The End of Hike #5 and the NOC

What self respecting blogger wouldn't sneak a selfie into the blog at some point.  Just be glad that you can only see me and not smell me. After hiking 21.4 miles you tend to get a little ripe.  Anyway, I made it out of the woods around 6:00 p.m. and was glad to see that Lacey and her friend Daniel were waiting for me outside of the NOC. 

I had not been to the Nantahala Outdoor Center (NOC) in many years so I was delighted that it had turned into a rather nice tourist area complete with a restaurant.  Luckily Lacey and Daniel were just as hungry as I was so we ate a quick bite before I loaded my very sore body into the back of the car for my shuttle ride home.

My longest single day hike was now behind me (21.4 miles) and I felt pretty good about having accomplished that hike.  I've now officially hiked 135 miles and I only have 2,040 miles left to go. The bad part about stopping at a place that is only at 1,723 ft. elevation is that the next hike is going to be uphill... very uphill.  Oh well, that will be in a few months when the soreness has worn off and the trail will once again be calling my name.  Until then... keeping hiking... I think I hear banjo music.