The cold snap appears to have broken! I woke up to find it was 30 degrees this morning and was out of my tent in time to watch the cloud-obscured sunrise. Camping isn’t strictly legal atop of Wayah Bald, so I appeased my conscience by picking up whatever trash I could find before hitting the trail slightly after 7am.

The trail in N.C., like that in Georgia, often rolls along the sides of the mountains instead of over the summits. The produces constant new views as we weave in and out of valleys with the trees not yet leafed out. Unfortunately the trail has also been pretty muddy the last few days, so we’ve been slipping and sliding a bit. No falls yet, however! The frost fingers protruding from the ground alongside the trail have been beautiful in the cold weather.

My knee started acting up again today—perhaps because it’s my first day off the anti-inflammatories. I’ve been taking Advil regularly and am walking with a stiff leg again. I’ll  seek advice once we get to town. Unfortunately the morning started with a 2000-foot drop into the Nanthala River Valley! The good news? Hamburgers and fries!

Thru’s met today: Dogg, Jason, Mrs. Daisy, AKT, and Sectioners Heybobo & Joe. Also at the shelter Wolf Wind (we tied 1-1 in cribbage tonight and I found out she went to Tufts Engineering 4 years ahead of me,) Rockhound, and Rob & Robin (The Jaybirds).

We need to do 42 miles in 2.5 days to get our Fontana Mail Drop by noon Saturday when the post office closes. Between my knee and D’s sore feet and fatigue, combined with the terrain, I’m not sure we’ll make it. We’ll see!

There was a forest fire burning in the hills for a while today and it smells like smoke in my tent.