Day 12 – 60 miles – After breakfast and lounging at the hotel most of the morning we rolled out to Blue Mountain Brewery in Afton, VA for lunch and to stock up on take home beer. We left the brewery and headed north up Skyline Drive to Skyland Lodge for a night. We ran into a bear strolling down the middle of the road and Tim was able to capture some shots & a video of it. It was cool and overcast at Skyland but the lodge was busy. They gave us a preferred room and a fridge for our beer. We relaxed at the room and the lodge all day. After dinner we retired to our room and slept well.

Day 11 – 528 miles -We were up early at the lodge. After breakfast we checked out and headed for Mountain Crossings at Neel gap to load up on merchandise we couldn’t get while hiking through. I bought a couple shirts, stickers, lunch, and few odds and ends. We chatted with a few hikers and were off to Fontana Dam. Fontana Dam, incidentally, is the tallest dam east of the Mississippi and is managed by the Tennessee Valley Authority. AT hikers cross this dam on their way to and from the Smokey mountains. After leaving Fontana Dam we got on Route 28 West and followed it along the river for a while. Tim started talking about the Tail of the Dragon of which I had no clue what he was talking about. He said he thinks we’re in the vicinity of some famous and deadly stretch of road. I’m like oh that’s cool… We pop out in Deals Gap on the NC/TN border. Home of the Dragon and consequently the Tail of said Dragon. A 11-mile stretch of road with no less than 318 curves within it. This road is so famous that we encountered multiple cameramen taking pictures of the vehicles that cruised this section. Over 1200 vehicles travel the tail every day. We saw a lot of VW tuner cars, motorcycles, sports cars, etc. We saw people trailing cars up just to run them on this road. I was kind of flabbergasted & pleased at the same time that something like this still exists in our whitewashed world. I ran the tail and survived to tell the… tale? :)) After running the through the Dragon tail we ended up on Foothills Parkway which is an 18-mile stretch with overlook stops that gaze onto the Smokeys. After the parkway we made our way towards I-40 then I-81 and north to Waynesboro, VA. for the night. The weather got to be terrible the last few hours of driving and I was exhausted when we finally rolled in to the hotel. Got a 2pm checkout and used it.

Day 10 – 4 miles – We got up and moving slowly this morning. Had breakfast and packed up. Once on trail I gave Tim final word on ending the hike. His shins weren’t doing the greatest. By the time I had phone signal we had a final decision to get off trail and return to Amicalola. We ran into Hiking Hobbit and her husband at Deep gap prior to Ron’s arrival. Ron arrived and took us to a nearby Ingles so we could get some cold drinks etc. then onwards a couple hours to Amicalola to my vehicle. We drove up to the lodge, requested, and received a room for the night. We got all cleaned up and into our street clothes. I sure did miss my cotton boxers. 😉 We spoke to a few hikers preparing to set out in the coming days and tried to impart some wisdom. Dinner was good and we called it another early night.

Day 9 – 11.8 miles – After breakfast I texted Moneychanger to advance our pickup time to 9am. He dropped us off at Dicks Creek gap around 9:30am and we began our trek up and out of Georgia into North Carolina. We passed Plumorchard Gap shelter after a couple hours. We arrived at the GA/NC line around 2:15pm. Just beyond the line there’s a spring with a pipe in it and a good place to flop down for spell. I took water, a snack, and a nap. We discussed staying just beyond the spring on a ridge or continuing to Muskrat Creek shelter. The shelter was only 2.9 miles from the spring. We neglected to look at the elevation change of this particular section and paid the price for it. It was difficult section for both of us. Once at the shelter we made the decision to get off trail early due to Tim suffering from terrible shin splints originating from a hard descent to Dicks Creek gap the day before. I called Ron Holland and arranged for him to pick us up at Deep Gap instead of Winding Stair as previously discussed then told him I’d call in the morning when we were close to Deep gap.

Day 8 – 11 miles – We awoke to a cold, cloudy morning. Our clothes were still dripping wet and cold. I made breakfast and slowly did my thing. I put on wet socks and shoes, then a wet shirt and tucked my other wet shirt into the mesh pocket of my pack. Tim and I got on trail and eventually dried out for the most part. We got off on a spur trail for water and breakfast. My shirt had dried and I hung out my other shirt on a small tree to dry it while I ate and filtered water. Later on we ran into a Georgia AT Trail Ambassador by the name of Fred. Thankfully so, because they informed us there was no phone signal to be had at Dicks Creek gap. We had to call ahead while we were on top of the mountains. We called the Holiday Inn in Hiawassee for a room & Moneychanger for a pickup. It was quiet in the Holiday Inn which we were happy about. We got food, did laundry, and passed out early.