Left Hiawassee this morning. Ate left over cookies and pizza and talked to the other hikers around for a bit. Took the shuttle out a little after 11 back to Dick’s Creek Gap for a short day of hiking. The shuttle is an older van from probably the early 80s. It is very beat up and smells of diesel and exhaust for the whole trip, but it gets ya to where you need to be.
The hike was mostly uphill today. It was tough to get started as usual, but after getting warmed up, it went nicely. The trail was less steep, and easier to walk with less rocks and roots. Made good time getting in around 2pm.
Met some other guys who were getting back on after a zero day in town. J-Dub from somewhere up North is photographing people and taking notes for a personal photojournalism project after getting laid-off from a newspaper job back home. Dave, a recent retiree from the Air Force, is here hiking to Hot Springs, NC for a month before moving to Oklahoma City for a new job as the Maintenance Director for a trucking company. Another older guy, Nomad is hiking the trail after doing part of the PCT, the Badlands of South Dakota, playing around Key West for awhile.
Caught back up to the A-Team from Central, FL once again. Nice people.