march 17-18 fresh grounds and rain

Yesterday and today were good days. Yesterday i took the 9am shuttle out of franklin, and started hiking from winding stairs gap. Dj, hermes, carlie, and frances got off at a different stop about 3 or 4 miles back. So they had a bit more hiking to do. I came to fresh grounds a few miles in with his table set up. This time he had alot more food. He said he got so many contributions for his help that he added more food and decided to do it for longer. He said hell be on the other side of the smokies at davenport waiting for us to come through again. I stayed there about an hour. Owl and zag eventually came to that spot, and after about 15 minutes we all continued on. Me and owl hiked ahead of zag, cause shes a much slower hiker. Wed stop every now and then and wait, but never long enough for zag to catch up. Owl and zag were supposed to meet at a certain campsite, but by the time we stopped to check where we were we had missed the campsite so we just kept going. We reached a stone fire tower and spent some time there. We were able to see all the way to the smokies from there. I tried to climb up the side of the tower, it was only about 20 feet, but i got scared halfway up and climbed back down. If i didnt have 2000 more miles of hiking to do i might not have been as scared of falling. One really interesting partg of the forests ive been seeing the last two days is that almost all of the trees are dead. There are fallien trees and branches everywhere, and all the trees are covered in green mold and moss. Only the rhododenrons and other smaller plants arent dead, and most of the pine trees are healthy too. There just arent many of them here to begin with. Owl got in contact with zag via cell phone, and we continued on to the next shelter. Dj eventually showed up, and frances a little while after. Hermes and carly stayed near fresh grounds because he promised bacon and eggs for breakfast. While we made dinner for ourselves, john made a fire. We spent a while sitting around the fire talking and went to sleep around 9pm. It was a warm night, in the low 40s, and i was able to sleep in my sleeping bag in just a tshirt. We were all worried about the forecast of rain in the morning. So we werent sure if wed even hike, but when we woke up it was cloudy and overcast, not raining. So we all continued on, planning to stop at a shelter about 11 miles away. It was raining on and off during the day. So by the time i got to that shelter and caught up to dj i was already soakin g wet. Rain gear does a good job of keeping rain out, but it also keeps sweat in. The tradeoff is that you can maintain a warmer temp in rain gear than in the pouring rain. From that shelter, me, dj, and 3 other guys decided to continue to the next shelter, 5 miles away, and only one mile from the NOC, tomorrows destination and resupply point. We hiked at a breakneck pace, and 2 hours later reached the shelter. The shelter was packed to capacity with all of us in there. So we slept shoulder to shoulder, which def helped keep us warm in our slightly damp sleeping bags. Someone had put some vicks vaporub on top of our food bags because we had heard that mice dont like the stuff and will stay away from food bags that have some on top.