I looked forward to a couple days of not hiking. My original plan was to hike 10 miles yesterday, then finish up the last 6 today. I had a room reserved in Bryson City for the 25th and 26th, but since I got there early I got a room at the NOC. It was awesome to sleep in a level bed inside a building. Things shut down early at the NOC. I had to cook a dehydrated meal from my food bag for supper the night before because everything was closed down by the time I arrived.

A group of hikers I knew had decided to go whitewater rafting that morning at 10:00 so I decided to join them.

Unfortunately the hydroelectric turbine on the river was down that morning so we were unable to go. I hitched a ride to Bryson City with a nice guy that brought me right to my room. I walked 2 miles round trip to the grocery store to resupply my food, washed my clothes, then mostly just relaxed. I tried not to walk any more than I had to.