walked the last mile to the NOC (the Nantahala Outdoor Center which is a whitewater rafting/outdoor activity hotspot). When we arrived we were surprised to find that the Wesser General Store (our resupply point) sold mostly candy, soda, beer, and flies (for fishing). We left with a small bag of junk food and a 12-pack of Yeungling lager, in cans of course, and sat by the bathrooms to repack or bags. There we witnessed a number of strange interactions between people (bikers clad in leather, yuppies, girls wearing only bikini tops who shouldn't, young men without shirts carrying kayaks and rafts) and because we saw other people drinking beer openly in public, we did too. One beer and twenty strange minutes later we were crossing the Nantahala River on a foot bridge, walking through a parking lot, across train tracks, and once again up into the mountains. We found a small bridge over a dried up spring about half a mile up the trail, and since we didn't spend nearly as much time at the NOC as we had planned, we sat and killed some time (and that 12-pack). We left in search of water a couple of hours later, still wanting to put a dent in the 8 mile climb out of the Nantahala River Gorge. We eventually came upon a spring and decided to take a break and fill up. While there, a young kid from Florida who looked like the 4th Jonas brother ('Baywatch') and two early 20-something's from CT (Laurel & ???) stopped to do the same. We talked, they left, and we headed up Swim Bald to a campsite just off the trail in a Rhodedendron thicket. Set up camp as it was getting dark after hiking with headlamps. Another hot sunny day and clear star filled night.