May 16 Mile 401

Had the best breakfast on the trail so far. Mary the hostel owner does an all you can eat buffet for her guests. It was great, but not heavy as we had to hike out this morning. We ate fresh fruit, ham and sausage, fresh tomatoes, French toast, fluffy eggs, cinnamon rolls, home fries, orange juice and coffee. What a treat for the hiker. Left about 9:20 and hiked up the highway back to the trail. I always hate the backpack hiking that doesn't count. As I have mentioned before, normally when you leave a town you are in a gap, and you have to hike up a long way with a full pack. Not so much today. It was up, but gentle. In fact, all day was up and downs, as usual, but much smaller. The forest today was much more like a lower elevation piedmont forest than a mountain forest. But in the beginning we did hike through some old farms and the views were terrific from what I guess were old home sites. Our last time in North Carolina. Good by to the Tarheel state. Over 300 miles jumping between NC and TN. Now TN and on to Virginia.
Ended up hiking about 13-14 miles today. Had a plan to make it to a campsite mentioned in our data book, but the book warned us that the water source nearby was contaminated . However it said other water was nearby. You have to have an available water source handy when camping, for making dinner and breakfast and filling up your water bags for the next day. So we got to the campsite- near this beautiful creek ( but it was contaminated) so I went ahead as the hiker data book suggested (without my pack ) to bring back some water in our plastic 4 liter tank. I hiked for almost mile and found no water! Even though the data book said it was there. So I went back to Cisco empty handed and we decided to hike for a while til we could find a campsite and water. Hiked on for awhile and finally found both. So I got to hike the same ground 3 times! Anyway, quickly got our tents set up as it had been raining off and on all day. As soon as we set up the rain poured down . So got our rain gear on and cooked and ate our dinner in the rain. There's not much else you can do. Still raining as we go to bed. I think it's going to be a soggy week. Luckily our tents keep us dry.