Once again I was awoken by a loud, wet, fart. This was immediately followed by the sound of a shocked and confused Chris. I did my best to not let my imagination run wild, and just went back to sleep. He told me the next morning that he startled himself with his gas, but didn't shit himself. Good news for all involved.
We didn't get started until 10:30am. Not the best start to a rough day. We began with a short, but incredibly steep ascent. Once summited, we entered the aptly named Rock Maze. This was a half mile ridge line up, over, twisting around a wild stone jungle. At this, Chris was genuinely feeling the challenge of a strenuous hike.
We dropped down to a road with a stream beside it, and Chris jumped into the pool of water there, desperate to cool off. By then it was already 2pm and we had only come 2 miles, so time was against us. With 6 miles remaining ahead, Chris and I decided to walk into Boiling Springs via the road, because that was going to be the end of his hike. He definitely didn't seem to be enjoying it at all by the end. Ironically his reason for leaving was the same as everyone who stops in their first week of attempting a thru-hike: "It wasn't what I was expecting".
Taking the road dropped the trip from 6 miles down to 4.5, with the hope of a hitch. We did get a bit of a push, as a local hiker shuttled us forward about a mile and a half, but otherwise we were hiking on hard pavement under a harsh sun. By the time we finally reached the Inn, Chris was stumbling and light-headed. Still, we made it up to the room, and flopped on our beds. Mission accomplished.
We enjoyed a bit of the Olympics while eating a delivered pizza. We also enjoyed showers, and relaxing in A/C. It all becomes so precious, so fast. After pizza, we went down to the bar to enjoy a boatload of free food (meats & cheeses, chicken satay, quiches, and eventually sushi), before ordering large dinners (italian on flatbread with fries, and steak & pasta). Our same bartender from the last stay at the Allenberry was serving us, and gave us free beer for being late with our orders (they weren't that late).
We then returned to the room, watched more tv, and eventually both dug into our food stores. If nothing else, on the final night Chris found his hiker appetite.
