4-11-2009 Sat - Nantahala River Valley

Start point: Burningtown Gap
End point: Nantahala Outdoor Center (NOC)
miles hiked: 12.7

Woke up early and made some breakfast, but it was really foggy and dreary and some of my clothes had gotten wet the night before, so I went back to sleep in hopes the sun would come out. Finally just decided to suck it up and leave at around 1:30pm, they teased me for hanging out at trail magic for almost a full day, but it was all in good fun. After I got to the top of Wesser Bald I climbed the staircase up to the top of the observation tower, it was still so foggy there was no view but it was a pretty cool tower. Once I was past the Wesser Bald shelter you go through about 5 miles of downhills, some of which are very steep, plus that much down can be rough on your knees. The fog finally broke and I got an incredible view of the Nantahala River Valley. Hiked in the dark for about an hour and finally as I neared the NOC I ran into Jess and Julia who were night hiking back to the last shelter because everything at the NOC was closed. Told them I was going to a spot Mello Yello had told me about just down river from the NOC where there were some free tent sites right along the river, they decided to come along. So we all went down and found a good site, set up camp, made dinner and passed out.