Days 45-47

2 May, Day 45, 0 miles, Black Bear Resort at Dennis Cove at AT mm 416.3. I failed to mention that the wonderful place i stayed is called the Iron Mt B&B and/or the Creekside Chalet. The main house is the B&B which is very nicely done. The Chalet is the log cabin I stayed in which is also very very nice. This is a romantic weekend type place and I would highly recommend it. Vicki is the owner an she will take great care of you. Anyway, after a very relaxing night and a great morning, I left the sanctuary of the Chalet and headed to the new Black Bear Resort to meet the rest of the wolf pack. Again, a really nice place. More hiker oriented but still very nice little cabins, on a creek and wonderful owners. I could see us building something similar to that at the Tea Cup Street house for those of you who know what I'm talking about. We took a zero here, as somewhat planed, so not much to say other then Cheeks and I won a thrilling game of "drinking monopoly" and we had just a nice relaxing day at a great spot.  Two great places in two nights so all is well.  3 May, Day 46, 10.5 miles, Watauga Lake Shelter at AT mm 426.8. Enjoyed a wonderful morning chatting with everyone and the owners and their never ending pot of coffee. :) up at 7 but we did not leave until 10ish or so as it was so nice. When we started contemplating another zero it was time to hit the trail. This was probably one if my favorite days so far. We hiked past Laurel Falls which was awesome, then a few miles along the creek/river, up over a mountain and then ended at a beach on the lake and had a nice swim...what a great day! If anyone is considering section hiking for just a few days, i would recommend staying at one of the two places I just mentioned and hiking this section...it's beautiful. I will post some photos on Facebook when I can. After a hour or so at the beach, we went another 2 miles along the backside of the lake to the shelter. we are now 40 miles from Damascus VA so are considering two big days to get in there for Saturday night. It suppose to be a fairly easy section so we will see what happens tomorrow.  4 May, Day 47, 14.0 miles, Iron Mountain Shelter at AT mm 440.8. When Someone tells you a section is easy...do not listen. :) this was buy no means a hard section but we still went uphill 10-11 miles out of the 14. When we stopped for lunch at mile 8, those hills made our 22 mile day plan hit the back burner. Add the fact that for some reason there are no rooms available this weekend in Damascus, we were asking ourselves why we were busting our buts to get there. Even if we did 22 today, that left an 18 mile day tomorrow...why the rush? So we settled on 14 today, a 16 tomorrow followed by a nice little 10 miler into town on Sunday. Again the weather has been wonderful for us, the boys are doing great so I'm just not in any hurry. :)