Day 7: Big Spring Shelter to Wine Spring (17.3 miles)

May 19, 2004 - Stopped at Rainbow Campground to re-supply and call Fontana Village about hotel rooms. I’m meeting Paul and Dan about 12 miles down the trail. Still have to hike a mile back to the trail. As of right now, I’m about 3 miles from the road to Franklin, NC (the town is 10 miles East). So far I’ve put in 112.5 miles while on the trail. After re-supplying at Rainbow Campground I walked the mile on the road back to the trail. Then began the last 12 miles for the day where I will meet Paul and Dan at Wine Spring. There weren’t many water choices along the way to Wine Spring. I should have stopped for water before I made it to camp but since camp was so close I just decided to go for it. I was so thirsty when I arrived. Paul and Dan were working on a fire when I arrived. The first thing I did was pitched my tent because of the thunder and looked like rain was coming. Then once I made sure everything would be dry if it rained, I made my way down to the spring and filled up on water. Then soon after that it began to rain so I ran back to my tent and stayed inside until the rain stopped. Then all 3 of us sat around the campfire eating our dinner and talking until it was bed time. For those that keep track at home, it’s rained 7 out of the 7 days I’ve been on the trail. Today the mileage was 17.3 plus 2 going into and out of town.

Big Spring Shelter