Day 17 – Wesser Bald Shelter to NOC

Rain showers likely before 11 a.m., then showers and thunderstorms likely between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., then a chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 74. Chance of precipitation is 60%.

Woke to rain at 7:00. Rain just started as I woke up, then picked up. At least it’s warm 🙂 Got packed quickly and moved to shelter to eat and finalize backpack setup and get into full rain gear. Mike and I headed out about 8:45. I’m probably carrying at least one, if not two, pounds of extra water due to my waterlogged tent and other gear. 

No pain, no rain, no Maine.

We have 5.7 wet miles to go to reach the  NOC. The Nantahala Outdoor Center (NOC) is a major eco-tourism destination with the AT literally running right through the place. Restaurants, outfitter, general store, and all kinds of outdoor activity centers. It was only 5.7 miles, almost all VERY downhill, but it was a hard hike. Big steps/terraces, slippery rocks and mud, and awesome views. Due to the steep downhill terrain and mud, we spent a lot of time doing this almost shuffle with our feet to keep from slipping. Sounds easy, but it was very tiring on the calves. Rain stopped about 10:00, and we got rid of our rain gear.

I ran into a group of 4-day hikers about 1 mile from the bottom. I could tell that they were day hikers because they were clean, and I could smell the soap and deodorant on them as they went past. About that time, I realized that the rain had washed some of the stink off of me and my clothes. I could really smell myself this morning. TMI?

Got into the NOC at 11:45. Mike got here about 30 minutes before. He had French fries waiting for me at the restaurant. Checking in isn’t until 3:00, so we hung out at the restaurant and had lunch and beverages until about 2:00. We walked over to the outfitter so Mike could replace his torn rain pants with a rain kilt. We got online and purchased our hiking permits for the Great Smoky Mountain National Park (GSMNP). The outfitter printed them for us. We will need those in 3 days…..foreshadowing!

Walked to the store, picked up our Resupply boxes, and checked into our rooms at 3:00. And of course, the rooms were about 3/4 of a mile away and uphill. Nice little rooms with a shared common area and laundry. I got all my gear unpacked so it could dry out. 

YouTube video of pack explosion and resupply at the NOC.

Called Dana and hung out in the room. I unpacked my Resupply box and realized I have WAY too much food. I’ll deal with that in the morning…too tired now. I ate some of my trail food for dinner since I have so much. Mike and I did laundry and I started packing up for tomorrow. I will finish that chore in the morning. I got 3 days of blogs written.  It’s 9:30 now.  I will crash once I get these blog entries uploaded. 

And now for some hiking hygiene information that you probably don’t want to know about, but is very important. Let’s talk about chaffing!

Seriously, chaffing is a major issue with hiking in general and even more so with long-distance hiking. There are all kinds of videos and websites  devoted to this topic. I learned about it the hard way 2 years ago when I started hiking long distances in the lovely mid-Atlantic heat and humidity.

For men and women, the chaffing issues occur in the privates and especially in the butt cheeks. For endowed women, they also have issues with the boobs. Sorry, but those are the facts. 

Chaffing is not just uncomfortable, it is debilitating. It is not uncommon for chaffing to cause a person to have to get off trail for several days. I know of men and women who have been in so much pain they had to quit their thru-hike. 

Why do I bring this up now? Because I was in a rush today and forgot to preemptively deal with this. I learned the hard way two years ago to apply preventive lotion “down there”. I have been good about that so far, but with scrambling out of camp today with the rain, I forgot. Factor in the rain, humidity, etc., and I was starting to chaff big time in the cheeks today. Keep in mind it was less than 6 miles and it still messed me up. 

Fortunately, I carry Body Glide as a preventative as well as good old-fashioned medicated diaper rash cream in case of problems! 

In all seriousness, this could have cost me a day or two off trail to heal up.   I WILL NOT screw up like this again.

Technical Notes:

• Cliff bar 250
• Ruben sandwich 820
• Fries 350
• Sweet tea x 2 200
• Chocolate cake 550
• Fritos 270
• Seltzer 210
• Seltzer 210
• Summer Sausage 450
• Seltzer 210
• Seltzer 210
• Water 3 liters
• Miles 6
• Time 3.5
• Elevation gain 600 (3100 feet descent)
• Calories consumed 
• Calories burned 2700