Wesser Bald Shelter to Nantahala Outdoor Center

APRIL 18, 2012
Wesser Bald Shelter to Nantahala Outdoor Center - Strenuous
5.7 miles in 3.5 hours 

This morning everyone was up bright and early, I believe we were all weary of the sleeping arrangements by that time.  Eight people in a shelter built for six is a bit crowded, but we made the best of it. After our breakfast of oatmeal and coffee, we were the first out on the trail.

We have a short hike today, mostly downhill.  But it was still raining and the trail was wet and treacherous.  In fact, Wait-up slipped down by stepping on a root again.   We saw the privy of the A. Rugus Morgan Shelter from the trail above a LONG time before we actually got to it.  It appeared to be just a little way down, but it seemed like it took us forever to actually get to the shelter.  It was a small one, and we heard later that it was jammed packed with people too the night before in the rain. 

Our first view of Nantahala Outdoor Center from the descending trail.

 It was a long descent into the Nantahala Outdoor Center gap; but our first site of the building from the trail above was a welcome sight, knowing that we would have a night in a bed tonight.  We decided to upgrade from the basecamp, which is actually a hostel with no linens to one of their cabins so that we could enjoy it more.  They sometimes rent out Cabin D as a motel, they said.  We saw several of our fellow hikers in the cabin where we shared a common living area and a small kitchen and laundry room.

Even before we went to our cabin though, we took advantage of the River’s End Restaurant for one of their famous pizzas.  Clyde and Nightwalker were already there eating with Nightwalker’s wife who had met them there from Greenville, SC.  They told us they were going into Bryson City to spend the night. While we were eating Joshua and Caleb came in also. 

The AT crosses right over the NOC bridge.

After lunch and a shower, we restocked our backpacks from our supplies in the car.  This was the first time we had seen our car in six days.  We could finally retrieve our Thru-Hiker’s Companion and feel like we had the information we needed about the waypoints.  We had arranged for a shuttler named Donna to meet us at Fontana Dam this afternoon to leave our car there and bring us back to NOC to spend the night. 

The Nantahala River is famous for Whitewater rafting.

We drove into Bryson City to Ingle’s Grocery store to pick up a few groceries that we had decided on, then on to Fontana Dam to leave the car.  Donna met us there.  On the way back to NOC we found out that Donna lives and has a hostel and cabins for rent at Stecoah Gap, we drove right past it.  We could have stayed at her place tonight if we had known; but we already had reservations at NOC.  

We had heard good things about the hamburgers at the River's End, so we heated up our leftover pizza in the microwave in the cabin, then took it with us to the restaurant where we ordered a burger and fries to split along with our pizza.  While there, we met a nice couple from Kansas who had bought some property near by and were working on building a log cabin on it.  They told us they were staying in The Little Cabin in the Woods.  Small world - we told them that we had just met Donna when she shuttled us here.  They always stay in one of Donna's cabins when they come to work on their house.

We walked back to the cabin with Ryno (well, not exactly, he ran up the hill because it was raining). We went to bed early hoping for a good night's sleep which we did - except for the guy above us who had heavy feet and walked around until late at night above our heads.  Oh well, we finally got to sleep and it was good.

Cabin D, Room 6

Beautiful peonies at the River's End Restaurant.

Us on the bridge after getting cleaned up.