Trail Magic – Days 116 thru 120

Day 116 – Cosby Knob Shelter to Pigeon River Bridge / Discerning Hiker Hostel 

I was exhausted yesterday evening. Sleep, however, was hard. I am a rotisserie sleeper and the slope of the ground eliminated most of my sleep positions. My go to position is on my left side. This was one of the good positions last night. On my back worked a bit, there was a slope under my legs that made my knees hurt. Right side was near impossible, and stomach rarely works since the loss of my blow up sleeping pad.

We did sleep in a bit today. I think it was 7 when we hit the trail. Headlamps were not required.

The trail was mostly downhill today. It was also in very good condition.

We deposited our Smoky permits at Davenport Gap by 10:30 and were at the Pigeon River bridge waiting on Ken by 11.

The afternoon was spent showering, doing laundry, food shopping, and eating. I have gained over 7 pounds since my shower.

The Discerning Hiker Hostel, owned and built by Ken, is pretty nice. There is no Internet here and cell service is poor at best. We watched the hummingbirds and deer while we ate. There are a bunch of books that we thumbed thru.

There is a deer in there, I have difficulty editing photos on my phone.

I spent a lot of time talking with Ken. We were both very involved in Scouts and love backpacking. I felt like I was talking to an old friend.

We should have an easy two days to Hot Springs for our next resupply and shower. Yesterday I was starting to hate the woods, now I am looking forward to getting back into them.

Day 117 – Pigeon River Bridge / Discerning Hiker Hostel to Walnut Mountain Shelter

As usual we were up pretty early. Ken said he would cook breakfast at 6, I drank at least two cups of coffee before then. Ken did arrive promptly at 6 and very efficiently started making sausage, eggs, and banana bread. It was all good 

We were back on the trail by 7 and had met a new friend, Joseph, by 8. Joseph just graduated from college. He was there on an Army ROTC scholarship but does not report for duty for over a year.

Joseph hiked with us for well over an hour. We talked about a lot of stuff, family, gear, backpacking, the difference between IT and CS. It was wonderful having someone new to talk to.

The morning was pretty hot, Joseph had only been out for a few days, and his pack was much heavier than ours. After a few water breaks he decided our pace was a bit fast for him. We will hopefully see him in Hot Springs tomorrow.

Shortly after leaving Joseph, we met a group of teenage girls from a backpacking camp. I gave their leader my phone number to give to Joseph. The girls had camped last night where we intended to be tonight. They spoke highly of the site.

One day the author might be as iconic as this trail marker.

Max Patch was wonderful. The bears had left a few ripe blackberries for me, I was very appreciative. Meriwether loved the wild flowers and views. There were a bunch of birds flitting around on the bald peak, we hadn’t seen that since New York I think.

We got to our intended campsite at 2 only to find it was overrun with boy scouts. About 30 of them, no exaggeration. The shelter was full, all the good and bad tent sites were taken, there was tremendous youthful energy all over the place. We moved on, the next site is only 5 more miles.

The miles to the next site went quickly. The trail is very well maintained and there were no steep sections. I was actually able to respond to a few texts and emails over those miles.

The rumbling of thunder started right when we reached the site. The shelter here is the worst we have seen on the trail. FarOut comments indicate that it leaks a bunch. We got the tent set up in record time 

Right now we are listening to the thunder, pretty close by, lightening is likely hitting all the trees right next to us. Rain drops are pelting the tent. We are dry. Not so sure about safe. In any case the storm is only supposed to last a few hours. Hopefully you will get to read this.

Day 118 – Walnut Mountain Shelter to Hot Springs / Laughing Heart Hostel 

The rain ended pretty quickly after I put my phone away yesterday evening. Odd how that sounds, I keep my journal on my phone. My journal becomes the blog entry. My journal does omit some thoughts and feelings that I don’t want to broadcast to the world, I will attempt to add those when I get home.

We slept in a bit, only 12 miles or so to get into Hot Springs. We don’t have reservations anywhere but need to resupply. There are a bunch of lodging options, someone will have space.

The trail was exactly the same today, perhaps a bit more downhill than usual. We did find a graveyard near one of the shelters, most NoBos that stay at that shelter have no clue they are practically on top of a graveyard.

I don’t think she’s absent, I think she is haunting the shelter near here.

We had a huge lunch at the diner in Hot Springs then decided to go back to the Laughing Heart Hostel and try to get a room. Success, actually they had a bunch of rooms available. They also have a scout troop here tonight.

Resupply at the DG and the local outfitter. The outfitter was pricey but had much of the food we prefer.

We walked into town 3 times today, once with packs. In hindsight we could have done some better planning.

Only one restaurant is open for dinner tonight. It is the furthest from the hostel, so we opted for subs, orange juice, and ice cream from the local Hillbilly Market.

Joseph showed up shortly before we got back with our food. He camped with the other scout troop last night and had a pretty big day today. Hopefully we will see him at breakfast tomorrow.

Day 119 – Hot Springs / Laughing Heart Hostel to Little Laurel Shelter

The boy scouts in the bunk room never got very loud, mostly happy conversation that was fun to hear as we were falling asleep. One did have very heavy feet in the hallway, reminded us of our older son. In any case I slept well.

Joseph met us for breakfast at the diner. I wish he was a couple more weeks into his hike and had good trail legs. He would be a lot of fun to have around. He may catch us, if not I told him to reach out when he gets close to Roanoke and we will provide shuttle, resupply, night off the trail services.

Rain is in the forecast for today and the next 10 days. Every now and then the sun pokes through and I get excited that Mother Nature is going to look after us. She has a bigger plan. We got rained on a couple times and my clothes will surely be wet and cold in the morning. I am such a wimp.

Water is scarce on the trail, many of the creeks and springs are dry. We didn’t really need any water when we came across a Konnarock crew working on the trail. I asked if there was water nearby, they replied “better than that.” The Southern Cookie Lady lives just 50 yards from where we were standing.

The cookie lady had plenty of water and two big cookies for each of us. One normal peanut butter cookie for just stopping by. Another oatmeal, walnut, apricot cookie for being so close to our finish. We stayed at the Northern Cookie Lady’s place a couple months ago, it was nice to meet her counter part down here.

We met Julie again on the trail. We met her a few days ago in the Smokys, she skipped ahead a bit and we caught up with her again. She is in the shelter with us tonight. This is the second time I am outnumbered by women in a shelter.

It’s what’s on the menu. Tonight, tomorrow, and likely the next night too.

I asked Julie what got her into backpacking. Recently she realized that she had a chunk of time off coming up and needed something to do. She wanted something like a vacation, but not really since her husband would be at home working. She picked backpacking. I would have guessed she had been doing this for years, she is so comfortable and confident.

Physically the miles are easy. Today we did just under 20 miles in 8 hours, including the visit to the cookie lady. Mentally they are challenging. I want to finish the trail so badly, I want to be done almost as much. I am beginning to understand what the people who started at Springer were feeling at the start of Maine. So close but so far away.

Thanks for listening.

Day 120 – Little Laurel Shelter to Hogback Mountain Shelter

Whenever we share a shelter with others, I tell them we are early risers and Meriwether says “but we are very quiet.” It is extremely hard to be quiet while rustling through a food bag and while stuffing a sleeping bag into a nyloflume bag. Julie certainly woke up and we said our goodbyes. She is hiking at a nice leisurely pace.

We got our 10 by 10. Last night the weather for today was all rain, this morning it is all sun. The views we had were very nice. Clouds down in the valleys, us up in the sun.

The trail is still the same. I might have said the same yesterday and perhaps the day before. Today, however, I really enjoyed the trail. The temperature was pretty cool, there were ups and downs, but none too hard. Am I a fair weather hiker? Perhaps.

The Governor and Whiskey provided trail magic today. We met them at Laughing Heart, again at the diner in Hot Springs, and have seen them on the trail a bunch. They are slack packing a big section.

I got a text from one of them saying to look in the back of the truck at Devil’s Fork Gap. We found a bag of drinks and snacks. Ginger Ale, Cranberry juice, honey stingers, rice crispy treats, and slim Jim’s. What an excellent surprise. Trail magic twice in two days.

Practice for Tennessee.

We saw twice as many bears as people today. We saw one section hikers and two baby bears. I’m sure Mama Bear saw us so we left the babies alone.

The rain held off until after we had retrieved water and eaten dinner. It is still early but the rain drops on the tin roof are lulling me to sleep.

I am concerned about the forecast, I am concerned about the number of miles we need to do before Meriwether needs to be back at school. There is nothing I can do about one of those. Tomorrow we will do what the trail requires. Thanks for the quote, Worthless aka Sharkey.