Day 11 - 3/12

Daily mileage: 11.0
Total trail mileage: 118.7
Starting location: Franklin, NC
Ending location: Wayah Shelter
Weather: cloudy all day, on/off raining all day, some thunder,
probably 50s during the day (didn't check the thermometer). Pouring
and hailing in the evening.

I am at
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=35.205710,+-83.373786 (it is not very
accurate)

I got shuttled back to the trail today along with Frankie The Sleeper,
Dan, Mike, and Mike's dog Pax. At first the trail was nice but then
the deep snow and ice reappeared. Nope, the snow did not melt :(. The
rain held off for most of the day, but there were on and off showers
throughout the day.

Today I passed by a few balds. They are these areas where nothing by
grass grows. I am not sure why.

After 100 miles of being confused, I finally realized that down here
they use double blazes differently. In addition to signifying a turn
in the trail, they are also used to indicate that there is an
intersection with a trail or road. I had never seen that before, so
when that occurred I would look for the trail to the right or left
before realizing that it was straight ahead.

Today there was a note posted by the ranger which said that there have
been reports in the area of a bear that takes hiker's backpacks and
shows no signs of fear of humans.

I am actually staying in the shelter tonight for the first time this
trip. I am here with Dan, Frankie the Sleeper, Dan, Jessica, and
Turtle. We are watching the rain and hail come down hard. It is
almost as entertaining as TV.

Tomorrow I am going to try to do 15 miles and make it either to the
NOC or the shelter just before that. If I make it depends on when I
get started, the weather, and how much snow is left on the trail in
this stretch.