Day 80 - Sunday, May 30, 2021

  Happy Memorial Day Weekend America 🇺🇸 .

We stayed at the Quality Inn in Andrews, NC for two nights as it is centrally located for our next 3-4 hikes. We may stay here when I return from the closing.

Today we are continuing hiking from Nantahala Outdoor Center (136.9 NoBo) to Burningtown Gap, NC 01397 (124.0 NoBo) equaling 12.9 miles.

We began hiking at 9:30 am, temperature was 48° 🥶.




The Cold Spring Shelter. This is one of the oldest shelters on the AT; it was built in the 1930’s by the CCC*.

(*CCC: The Civilian Conservation Corps was a voluntary public work relief program that operated from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men ages 18–25 and eventually expanded to ages 17–28. Robert Fechner was the first director of this agency, succeeded by James McEntee following Fechner's death.)










Panoramic view from Rocky Bald.






Views from Rocky Bald.



This section of the mountain below Rocky Bald caught on fire in 2016. It was probably due to a lightning strike. You can see all the larger timber that burned and all the new growth below it. It’s amazing how quickly a forest regenerates itself. 

Views from “Jumpoff”.


We came off Wesser Bald and into the “Jumpoff”, about 1/4 mile of very technical and physical rock scrambling. It was one of the more challenging sections of the AT that we have encountered so far. 

We caught up to a hiker and his wife who just came off the “Jumpoff”, exchanging pleasantries etc., asking how they are enjoying their day and he responds... “I come out here every year just to remind myself how much I hate it!!” I was actually impressed to see him on the trail hiking as he was a “big” fellow pushing 300+ lbs. 



This caught Turtle’s eye walking down the trail. He ate all his food and wanted to know if this was edible... I said suuuuuure... 😂





My favorite part of the day... making our final descent. Actually, the ice cream I have after we’re done hiking is 😉.



We finished hiking at 3:45 pm. We got back to the hotel and Masterchef Turtle Power made dinner outside. 


Till next time... Happy Hiking  🥾 

😋


“You gotta have passion for life and passion for something that you're going to get up and do,".    

                                Meredith “Sunny” Eberhart  


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