AT Days 45-55

I probably mentioned in my last post that the Laurel Hostel wasn’t the nicest place to stay, but we were warm, dry, and indoors, so we were good. This post begins where the trail crosses Rector Laurel Rd., only a hundred yards or so from the hostel, so we were back on trail quickly. Most of the day was uphill, but it wasn’t a bad day of hiking.

Since this was a short day of hiking, we arrived at the shelter fairly early in the day. Gavin put his entrepreneurial talents to work and set about making dice from sticks found in the campsite. He was able to sell a couple of them to Kyle (now Rat Tail) and Brooks who had stopped there for lunch. Before supper was over, he had made $9 from his efforts. We really expected to have the place mostly to ourselves that evening, but as the afternoon wore on, more and more people stopped by. The shelter filled, and there were soon 8-10 tents set up behind the shelter. The only issue with the shelter was that the water was about 0.25 miles down a blue-blazed trail, and I mean down.

Several groups of younger hikers came and went as the afternoon wore on. Around suppertime, two hikers, Angel and Bullfrog, came in. It was quite evident that Angel had had a tough day of hiking. After she “let go” for a few moments, Gavin said, “Do you need a hug?” She accepted and detailed how her trail family had misrepresented itself when discussing daily mileage, and that she wasn’t up to doing 16-20 mile days yet. We told her that if she wanted to move a little slower for a while that she should join us, because we were regularly doing 10-12 mile days with a few 13s and 14s thrown in. And thus, a new trail family was born. We are a multi-generational group with Gavin at 13, Angel, 23, Bullfrog, 38, me, 52, and another gentleman who hiked in later that night, Snow Cream, at 65. We quickly gelled as a group, and we’ve been hiking together ever since.

We got a pretty early start on Wednesday. Gavin was tremendously excited about hiking with a new trail family. Most of our hike was uphill, including one particularly steep section to the top of Big Bald, but it was well worth it. The views from the top were absolutely incredible! I was particularly impressed by the pace Gavin kept hiking today. Bullfrog and Angel were out front setting the pace and Gavin stayed right in step. It was difficult for me to keep up on the uphills, but I was proud that I was able to. Our hike today was 10.1 miles ending at Bald Mtn. Shelter.

Thursday was another 10+ mile day to No Business Knob Shelter. I was thankful that Angel and Bullfrog helped get Gavin rousted. Our view of the day was at High Rocks. The top is off the AT about 100 yards up so we dropped our packs before climbing. It was incredible how light I felt going up with just my trekking poles. The views from the top were awesome. No Business Knob Shelter lived up to its name: there was no water nearby, no privy, and no bear cables. There were quite a few people there that night so I decided to tent. We got a little bit of rain overnight, but it wasn’t enough to worry about. I stayed plenty dry and slept well.

On Friday, we had an easy day almost all downhill into the town of Erwin. The plan starting the day was for Beth and Griffin to pick us up at Uncle Johnny’s Hostel and then pick Travis (remember him?) up from a road crossing a little farther up the trail. We got to Uncle Johnny’s around 11:30 so it was going to be a long wait. We ate our trail lunches out of our bags supplemented by some cold drinks from the soda machine and before long decided to see if we could get a shuttle on into Johnson City where we had a house rented for the weekend. It was pricy, but Gavin and I left Angel, Bullfrog, and Snow Cream at the hostel for the night and headed out to Hughes Gap to pick up Travis. We got to our house about an hour before Beth and Griffin.

This was my first experience with a Air B&B. The key was under the mat as it should have been so we unlocked and went on in. We explored the sleeping situation so that the adults could have their own rooms. It was really odd to be in a house that had someone else’s clothes and other belongings in it, and for a while, I wondered if we had the wrong place. We’ve previously stayed only in VRBOs which are generally 100% rental homes. I have to say, it was a bit freaky at first.

Beth and Griff got there around 6:30. The five of us headed out to find food: Outback- steak and ribs combo for me. The trip over was quite an adventure because the GPS route wasn’t quite to the front door. Consequently, we had to go around the block once to make a second pass at the restaurant. We were successful and supper was wonderful!

Saturday morning Beth and I headed back to Erwin to pick up the rest of our crowd. I know she was a bit stressed to have three additional strangers settling in with us for the night, but once she met them, they were all instant friends. We spent the day lounging around and eventually headed to WalMart for resupply. For supper we walked to an authentic Italian pizza place across the street from ETSU. It was wonderful! Food is one of the things I miss most when I’m on the trail. Gavin and I have long since tired of instant potatoes, and to be truthful, we’re about to be full-up of rice/pasta sides as well. We’re going to have to start thinking about some new dinner options pretty soon. The trouble is finding something lightweight with plenty of calories and protein. I think we need to start adding chicken to our evening meals, but smaller packets of it are hard to find and the larger packs are heavy.

One of the additional perks of having Beth and Griffin come out to meet us on the trail is they bring some food from home and they can take extra items back with them. I swapped my sleeping bag back to the one I started with for a 1-pound weight savings. I also sent home my 14-oz sleeping bag liner and Gavin’s pots and stove since we have been sharing mine for a couple of weeks. I am still incredibly jealous of those folks on the trail that are hiking with sub-20 pound packs. I have racked my brain over and over trying to figure out what I can do to lighten my 35-lb pack, but aside from the things mentioned above, I’m coming up empty. Maybe when spring hits I can send a few more things home, but I don’t know what they’d be other than my wool long johns. For one other weight-saving measure, I swapped my iPad with a new iPad Mini which is nearly a pound lighter. I just haven’t convinced myself that I could blog on a screen the size of my phone.

On Sunday, Beth and I headed out with Travis back to Hughes Gap. It was really good to reconnect with an old friend whom we haven’t seen since our second day at Standing Bear Hostel. Unfortunately, we dropped him in horrid weather at the base of Roan Mountain. He texted me later that he had rain, sleet, snow, and 60 mph winds going up and over. I am really sorry he had such a miserable day of hiking, but I’m glad that he was willing to come off the trail to visit with us for the weekend.

When we got back to the house we began trying to figure out how we were going to get our family of four plus three additional hikers, a dog with a huge crate, five packs, and all of Beth’s and Griffin’s luggage to fit into the van. As luck would have it, the owner of the house drove up just as we were beginning to pack the van. She offered to take a few packs and bodies back to Erwin. Gav and Bullfrog rode with her and they had a lively chat about slingshots and paintballs. I am very afraid!

Back at Uncle Johnny’s, we said our goodbyes and headed back up the trail. We had only 4.3 miles to go to Curly Maple Gap Shelter. We left around 3:00 and were rained on for the first hour. Thankfully, the rain abated and we hiked the last hour in the dry. There was one other couple at the shelter, so it was nowhere near full. We all spread out inside to spend the night. The forecast was for much more rain, and about 8:00 it started. We all slept dry and fortunately, the rain had stopped before we set out hiking the next morning.

We set out fairly early in the day for our longest day of the week. We had a 12.8 mile trek to Cherry Gap Shelter. I was really excited about hiking this section of trail because it is a section I’ve hiked twice before when I was a teen. The highlights of the day were crossing Beauty Spot, a great bald with incredible views, and passing through the spruce forest atop Unaka Mtn. We quickly learned that temperatures on both these peaks were significantly lower the night before than what we had in the shelter, so they were covered in wind blown ice. The trees were absolutely gorgeous, shimmering in the sunshine. Between Beauty Spot and Unaka, the winds increased and the temperature decreased. Angel, a Florida native, absolutely did not enjoy that part of the hike. At one point, we all stopped, huddled around her for warmth, and shared clothing to block the wind. She is 5’1” and was wearing my XL rain pants to block the wind and Bullfrog’s down jacket for extra warmth. She looked like Randy from A Christmas Story in the scene when he was all dressed up for the bitter cold and couldn’t put his arms down.

Even though I had hiked this section before, I really didn’t remember the absolute beauty of Unaka. It was reminiscent of the spruce, moss, and fir forest that we passed on the way to Clingman’s Dome. I still marvel at the incredible beauty of the sights we’re seeing on the trail.

We stayed at Cherry Gap Shelter on Monday night. It was absolutely the most crowded shelter area I’ve seen. I believe the “bubble” of hikers is beginning to catch up with us. The shelter was full and there were tents everywhere. I pitched in what I thought was a flat spot right beside the shelter, but when I laid down in my tent, I found out that there was a definite slope to the ground underneath. I fought to stay on my sleeping pad all night. In retrospect, it was probably good that there wasn’t room for me in the shelter. It had a low overhang and I hit my head five times. I’d probably have had a concussion if I had stayed inside overnight.

On Tuesday morning we all woke with the crowd of people packing up and hiking out. Snow Cream is an extremely early riser and was already packed and eating breakfast when I came out of my tent. His plan was to hike ahead of us to Greasy Creek Friendly, a hostel several miles up the trail, to get a few food resupply items. We thought he would catch back up with us at the Clyde Smith Shelter later that day, but when we turned in, he still hadn’t shown up. We didn’t have service to text him, so we were a bit worried about his whereabouts.

Our first three miles of the day landed us at Iron Mountain Gap. We waited for quite a while on Gavin. Usually he is with us or only a few minutes behind. This time, though, it was 20-30 minutes. He came out of the woods very slowly and was obviously not himself. I sent Bullfrog and Angel on up the trail and told them that we’d catch up with them at the shelter, if not before. Gav was a bit weak and had an upset stomach which we attributed to his high carb, low protein diet, along with the Mio caffeinated drink mix. I got him moving forward slowly, and eventually he felt somewhat better. He was almost able to get back to his normal hiking pace an hour or so later on.

We caught back up to Angel and Bullfrog a bit later and hiked on. At one point, at the top of a particularly arduous climb, we stopped to wait on Gavin again. Once again, we waited for more than a few minutes. Again, I sent my companions on and continued to wait. After a great while, I decided to drop my pack and hike back down the trail looking for Gavin. I passed a hiker coming my way who saw his pack but not him. When I finally reached his pack and called out for him, I learned that he had gone off trail to do what a bear does in the woods. I guess his stomach was truly upset because it was a much longer trip than usual. Duty done, he packed back up and we headed back up the hill to where I left my pack. Bullfrog had gone only a few feet up the trail and waited on us so we hiked together for the next while. Gavin was obviously feeling much better. When we passed the side trail to Greasy Creek, Gavin stopped to get water and told us to go on ahead. It was two miles to the shelter which Bullfrog and I were able to do in about 40 minutes. To our surprise, Gavin came in only a few minutes later. Apparently he had fully recovered.

What was to happen later this night was beyond prediction. I had stepped out of the shelter, which was a bit off the trail, to call home. I was talking to Beth and I noticed someone walking in with a dog. As they got closer, I told Beth that the dog has the same pack that Joy has. Closer still, I remarked about the bungee leash the dog was tethered to, also like ours. A moment later I said, “That looks like Jill,” a good friend from home. Just then Beth started laughing and I realized that it was Jill and Joy. They had parked at Hughes Gap and hiked in for an overnight visit. In addition to the dog, she also brought my new shoes and some food and drinks for the rest of us. It was the best trail magic yet!

Overnight we learned that Joy is not a good shelter dog. I don’t think any of us got much sleep that night for Joy wandering back and forth through the shelter. Apparently the mice kept her awake, so she kept us up too. The next morning we got up to hike out with Jill and Joy. We made it to Hughes Gap in no time and stopped to have our lunch. We once again gave our thanks and bade Jill goodbye and started our climb up Roan Mtn.

We had more than 2,000 feet of elevation gain in just under five miles to reach the top of Roan. Surprisingly, the trail was incredibly well manicured and graded, so it was one of the easiest climbs we’ve experienced. The top of Roan was incredible and I was surprised that I’ve never been there before considering how close I live. We stopped at Ash Gap to resupply our water before making the final climb to Roan High Knob Shelter.

Roan High Knob is the highest shelter on the Appalachian Trail at 6,186’. It is a fully-enclosed cabin with room for 15 or more people. We were nowhere near capacity, but we did catch back up with Wednesday and Barefoot there. To our surprise, Snow Cream caught back up with us at the shelter that night. It was good to see him and have him in our group again. We each slept well that night and woke the next morning eagerly awaiting the many balds that were ahead of us.

Thursday was a great day for hiking. We had excellent cloudless weather as we ascended first Round Bald and then Jane Bald. We had incredible views from both. One thing that again impressed me was that I had never been there before. I promise that I’ll be back— it is less than two hours drive from home. Our hike Thursday was short, only 7.1 miles, and we ended at the Overmountain Shelter.

The Overmountain Shelter is the one place I wanted to be sure to stop. It is actually an old barn that is 0.1 off the trail. When we got there, we had our choice of sleeping locations in the upper loft. Wednesday had researched the storm that was coming in later in the evening and guided us to sleeping spots that wouldn’t be sprayed by water blowing in through the boards. Before long, the upstairs was filled to capacity and there were several tents pitched down below in the area where tractors used to pull through. Among the crowd were Hippie, Drop Bear, and Respect whom we had met at Standing Bear Hostel several weeks ago. It was good to see them again. Drop Bear in particular was impressed at how Gavin had matured on the trail in just the few weeks he’s known him. I concur.

The biggest surprise of the evening was meeting Blaze, a 2017 thru hiker who packed in trail magic from the road below. He had candy bars, drinks, and fruit for all who wished to have some. He and another hiker even went back down for another load. Trail magic is always an unexpected and welcome surprise!

For the first time in a while, the weather poured in over top of us during the night. Since mid-afternoon the winds had been gusting mightily, blowing in a storm. When we woke, our forecast was for 1-2” of rain. Thanks be to Wednesday who got on her phone and arranged a shuttle to pick up 12 of us about a mile down the road from the Overmountain Shelter. None of us wanted to hike across the remaining balds in the gusting winds with the possibility of electrical storms. We landed at Mountain Harbour Hostel, but the only sleeping space they had was on the floor of the dining room. I was able to get a call out to their competitor, The Station at 19 E, and they graciously came to pick us up and took us in. We each have a bunk to ourselves, many of our friends are here, and there is beer and live music downstairs. Needless to say, we’re happy to be here.

I apologize that it has taken me so long to update the blog. I’m hopeful that as the days get longer, I’ll be able to write a little bit each night in my tent so that when I get to a place with WiFi I’ll have something to upload. It should also make the posts more interesting because details of each day will be fresh on my mind. The same is true with the YouTube videos. It takes strong WiFi to upload them, and I definitely can’t do that over cell signal on the trail. I’ll have to start putting them together before we get to towns so I can just upload a bunch at one time when we’re in town.

Thanks once again for joining us on our trip. We are grateful to those of you who have commented on the posts or have prayed for us. We make it a point each day to pray for ourselves before setting out on our hike each day. We look forward to sharing our adventures with you in the coming week as we bear down on Virginia. Please subscribe to be notified by email when we post, and remember to just keep taking the Next Step.