Day 9 - Benton MacKaye Trail

We didn't leave Reliance until 1 pm, mostly because we are ahead of our schedule and also because Dan at Reliance Fly and Tackle had to go to town and offered to pick NoKey up some antibiotic ointment for his feet.  His blisters are getting infected and needed some TLC.  While we were waiting on the back porch of the campstore we missed a heavy and short rain storm.  We were definitely glad to be packed up and dry!

Walking along the Hiawassee River - the lowest point on the BMT

We had an easy walk along the John Muir Trail leaving town, mostly flat and downhill where we followed the Hiawassee River for a few miles. Our first big climb was supposed to take us to a high point where we could get a view of the river, but the trail had been rerouted due to logging.  Again, no views on the BMT.  Once again we were reminded how spoiled we were on the AT thanks to the National Scenic Trail Act of 1968. We did finally have a cell phone signal at the top of this one and were able to get and receive a few texts.

A pretty cascade from Wildcat Creek

From here it was up and down with a pretty cascade and a bonus side trail a group of fishermen told us about.  Then, we climbed though a ton of rock formations known as the Narrows before coming camp at Loss Creek.  We have a big creek crossing first thing in the morning followed by some uphill, so this is a great stopping point.  The weather is calling for an 80% chance of rain tomorrow so I hope we miss that!

These pretty flowers are called Indian Pink

Day 8 - Benton MacKaye Trail

Today would have been the most miserable day ever if not for Red!  He slack packed us, which means he takes all our gear except for the packs, our lunches, and our water.  We did a quick and fast 19 miles into Reliance, Tn to our drop and next campsite.

The dam at Ocoee River

The trail today, however, was something else entirely!  This is honestly the most miserable hiking we have done to date.  Our hike began hot and humid from the Ocoee River and up Dry Pond Lead in the Little Frog Wilderness.  It wasn't a difficult climb, but the trail was extremely overgrown and by the time we reached the top we were both bloody and hot.  Sweaty legs itch when they're scratched so badly! 

There was a 100-mile trail race coming through here in a few hours... Wild Trail is right! 

The next part of our day took us into Cherokee National Forest.  This area had a prescribed burn last year, which meant for six miles we had nothing but dead trees and thorns.  The sun came out and scorched us.  Just when we though it couldn't get much worse, we started walking on road beds, which  had thigh high grass and ragweed.  No tree cover and black widow nests every few feet added to our misery. When we reached the end of the road, we went back into the dead forest, losing our way several times before finally making it downhill to Lost Creek.  On the positive side, we hit our 100-mile mark today!

A field we walked through on the old FS road walk. 

It was an easy 4 miles from here into Reliance, a teeny town on the Hiawassee River and the lowest point on the BMT.  We made our way to the Reliance Fly and Tackle where our drop box waited and campsite was reserved.  The hospitality here is amazing and the campsite is inviting. Once again we got set up just before it started to rain.  We had cheeseburgers and beers at the store and a local woman gave us homemade blackberry cobbler.  This trail just keeps getting better.  What could have been a miserable day was made so much better by the kindness and hospitality of others.

The view from our tent tonight! 

Day 7 - Benton MacKaye Trail

Today was going to go quickly because we knew showers and the Ocoee River were waiting for us! We started out our day by seeing two turkey hunters on horseback passing our camp just before we left.  We then had a short and easy climb up, you guessed it, and old fire road up to Hemp Top.  No view here, so we kept going until we made it to the state line at approximately 10 am! We filled up our water and then made the steep and surprisingly quick ascent on Big Frog Mountain, 1100 feet in a mile.

Welcome to Tennessee! 

From here it was nearly all downhill into Thunder Rock Campground and we made it down by 3:10.  When we came into the large campground, there was only one RV there, a tent, and the camp host.  I asked someone where the pay station was, paid up, and went for the bathhouse.  This place had HOT showers!  I even did some laundry in the shower but it didn't really dry due to the humidity. 

The Ocoee River behind our camp. 

While we were laying out clothes, a man came by and asked us if we were Benton MacKaye thru hikers. We told him yes and he said to come over for beers later.  We met Red and his wife, their friends who had recently relocated to NC and their son.  We also officially met the camp host and her son.  We hung out until 10 pm, which is WAYYYYYY later than hiker midnight ;)

A picnic table at our campsite!  Yay! 

The importance of water on a long-distance hike

Water - does a body good! 

I know what you're thinking from the title of this blog... "Yes, I know water is important!  I always drink plenty!"  So do I... Usually.  On our fifth day on the Benton MacKaye Trail we ran into a dire water situation and I wanted to write this bonus blog about how important your water truly is.

When we left Blue Ridge, GA on our fifth morning, we were going to be doing a six mile road walk through vacation cabins, neighborhoods, and farmlands.  Our guidebook indicated that this valley walk didn't have a 'good' water source, so we walked out of town with approximately 3 liters of water a piece.  When we finally finished our road walk and stopped for lunch, we knew our book said water was 0.8 miles away on a side trail.  We drank most of it on the hot exposed roads and only had about 1/2 a liter of water between us (17 ounces).  We attempted to find this water source in two locations where it supposedly was, but recent development and cabins built on this mountain pretty much wiped out the springs. No problem. We had a few sips and decided to go up and over the mountain in front of us, approximately 2.4 miles, to the next source.

We arrived at the next gap and began surveying the situation. NoKey followed a trail down into a gulley and there was nothing there.  We walked every direction we could and no water.  Okay, 1.2 miles to a campsite and water source, again up and over a mountain!

We arrived at McKenney gap and not only was it NOT a campsite, not on a road (as the book suggested), and had evidence of bear activity, there was not a single place that even looked like there was water. Again, some old trails all converged here so we wandered around and found absolutely nothing. We didn't have a choice other than moving on for the night. This is where we had originally planned to camp, but the fact that I had physically seen a bear AND two coyote coming up over this ridge made me think again.  We drank the last of our water and powered up to the next gap where there was supposedly a stream crossing.

Something chomped this VERY recently. 

On the way into Hatley Gap we spotted some water close to the trail. We made the decision to bushwhack down the hill and make ourselves a way to fill up a bottle out of the spring.  We drank a few bottles a piece and walked on our way hoping to find a camp.  

Why am I telling you all this? Because I wanted to let people know that not all trails like the AT or trails in the Smokies where water is guaranteed just because a campsite is established.  Our first night on the BMT we also didn't find our supposed water source and had to trek back up the hill for water. When you see water running make sure you have enough!  We have Sawyer Mini filters and could have avoided this situation today if we had thought ahead and said "well our water source might not be there anymore."  Always have extra water because at the end of the day it's easier to dump out water than it is to seek it out!

Day 5 - Benton MacKaye Trail

With heavy packs and full bellies we made our way up highway 76 for a hitch back to the BMT. We only tried for a few minutes before being picked up by a nice guy named Justin Walker.  He actually had travelled to Millinocket when he was in his late teens!  Small world.  We began our walk into the most secluded portion of the BMT by first doing approximately 6 miles of road/backyard walking through a new development of vacation cabins all over the side of the mountain.  This is the reason you should celebrate national trail acts!  Every trail might have turned out looking like this one.

Wait... AT community?! What about the BMT? 

The downside to this, and that's a topic for another blog, is all the development completely wiped out our water sources for most of the day.  

A farm with cows on the road walk. 

After finally getting back into the woods, I saw a bear and two coyotes in the closet parts to the cabins. I guess they really do stay close to people. Scat covered the trail and trail signs had been chomped by sharp teeth!  After walking a few more miles and finally finding some water, we found a perfect campsite at Hatley Gap and built a fire to scare away any critters that might stop by tonight. The weather is supposed to cool off the next few days so we are hoping to get in bigger miles now that humidity is finally on our side.

NoKey at our great camp with our fire. 

Day 3 - Benton MacKaye Trail

The Game Changah!

Today started out a little earlier than day 2 but we thought we might get afternoon rain.  Add to that the fact that we wanted to see if the Tococca Riverside Restaurant was open and we were motivated to move! We were walking out of camp and found that just a tenth of a mile further was a campsite covered in lady slippers!  The first part of our day was overcast, but uneventful. We spent most of the morning following horseshoe prints down to the gap at Route 60.  We ran into some day hikers at the gap and figured we would see them again. By now it was 12:30 and hot. We had two mountains to climb and the first was rough but we met more day hikers at the top. They said we had an easy 5 miles to the road but we knew we still had to climb Brawley Mountain to the fire tower.  We got to the top in the searing sun and 90-degree temps to find that the tower wasn't accessible and the view was dismal.  We had mostly downhill walking from here, following a few old roadbeds.  We reached Dial Gap very quickly and began our first long road walk of the hike.  We reached the Tococca River and found out the restaurant was indeed open!! 

Hike n eat - my motto

We went into this incredibly nice restaurant smelling awful and looking even worse.  This place is NICE and we were out of place.  We went in and asked if we could sit on their patio and these people couldn't have been nicer!  They took our packs and put them away so we could enjoy our dinner.  We both got huge fried chicken dinners with mashed potatoes and green beans, the chicken smothered in country gravy!  We also had spicy fried pickles and I polished off a peach cobbler.  This meal was a huge game changer.  

NoKey enjoying fried chicken with some iced tea! 

By now, it's 5:15 and we have 3.9 miles of road walking to the next place we could get into the forest and camp.  This walk was long and hot, but we got it done by 6:30.  We camped just upstream from Fall Branch Falls. It was beautiful, secluded, and quiet!  We took hiker baths and did hiker laundry with our Dr Bronners and had an amazing night surrounded by fireflies in the North Georgia Woods. We pulled 18.7 miles today and our feet were feeling it!

Fall Branch Falls near our camp for the night. 

Day 2 - Benton MacKaye Trail

Today started out late, but we actually saw people! Day hikers passed by us as we were packing up camp and we hiked past them pretty quickly. Most of our early part of the day was downhill and we got six miles done before lunch time. After lunch at the Toccoa River swinging bridge, we started our big climbs. As we were nearly to the top of Toonowee Mountain we saw the only person who has actually asked us if we're thru hiking.  

Tococca River Swinging Bridge

After summitting, we headed down to Hwy 60 - our first road crossing of the trip.  We stopped at the bottom and there the two day hikers caught up to us, they were headed home and we had two more mountains to climb. The first climb up to Wallalah was really tough and it took a while, but the final climb of the day up and over Licklog Mountain was much easier.  

The view from 3/4 the way up Wallalah... We can see it raining and hear the thunder in the distance! 

We did 13.5 miles today and it was tough, but we had no choice since there isn't really a lot of water on this trail.  Our campsite had a spring that was down a side trail and was nearly halfway down to the bottom of the 3400 foot mountain we're sleeping on tonight!  Of other note, we hopped into our tent immediately following our dinner and noticed our tent had ripped in two places. We thankfully had a cell signal and I shot off an email to Henry at Tarptent. I'm hoping to hear back from him by morning so we can get our tent replaced!

Day 1 - Benton MacKaye Trail

We made the four hour drive down to Springer Mountain in the Chatahoochee Forest... A place I was surprised to be again! After making the 1-mile trek up from the parking lot with my dad, we took some photos and said our goodbyes about 0.2 miles back down the trail at the official start of the BMT. A few hundred feet in we saw a plaque dedicated to Benton MacKaye and began our day in the hot GA mountains.  After doing copious amounts of downhill, we took a break at Three Forks, where the AT and BMT meet for a mile. We also took a 0.2 mile round trip to see Long Branch Falls, which is where NoKey camped on his first  night on the AT.

Our climb after this was a little steeper and we decided to camp in the unnamed gap at the Bottom of the hill. As soon as we stopped, thunder got loud and we set up the tent and quickly jumped inside for an hour and a half due to a thunderstorm. Looks like our timing was good!  We never found the spring here so I backtracked the quarter mile up the hill to one we saw on our way down for water.  Nerves didn't let me get much sleep the first night!

Long Branch Falls

A blaze leading the way to "The Bald". 

Shakedown!

NoKey and I headed out to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park before hitting up the BMT.  We took our full packs for a hike to see how the weight felt.  Happy to report the packs felt great and are ready to thru hike! Here are some photos from that trip:  

NoKey at a cascade on Little River Trail. 

Crossing a steam. 

An old vacation home in Elkmont, now being reclaimed by the woods.