Day 20 - Benton MacKaye Trail

Our last day is finally here!!  Everyone was up and moving around at 7:30 and we were in a hurry to get moving.  Even though the forecast predicted rain, we woke up to sunshine and we were in a race with the weather.  Mt. Sterling, the highest point on the BMT at more than 5800 feet, was waiting for us and I wanted NoKey to get the view I think is the best in the Smokies.  We did a quick 5.8 miles in less than 2.5 hours to get to the top by 10:45 am.  We were definitely rewarded! 

Looking at the AT from Mt Sterling on a nearly perfectly clear morning! 

From here, we got a few texts out to my family to let them know we would be done by 1:30 and shot off down Baxter Creek Trail for a 4000-foot elevation loss down to Big Creek Campground. 

Finally! We won't be walking in horse poo!! 

We made it down the hill in 2 hours and finished the trail at 1:20 pm.  There were tons of people picnicking in the day use area, so we were able to get a photo of the two of us together at the terminus of the BMT with my homemade sign.  It was a great feeling to have sunny skies to finish this tough trail. 

We did it! 

I will be writing a recap of the BMT in a few days and sharing it with you all.  This trail had three very distinct sections, broken up every 100 miles or so.  It feels great to be back home in a temperature controlled environment with comfy beds, but two more trails await us this summer! 

Day 18 - Benton MacKaye Trail

Another 9:30 am start this morning!  We woke up alone in camp as Eagle and Fat Camp were long gone! We had an easy warm up walk to campsite 57, the last home of Horace Kephart, before beginning our uphill for the day.  It wasn't ever too tough and we passed some very sweet horses about a mile from the top. When we reached the first of three summits near the top of Newton Bald, we met a Mountains to Sea Trail hiker.  This trail runs from Clingmans Dome all the way to the Outer Banks, running 900 miles across North Carolina.  We quickly made our way up as over the other two summits before finally heading downhill for the day.

Lots of names for just one footpath! 

While we were cold on top of Newton Bald, our first 5000' peak of the trail, down the hill it got warmer and more humid as the sun finally came out.  By the time we reached Newfound Gap Road it was close to 80 degrees.  We had to wait for a few minutes for traffic to clear since it's Memorial Day today.  We crossed and then had to walk up Towstring Trail, which is a nasty, disgusting horse trail and I can't believe the BMT doesn't just walk the road.  We walked under power lines uphill in the sun in fresh horse shit for a mile before reaching the back end of the Smokemont Campground.  We took a detour into the campground to use the running water.  We both washed up and charged up our phones a little before heading up to Chasteen Creek. 

Beautiful flowers on our walk today

We reached campsite 50, our destination, at 4:30 and decided to just go on the extra 2.2 miles to the next site up, campsite 48, to get a jumpstart on tomorrow.  We followed Chasteen Creek up an old roadbed very similar to yesterday on Noland Creek. We reached this site at 5:30 and settled in for the night, alone again now that the holiday is over.  Tomorrow is our last full day on trail and is by far the toughest on paper.  We're hoping the weather holds out as it is a 50% chance of scattered showers overnight and most of the day!

Chasteen Creek Trail is pretty too! 

Day 17 - Benton MacKaye Trail

We slept in a little later this morning and didn't leave until 9:30.  We passed campsite 74 and it was still packed with kids running around.  We were glad we stayed down by the lake instead!  We had about 3 miles to do of ups and downs like the end of yesterday before coming to the tunnel at the Road to Nowhere.  We walked through in a cool breeze and managed to avoid the piles of horse poop.  That has been the most annoying thing about the Smokies' BMT is that it's most horse trail.  When we came out at the other side the parking lot was completely packed and there were people everywhere!  I guess that's what happens when you end up in a national park on Memorial Day weekend! 

A rare photo of us together! 

We did a little road walking here to our next trailhead and ended up following an old road bed uphill for the next 8 miles.  The walking went pretty fast and we followed Noland Creek the whole way, fording it a few times along the way.  People thought we were nuts for just walking through the creek with our shoes on, but it felt great to get cold feet for a bit. We took a break at campsite 61 and met a dad who had been hiking all day with three young kids.  That's a brave man! They had a tough uphill day and the kids were overjoyed to be at the campsite.  From here, it was just one more mile uphill before we finally began walking downhill for the first time all day.  

Noland Creek Trail has so much water! 

Since we already had wet feet, Pole Road Creek Trail didn't bother us.  It was tough on our feet because the trail was so eroded and rocky, but we made it down the 3.4 miles pretty quickly.  We crossed a really cool log footbridge and had only a quarter mile to our campsite for the night.  We reached campsite 56 and met Eagle and Fat Camp.  We had an awesome night hanging out with these two guys who kept giving us food and whiskey they wanted to get out of their packs as it was their last night on trail!  We ate lots of chocolate and drank whiskey around a campfire until nearly 11 pm with these two guys.  It was the first time we actually got to hang out with anyone in a campsite and we had a blast meeting them.  We have another long uphill tomorrow morning and those two are getting up crazy early because they have to drive 8.5 hours home after the 13-mile hike out!

NoKey crossing Deep Creek on a foot bridge

Fat Camp and Eagle at campsite 56. 

Day 16 - Benton MacKaye Trail

We had a pretty sleepless night at campsite 81 due to it being pretty chilly.  For late May, the temperatures were easily in the 40s!  We packed up and headed out of camp at about 9:30 for a long, but easier day in the Smokies.  About 3 miles in we saw our first hikers of the day headed the other direction and reached campsite 77 soon after.  After a quick break for a snack, we began walking old roadbed for the next few hours.  It is easy to daydream about how this area must have looked before everyone got kicked out for the building of Fontana Dam back in the early 1940s.  We passed several unlabeled side trails and that usually indicates a cemetery on this side of the lake.  Walking through this area now it is hard to imagine that 70 years ago thousands of people lived here.

One of many cascades along the trail today

We took a long lunch at campsite 76 right near a boat launch.  We then followed the lake for a bit before climbing up and away since the road we had been walking now disappeared straight into the lake!  We reached our next camp in less than an hour and met the roadbed yet again for a few easy graded miles.  An hour after leaving Chambers Creek we ran into a group of about 10 young guys anxious to get to campsite 98.  When I told them we left it an hour ago they all looked like I had punched them in the stomach!  We told them we had walked about 14 miles already today and they looked shocked. 

A canoe on Fontana Lake

We had a series of PUD's for the next 4 miles- pointless ups and downs.  We basically walked along a ridge, swung around one side of the hill, and crossed to another.  We finally came down into  Forney Creek at about 5:30 to our campsite at camp 74.  We set up a bit away from everyone else since they were cooking food and smores on a grill. Bears tend to like that sort of thing!  We have a big day tomorrow also, and a wet one!  We are walking three trails tomorrow, all of them with the name "Creek" in the title!  We are hoping for a warmer night and better sleep tonight.

More cascades leading down into the lake

Day 15 - Benton MacKaye Trail

Today we ate a huge breakfast thanks to Tapoco Lodge and left the hotel with lighter than anticipated packs thanks to them holding a box full of stuff for us.  NoKey hasn't been eating as much as we planned so sending some food back has been nice.  We walked outside the lodge and caught a ride to Fontana Dam thanks to Ed from Missouri, who was out driving on the Dragon and killing time.  For those who don't know, U.S. 129 is called The Dragon, 300 curves in 11 miles, and attracts people from all over the country who want to say they drove it.

FINALLY! 

We hit the Dam at 11 am and thanked Ed for the ride.  I gave him a bit of a history lesson about the area during the trip too.  Thanks again, Ed!  We began walking across the dam and into the Great Smoky Mountains National Park!  The BMT follows Lakeshore Trail the first 35 miles and I enjoyed seeing familiar trail again.  I also gave NoKey some history about the area while we took photos of everything from abandoned cars to old homesites and chimneys.  When we made it 5 miles in we were at campsite 90 and it is absolutely packed - to be expected since its Memorial Day weekend.  We headed on down the trail to campsite 86, which is on the site of the now abandoned town of Proctor.  We had late lunch here and headed up and over Welch Ridge to campsite 81.

One of many abandoned cars along the trail

We got to 81 and met a large group there. We said our hellos and set up our tent to dry out from the wet night we had before heading down Slickrock.  Tomorrow we are expecting busy trails since its the swing of Memorial Day.

The chimney of an old home is all that remains standing. 

Day 14 - Benton MacKaye Trail

We woke up to the same rain that had been pouring down all night.  We were camped at 4900 feet so the rain plus high elevations made for cold temperatures.  We didn't leave camp until about 10:30 since we were waiting for the rain to abate.  We were walking downhill through brush and undergrowth so our legs, socks, and shoes got pretty wet.  We had quite a few ups and downs this morning before running into some day hikers about 3 miles from Farr Gap.  We had a quick lunch and then headed to the gap and the infamous Stiffknee/Slickrock Creek trail.

Always a comforting sign to see when you sleep with your food in your tent and you're not even half a mile from camp! 

Now I had heard rumor this trail was rerouted to miss this nasty creek, but if it was we didn't see it! We started down steeply and immediately understood the name Stiffknee Trail!  Our packs are nearly empty and this thing was steep!  We kept dropping down and crossing numerous creeks, fighting our way through numerous blow downs and through brambles.  The trail got muddier and tougher to walk and we eventually reached a junction that let us know we were actually still on the right trail (miraculously!)  all of a sudden we were standing on a rock with a sign reading Slickrock Creek and we knew if there was a reroute we definitely were not on it.  We forded the creek, which was about thigh deep, and shook out on the other side. 

We finally saw rhododendron blooming today! 

By now we were exhausted, but no campsites were listed in our book and we just wanted to be both dry and warm, as the sun still had not come out and we spent most of the day walking in clouds. We climbed up Ike Branch to Yellow Hammer Gap and looked for the side trail to Tapoco Lodge, but it hasn't been built yet.  Up we went some more crossing Ike Branch about a thousand times before finally reaching the top and crossing it about a thousand more times on the way down.  We reached the Tapoco Trailhead at Cheoah Dam (the one they filmed The Fugitive on) and finishing our day with a half-mile road walk to Tapoco Lodge.

Cheoah Dam - they filmed The Fugitive here. 

When we saw the lodge we were elated! A big sign greeted us and we walked through the gates and were immediately awestruck.  This lodge only became hiker friendly a year ago, and walking up to it it was more like a private club or a five star hotel. We checked in and couldn't have been treated better.  We had a gorgeous room, a hot shower, free laundry, and a brick oven pizza place on premises! We ate a huge salad and pizza with some beers, had cleaner clothes than we have in over 100 miles, and climbed into the biggest bed I've ever seen to sleep.  What was a tough day turned into an epic evening!

An epic evening awaited us here! 

Day 13 - Benton MacKaye Trail

We were sad to leave Tubby behind at the Green Cove Motel and Store, but we had places to go.  We began with a 1.4 mile was back to the trailhead at Telico Fish Hatchery.  From here we walked old road bed 95% of the day.  Our first old road walk was up the Sycamore Creek Trail.  We walked nearly 6 miles up a gradual hill before hitting a forest service road and climbing all the way up to Whigg Meadow and our first actual good view on the BMT!  We met an older couple here and talked to them during our lunch.  When we did the extra quarter mile up to the top we met some grad students looking to place bat boxes for research purposes.  We had an easy hike down to Mud Gap and the Cherohola Skyway where we had a piped spring waiting on us!

Looking up at Whigg meadow  

Haha, I'm only kidding! The book said there was water here, but you know by now there wasn't any!  It was only 1 pm and we had already done 9 miles, but it was starting to get hot!  We passed through the site of a former rock quarry that now looks like a bald and walked down to a forest service road before heading back up to meet the Cherohola Skyway again.  We had another beautiful view at Unicoi Gap before heading back into the woods and following an old jeep road for a little while.

Walking through the old quarry

About 2 miles in we met Kyle who was out hiking with his sister's dog.  It turns out he is friends with All Smiles, a man we hiked with for a few days back on the AT in 2012.  Once again, the trail community is so small!  We continued on and found a wonderful piped spring and chugged as much water as we could before filling up our bottles and heading on our way.  We left the jeep road about a mile later and started climbing.  We spotted a great campsite but there was no water nearby so we kept moving.  We crossed two small streams and came to a large campsite about 1.5 miles later.  We thought this was our destination, but it turns out somewhere in the weeds was our campsite and we had passed it up.  This meant I had to walk back half a mile for water (a mile round trip for those keeping count at home!)  we also fixed a trail sign that is obviously very wrong here. No blazes means it's easy to get turned around in a wilderness area, so the correct signage now will help!  

Even more views! This is Unicoi Gap on the Cherohola Skyway. 

Day 11 - Benton MacKaye Trail

We started earlier today, about 8:30, and began our first climb of the day to Cantrell Top.  The sun came  out for the morning and we had some easy ups and downs until we reached Hipps Gap, a dry (shocker, I know!) campsite.  From here we had to start climbing but our day looked easy on the map and profile because once we were up, we were on top of the ridge.  We couldn't have been more wrong.

This is a North Carolina State line marker from the early 1800s

After some crazy steep climbing and an attempt to get water that didn't pan out, we reached Moss Gap, noted for the hairpin turn in the trail and a tree marked with a giant X indicating there is water a mere half mile off the trail.  We decided to head up and get water at one of the few campsites if we needed it.  This is where our day turned to utter shit.  For the next four miles we bushwhacked through immense blowdown.  The trees were thankfully blazed and there was a faint path of where people had gone through a week ago, but otherwise we were completely on our own.  For four miles, which took us three hours in the pouring rain, we climbed through branches, grass up to our necks, and thorns shredded our legs.  Any evidence of campsites and unmarked side trails was completely obscured.  It looked as if a tornado had hit the mountain.

There is a trail in here... Follow the blazes and make your own path! 

When we finally hit Rocky Top, we had about half a clear mile before coming to another hairpin turn at Sledrunner Gap - the halfway point of the BMT.  Now, we were coming downhill in the same shit we climbed on the other side.  This side was even worse because it followed and crossed a stream multiple times.  Rhododendron were down everywhere and even harder to climb through. Again, all campsites and mile markers were completely wiped out due to the utter disregard for trail maintenance.  At 4 pm we had to make a decision.  We were at a trail junction where the BMT went up and trail 180 looked to be going down.  The map indicated in about 6.5 miles we could be at the same location 5 BMT miles would take us to.  We had been hiking for 7 straight hours without eating or stopping and we decided the road might be longer, but at least it was clear.

Which way to go now...? 

This decision changed our entire day.  Trail 180 was an old roadbed that appeared to have a lot of recent foot and horse traffic.  We got down the 1.5 miles in less than 40 minutes. We came out at a campsite and ate a quick dinner before walking FS 126, a gravel road that went up and between two mountains before coming downhill to Tellico River Road.  It was about 6:50 when we finally made it to the road and we knew that the Green Cove Motel was 1.4 miles from the trail.  We walked about a quarter mile before coming to the Sourwood Campsite and some people told us the motel wasn't far.  They even drove us down.  When we got to the store, the woman working there, Tubby, was only there just to stock the place.  She said we were incredibly lucky to catch her as she had just got back from a trip to Knoxville and was shutting up for the night. We grabbed snacks and sodas and checked in for two nights as we were utterly exhausted. 

Day 22

This is officially my third week anniversary on the trail! I had an easy 20.7 miles today, doing it in about 8 hours with breaks! I got to No Business Knob at around 4:15, just in time for the rain to start! We waited about an hour for the rain to let up and then set up our tents. Alyssa and Wall-e showed up around 7, but no sign of Krispy Kreme or Bob. Hoping they’re both alright in this rain! I wish I would have been able to get some photos today, as I went over two balds, Big and Little Balds, and an awesome rock feature called High Rocks, but with the threat of rain it didn’t happen :( Erwin tomorrow for hot showers, clean laundry, and cookies! (and beer too, ha!)

Day 21

I cannot believe that I’ve hiked 100 miles in such a short period of time! Today we hit the 300-mile mark at Jerry Cabin Shelter at around 11 a.m. Considering I took a zero day recently, we’re all pretty excited with out progress! Wall-e, Alyssa, and Krispy Kreme have been pacing with Bob and me. They started the same day we did and we’re all moving quick. It’s nice to have a little group forming that we travel with. We had some tough climbs today to say the least. I wanted to give a big congrats to Nitrous Oxide today! While Bob and I did 21.5 mile, Nitrous did 32.8 today! He was hiking in memory of those killed at VA Tech in the shooting two years ago. He raised money on his blog today as well, due to his awesome effort, for the Delta Society, which provides therapy dogs for those in need. Congrats to him for sure! Another long day planned for tomorrow, 20.7 at least, and then Erwin the next day for hot showers! I think the thru hiker smell is really starting to set in with this terrible heat, ha!

Day 20

My first day back hiking with Bob and I was so happy to have a partner on a tough day to say the least. The climbs today weren’t difficult, but the temperature was about 30 degrees warmer than the last day I did a full day of hiking! Bob drank nearly 7 liters of water today and I had 5 and we both got headaches and dehydrated. It was incredibly hot towards the end of the day. We had planned to do 21.5 miles, but cut it short at 19.5 in order to stay at a shelter with good water. After a big dinner and a lot of water we both felt better and we are ready to face tomorrow!

Day 19

Took a zero day in Hot Springs with several friends today. Bob and I did a lot of errands and ate more food than I care to think about. Ultra Violet, Naked Ninja, and Nitrous Oxide joined us several times today for ice cream and a soak in the mineral tubs just before bed. We had such and awesome day and are planning for a long hike tomorrow, but I’m pretty sure we’re up for it. It’s going to be a tough day, but now that I’ve got a partner to hike with I think it’s going to help with my pacing and get us both the mental support we need. We’re going to try and keep pace with the Georgia Boys for a while as well.

Day 18

Started a little late today, about 8:30. I got a text from my friend Bob last night saying he had somehow gotten behind me, which was really tough! I was hoping he’d catch up to me today on Hot Springs, about 15 miles from where I started. My sister came into town and I got a lot of great food and trail magic from her as well! About 7 pm, I get a text from Bob saying he was in town and it blew my mind! We’re planning either a Nero or zero tomorrow depending on how we feel. We had an awesome reunion and I’m really excited to have a trail partner again to say the least!  These blazes are on the sidewalk in Hot Springs, as the trail runs down the main street.

Day 17

Had a great night’s sleep at Standing Bear last night and pushed super hard today to Walnut Mtn Shelter and walked over three separate balds today. I got to spend quite a bit of time on Max Patch today and it actually felt like I was standing on top of the world at one point, as there was nothing but a blue, cloudless sky beyond the ridge as I came to the top! I also heard from my friend Bob, who I’ve been trying to catch since Sunday! Ill actually get to see him if I stick around in Hot Springs, so I may zero there. I’m having such an amazing time out here meeting new people and learning about so many different things. I’m very blessed to have this opportunity in my life to say the least. I’m loving the trail! As you can see below, Max Patch really does feel like the top of the world.

Day 14

Got back on the trail today and was feeling a little discouraged. I didn’t see any hikers until Silers Bald, where I ran into the wolfpack. They were mostly moving on to Double Spring Gap. I stayed there that night and got there super early, 3:30. I was tempted to move on, but the next shelter was 7 miles away and since you can’t stealth in the Smokies, I stayed put. Had a great night in camp, singing songs with Atlas, who has a guitar and ukulele! We had a good fire to keep warm and the wind blew all night long! At some points, it blew underneath my tent and lifted it while I was in it! A long night for sure. Below, left to right - Rocket, Cheeks, Spam, and Atlas.

Day 12

Today is the day!  I finally get to go home for my first zero day (a day where you rest and clean your gear without any hiking!) But, before getting to my wonderful, super awesome husband, I had to hike 11.5 miles out of Brown Fork Shelter to the car!  I started my day at 8:20 and immediately began an undulation.  The trails today were much kinder than yesterday, but I can tell my body is getting tired, probably from the sheer lack of nutrition I’m getting out here.  The sun was shining and the wildflowers were abundant.  I only had one truly brutal climb today that really made me angry, but when I made it to the top of the hill, I was looking straight down into Fontana Lake!  It was such an emotional moment for me to look down and know I was almost home!  After some more undulation and “rock climbing”, I made it to NC-28 at 12:40 and waited for David to show up.  He’d given some hikers a ride to the parking lot.  It was very surreal riding in a car for 2 hours to say the least.  It’s also very weird to be home.  I’m very much looking forward to sleeping in my own bed tonight and will have a special blog post tomorrow about my first day off in nearly two weeks.  I’ve already hiked 167 miles and I can’t wait for more!  The photo below is me at the gap above Fontana.  The lake is far below, the clouds floating over the water. 

Day 11

Today was absolutely the hardest day I have had so far on the AT.  I’ve heard legend of the difficulty of the hill climbing out of the NOC… the first four miles or so weren’t bad.  I figured that people were just maybe a little too hungover.  The last 1.6 miles of climbing to Swim Bald were absolutely brutal.  The trail was rugged, mostly rocks on a slim overhang, and it was just relentless climbing to a bald with absolutely no view.  After a very short, almost imaginary downhill, I climbed again to Cheoah Bald.  I’m pretty sure Cheoah in Cherokee means “hill that makes girl cry” because I lost it climbing up to the top.  At least I finally had a view, as the weather cleared up.  After more enormous ups and downs and a few more tears, I finally made it to Stecoah Gap at 3:30.  Mind you, it normally doesn’t take me that long to go 13.9 miles and I was just devestated.  To my surprise, Hopeful was at the Gap doing Trail Magic for his birthday.  Hopeful thru hiked NOBO in 2003 and 2011 and was more than happy to help me off with my pack and to fill me full of food!  I nearly cried at his generosity.  He had a lot of great stories and was so friendly and genuinely kind.  He was truly my angel!  After sitting and eating for more than an hour, I began the climb known as Jacob’s Ladder.  It’s a brutal 0.6-mile, 650-foot climb to the top of a nameless mountain.  After finally rolling into camp around 6 p.m., I was ready to sit down and relax.  The crew at the shelter tonight wrote lots of songs, including “Burps That Taste Like Hot Dogs”, “Switchback Blues”, “Balds Without a View”, and “The Downhill is a Lie”.  I was very thankful to have a wonderful night and a great fire after the worst day I’ve had on the trail yet.  

Day 10

I pushed through 19.5 miles (on trail, not counting the extras!) to get down into the NOC today! I started the morning by saying goodbye to Trauma Kit as he has to go back to work Monday :( The views from Wayah Bald this morning were awesome and we could actually see the Albert Mountain Fire Tower from there! Dingo and I pressed on for trail magic at Burningtown Gap from Grits (NOBO 09). I had a lot of uphill today, crossin several balds. This was also the first day I truly had to hike in the rain! It rained off and on all day, making the trail muddy and slick. When I got to A Rufus Morgan, Ryan told me thru hikers can camp at the NOC for free, so I took advantage of that, eating food and scoring free brownies from the hiker box (this is where hikers can take or leave things they no longer want, usually food, but sometimes extra bear line or luxury items, like shampoo, etc.) Now it’s raining again and I’m hunkered down in my tent, thinking of the huge climb tomorrow! I can’t believe I’ll be in my own bed in two nights!

Day 9

After a dry night in town with everyone, I started back at Rock Gap with Dingo and Trauma Kit. Trauma Kit has to go home tomorrow, so I’m taking a short easy day to stay with them tonight. Siler Bald was very cool, way nicer than the balds in the Smokies! Met Ryan there and we kept pace together for a few miles before breaking off. Going to camp at Wine Spring tonight and hopefully make it to A Rufus Morgan Shelter tomorrow, about 17 miles away. At this rate, I’ll be at Fontana Saturday to see my husband :) We had an awesome last night with Trauma Kit and I’ll definitely miss him out here. We had a great fire for a few hours and took some silly photos. Another great day on the AT!

Day 7

Did a 19.3 mile day in the tough NC mountains! Pushed it with Tye Dye so I can get a ride to Franklin in the morning. I hit the 100-mile mark at 5 pm today after climbing up Albert Mountain. It was a tough climb, but it was exhilarating! The trails today were so similar to those in the Smokies and it felt like I was at home. I really hit my stride for sure. After Hard Drive and Pappy got to camp, they send a message from Pops saying he’d come up to the shelter tonight from Betty’s Creek if Trophy Wife would come back and carry his pack. I like that I’ve got a reputation for endurance being that I’m one of the few females out here. I’m hoping to get into and out of Franklin quickly so I can keep on going!