Day 10

Day 10: So what happens on a zero day? In all honesty, this was one of my biggest questions while I was preparing for my thru hike. How do I get to town? Do I need resupplies shipped to me? How much will lodging be? Will I be able to do laundry? How will I get from place to place once I’m in town? .
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These questions are one of the main reasons I asked Jacob to join me, because the logistics of it were really overwhelming me as I was preparing to leave.
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Mainly, how we have answered all the questions is: we’ll figure it out as we go along. .
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In Hiawassee we did have a package waiting for us at the post office so we had to walk to get it. It had some clothing and gear for Jacob and some things (toiletries and snacks) I had prepared before I left. We got a ride into town by our buddy Kevin, as I mentioned in the last post. We walked to dinner but then people would recognize us as hikers and hitch us the rest of the way. We had to buy some food (from Walgreens next to the Budget Inn) but we also got a lot of resupply food from the church grill out in Unicoi Gap and from Hiker Boxes you find at outfitters, hiker hostels and motels. These boxes are filled with gear and food that other hikers “unload” because they don’t want to carry them anymore. We’ve gotten fuel, ramen, bandaids, granola bars, clothing, tuna packets, and gear from these boxes. It’s like hiker dumpster diving and it’s the best. .
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I talk about all of this because my idea for so long was that I’d have to buy everything up front and have everything planned for the full 5 months. And while I did do a lot to prepare for the first month, just in case, it really is super easy to resupply in towns and the amount of free food has been abounding. You also don’t know what food you’ll get sick of, so NEVER buy a bunch of nut butter packets up front because you may get to day 2 like I did and realize you hate nut butter. .
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The rest of your zero day, you sit in your rain gear while you do laundry, you patch up your gear that’s torn, you find braces for your ailments, you eat a ton, and you rest. You rest until you can’t rest no mo.