Back in my younger running days, I would rate the day following a tough race as a one, two, or three crowbar morning, depending on how many crowbars it took to pry me out of bed. In spite of our best efforts yesterday at carrying a light load and “easing on into the trail,” this is definitely a two-crowbar* morning! Only copious amounts of Vitamin I (ibuprofen) and the promise of one more night at the Hiker Hostel got us to haul our sore butts out of bed. But after a good breakfast and a little moving around, by the time we reached Gooch Gap again, we were ready to face the challenges of the day.

Today’s goal (14.4 miles) could be divided into two parts: the first third to Woody Gap went really quickly. We took advantage of the picnic tables there for an early sit-down lunch, as we knew after lunch we’d be on familiar ground we had hiked in reverse last fall on the final day of our last practice hike.

While we ate, two men pulled up who had driven in from DC and FL to meet for a hike up to Unicoi Gap. They left a little before us, but we caught up with them at exactly 21.84 miles, so we asked them to take our picture as we toasted ourselves, and celebrated 1% of The Trail completed!

The Hiker Hostel was again full tonight, but unlike last night, the house computer was in high demand, with three German couples needing to check in back home. On top of that, an older man who had abandoned his hike prematurely on the Approach Trail, came back needing a bed, and with the over-crowded hostel was sleeping on a futon next to the computer. So, today’s entry will have to be short with the hope it can be amended later, as it was an epic day…

-N Trovert