Rainy Day- Sewanee

We disembarked Monday morning about ten miles outside of Robbinsville, NC. After battling a steep 2-mile climb, we began an awesome descent down a pretty curvy road. Capel and I both hit new land speed records, 50mph and 46.5mph, respectively. Conway and Peter joined in at the bottom and we got our first taste of really being back in the South- hot, humid, and flat. We recovered in Robbinsville before we began our 10-mile ascent on the Cherohala(halahalahala) Skyway through Nantahala National Forest. The heat and humidity provided an extra challenge for the four climbers this day, but we were rewarded with a few rainshowers close to the summit. The best reward following our 3000 foot climb came in the form of a 20-mile downhill that ended on a valley road on the banks of the Tellico River in Tennessee. Conway drove the paddy wagon for this portion and staked out an awesome end point on the banks of the Tellico. Peter immediately found a footpath down to the edge and led the way into its current. For lodging and dinner Monday night the Magee family was kind/brave enough to invite the five of us into their home on Lookout Mountain in Chattanooga. Showers and an amazing lasagna dinner that Mrs. Magee prepared for us really helped us recover from the punishing heat we experienced earlier that day.
This morning we woke up to hot sausage biscuits for the first of several breakfasts we had today. After driving out of the congested traffic areas, Peter George and Capel began their ride on a shaded country road that followed the banks of the Tennessee River. Conway and I led the expeditionary party into Jasper, TN and luckily found a coin laundromat. The climb this afternoon proved to be much more challenging than was originally anticipated. Capel, Peter, and George battled up slopes averaging 12% grade over nearly 5 miles, the steepest climb over that distance that any of us have encountered. The crew reunited on the Sewanee campus and took shelter from an afternoon thunder storm in a local joint called "Shenanigans". We were able to watch the first 60 minutes of the Brazil v North Korea World Cup match until the weather disrupted the satellite feed.
The weather is clearing up now and we are about to hit the road for our campsite 20 miles away. Until next time....

-Ty