Days 32(5/21) thru 34 (5/23)

After a few lovely days in Asheville, we still had to figure out how to get back to the trail. We caught a ride with a guy from the hostel who charged us 20$. He said we'd leave at 1pm but then text to say his errands were running late and he'd be there at 2. At 2:20 he pulled up in his Lexus SUV and after setting the navigation we were off. Except that his navigation was set to French. He doesn't speak French but is trying to teach himself via his navigation unit. Needless to say we took a wrong turn and our 45 minute journey took an hour and 20 minutes. So then we were off on the trail (finally) at about 3:30. After a slight misread of the map (hey it happens!!) we rolled into camp at 7:30. A little later than we would like and had to hang the bear bag in the dark but whatever. Also since we did things in the dark with our headlamps on, some suicidal little beetle with glowing red eyes flew into me at full speed.. Twice!! Only to knock himself to the ground. As I wrote this in my journal, I could hear him buzzing on the other side of the tent stalking me..
We had a little shower overnight but were able to pack up a dry tent! As we hiked (4 or 5 miles) we saw a small sign that said "Mom's - hikers welcome". We decided that if we could see it from the road, we'd go get a cold drink (it was damn humid and pretty warm). Well we could see a sign so we went to go investigate! What we got to was an old dilapidated fossil of a store, but it was open! Kind of like a roadside snack bar! Reasonably priced drinks and snacks!
We headed to the next shelter for a break where we got to see Spider and Tramp again with Tramp's dog Little Bear now in tow! It was wonderful to see them and catch up! Then a 1.3 mile climb straight up (1100 feet) to our campsite next to a lovely babbling brook (mile 295). We had a few other hikers there. We had no sooner gotten everything packed up when it started to rain! It rained on and off all night.
The next morning we got up and had gotten stuff packed up when the sky opened up with a big cup of 'eff you'and provided us with a 20 minute monsoon. Luckily, the tent was still set up and we were able to cover our backpacks up in time and dive in before we got completely soaked! As we were waiting it out we heard 'get outta the tent you wussies'. 2 hikers were razzing us. They asked if we were staying dry and when we told them 'mostly', they told us that was good cause our tent looked like it was sitting in a small pond.
When the rain finally let up we stuffed a very soggy, filthy tent into the tent bag (not fun) and headed down our soggy trail. We came to a part on the trail marked in our guidebook as 'rocky and strenuous'.. Yeah cause we haven't done anything like that yet.. Sheesh.. What it should have said was 'exposed ridgeline'. Yes it was rocky and a bit trying but the sun decided to peak it's head out and the views were gorgeous! 

We had a snack at the first shelter we came to and since Mr. Sun was out I got to dry a few things out! I also found a new pair of camp shoes someone had left behind! Yay for Hiker discards!
We summited Big Butt Mountain (no kidding! That's the name, and sadly no sign to take a picture of). We also passed a gravestone/ashes site of someone who had hiked the trail in 1965.
So we made it to our destination of the second shelter, Flint Mountain Shelter at mile 306.2. Meaning we've passed the 300 miles milestone! (Sadly we missed where someone had written it in rocks on the side of the trail. Oh and Gerard Butler.) 

So even though the day started out less than desirable, it turned out ok. There is never really an easy day on the tail, but some days are easier than others.