A Franklin Get-A-Way

April 19, 2025

It’s a Nero day! I packed up camp and walked about 0.1 miles down to the parking lot where “Widget’s” family had come with trail magic! Her boyfriend, kids, and sister had brought her van down, and her sister plans to hike with her for a few days. There was sausage, eggs, coffee, donuts, pepperoni sticks (Bo’s favorite), drinks, fruit cups and gatorade, and so much more! The kids played with Bowen while I got some food.

The National Forest guys showed up and took the sign down about the fire closure, so the trail is open again! It was a tough acent up the mountain with a full belly, but we had only 4 miles to go today before getting into Franklin, NC. Down the ridges Bo and I went into Winding Stair Gap.

I decided to try hitchhiking for the 1st time today. Another hiker made fun of me for not wanting to wait two hours for the shuttle. One trucker pulled off and then saw either me or Bo and drove off, haha, I’m not sure which of us was the problem there. Then, another car pulled up and offered us a ride. Funnily enough, the hiker that made fun of me ran over to join the ride–so of course, I gave him a hard time about it, haha. Our hitch cracked his windows a good bit… I guess 5 days of not showering takes a toll, but we couldn’t smell anything.

He dropped us at Outdoor 76, where I talked to a foot/shoe specialist and walked away with some new and more sturdy shoes. I learned some helpful tricks as well! Looks like I should slow down, stretch more, and give my body some more time to adjust to the increased strain of my new lifestyle. After “Leapfrog” and I got our new shoes and walked up and down the big hill with our packs to try the shoes out we went to lunch. “Uno,” “Magnum,” “Leapfrog,” “Weast,” “Two-Timer,” “Optimist,” and “Lucky,” and I all got lunch at 828 Cafe. I got a sweet acai bowl, and Bo got chicken tenders and fries.

Testing shoes.

After lunch, I grabbed all my things from Outdoor 76 and began the walk to the Inn to check in. I showered and washed my clothes in the shower (I picked this trick up on my bike trips and think it’s just as effective as a washing machine). Bo and I went to the Lazy Hiker Brewery Company with the crew, and Bo and Daisy shared a cheese burger! We all got a free postcard to send to family and signed the AT Thru-hiker banner inside. After 3 IPAs, I decided to go ahead and resupply at Ingles since we were right next to it, rather than walk a mile in the heat tomorrow. A tipsy walk back with heavy grocery bags was much more enjoyable at night than a sober walk back in the daytime.