Sunset from Wayah [wolf] Bald lookout tower

I camped next to this tower, built in the 1930s, last night and woke up and took a picture of the valley.

Then I went back to sleep. When I awoke again at 9:45 the wind was whipping between my tent and the rain fly, causing the fly to flutter.

Wayah Bald elevation = 5,342 feet.

Today I may or may not have seen a ghost.

On my way to the Wayah shelter I looked up and saw a young man running the trail. I let him pass. As he did I noticed what appeared to be tattoos on his cheeks, and on the back of his legs. He wore a hoodie and had no pack, or any equipment. He hopped into the woods to take a shortcut to the shelter.

When I arrived he was there, studying the laminated house map of the area. He was looking for a shortcut to the NOC, he said.

"I need to make it to Nantahala," he said, pronouncing it "Nan-ta-hay-la." "I've run out of food."

I said nothing, held my position. The NOC was 16 miles away; it was already noon. He had holes in his Nikes.

Soon he left and was gone. Strangely, though, nobody else I passed today saw him. So, either he took a road somewhere or he was a ghost.

I came across a lot of people.

Including Grits GA->ME '09. Grits, an older guy from Atlanta who I never really met in the summer, had a huge tent and a grill set up at Burningtown Gap. So I had two hot sauce-doused hamburgers and we chatted about the people we knew in the class of '09.

And today was a day where it was supposed to rain all day but didn't. Bonus.