Franklin On My Mind

In order to make it to Winding Stair Gap for the 9:00AM shuttle, I needed to be hiking by 7:00AM. I woke up at 6:00AM.

The hike to Franklin was fairly easy, some ups and downs, twists and turns. Typical Appalachian Trail terrain. Ron Haven arrived at Winding Stair Gap around 9:00AM, like clockwork. I bumped into Wrongway again. He is one day ahead of me, I hope to catch him at some point and spend a day hiking with him. We shall see how everything shakes down over the coming days. Originally, Franklin was going to be a small stop for me, but as time went on, it became cleat there were a lot of things that needed to get done in town. Once I was in Franklin, I went to breakfast at Wilson's, damn good breakfast there. It is also reasonably priced and has a laid back atmosphere. I then showered up and did laundry, nothing like clean clothing. I then lounged around for a couple hours, it is always nice to do nothing for a little while. It seems my knees are in perfect condition for hiking, but not running. I attempted to run a little today, and my knees hurt every step of the way. I think I shall stick to hiking from now on. At around 4:30PM, Ron started his nightly town shuttle. This is where he loads all the hikers up in the bus and takes them where ever they need to go in town. It was nice to get all my town chores done in one big bang. A little later in the evening, Ron Haven and the hikers here at the Budget Inn celebrated my 17th birthday by buying me a pizza. My body can not handle cake. The pizza was quite delicious. I would like to thank Ron and all the hikers here tonight for that little celebration, it put the icing on a great day here in Franklin, NC. I am now packing my bag and preparing for my attach plan for the approach to Fontana Dam, where I shall stay at the Hike Inn in preparation for my assault on the Smokies. Kirby

Ga>ME 2008