The huge storm the night before kept me up most of the night, but it drowned out the snorers, so that was a bonus. The shelter was very dirty. As I shook the dust out of my sleeping bag, I decided to treat myself to a real breakfast. With everything packed, I made my way to the table with the magnificent view and made some oatmeal. I felt full and strong we as began our day. Leaving the shelter, we hiked into a thick cloud of fog. According to the elevations in the trail guide, we hiked over some large bald mountains, but I could only see a few feet in front of my soiled face. Enjoying endless views while hiking over the treeless mountains the previous day was fun, and great for pictures, but hiking in the thick fog was also pretty amazing. I rarely saw foggy days like that on Cape Cod, so I was enjoying the novelty. The gray cloud not only took away the views but it swallowed every sound. I am not a morning person, so starting in a cool soundless void put me in a great mood. Our trail legs were put to the test as we hiked to the top of Hump Mountain at 5587 feet. As we approached the summit, the fog cloud lifted and we finally got our view of the valley. The next five miles was a steady decline down to the sleepy backwoods road US 19. We touched the pavement at about 12:30pm. A few hundred feet from where the trail crossed the road, we spotted an old gas station and decided to make that our hitch hiking spot. Our food bags were pretty empty, and we needed a hitch to Elk Park 2.5 miles away. We could have walked it, but road walking is no fun, and it is a waste of energy. I went into the little convenience store at the gas station and bought a bunch of junk food to push down my throat while we hitched. Unwashed hikers have enough of a hard time getting a ride in some areas, but when one of them is blankly staring into space, cramming mass quantities of Sno-Balls and Slim Jims down into his mouth, the odds of someone stopping go down even dramatically. Fortune smiled upon us that day because shortly after we stuck our thumbs out, a woman in a van pulled up and offered us a ride to the grocery store. She said she just needed a couple of us to help her unload some boxes at her house. Navigator and Seth jumped in the van. The Vegan and I hung out in the parking lot of the gas station and waited for them to return. It was a weird feeling in those situations. I looked forward to them returning, but I had no place to be, so I could just enjoy the moment take in the views. Just as my brain started to go down the rabbit hole of abandoned factory town depression, the van returned. The Vegan and I jumped in, and we took off down the road. The woman was in her mid forties and she had an easy going personality. Instead of going to Elk Park, she drove us a few more miles to the town of Newland. Dropping us in the parking lot of a grocery store, she said, “There’s the grocery store and across the road is a great BBQ joint.” We were very grateful as we unloaded our bags, then she surprised us by continuing, “I’ll be back in about an hour and a half to drive you guys back to the trail.” We hit the lottery with that chick! The BBQ was delicious, I had a pulled pork sandwich. When our bellies were full, we went to the grocery store to resupply for the next couple of days. Eating first was a great idea. We were in and out fast, like ninjas, and the trace we left behind was a cloud of foul odor. Suddenly one of us had a stroke of genius. The plan was to get Subway subs and carry them with us into the woods, and when we got to our camp spot for the night, we would chow down. This was a good plan considering we only needed two days worth of food, so we could carry something as bulky as a foot long sub. I was excited at the idea of eating something other than pasta sides, instant potatoes or ramen. The woman was good to her word and picked us up an hour later. She dropped us right at the trail and we unloaded our sub sandwich stuffed bags. On the short walk back to the trail, we ran into Twoper (I think that’s how he spelled it). He was good people and we seemed to be hiking around the same speed as his crew. He was slack packing that section, so he was going the opposite direction. I was sure we would run into him again. We hiked up a hill and down into the valley. The area must have been part of an old farm. It was all overgrown and awesome, you could see sections of fence and large trees in the middle of fields.
The hike through the overgrown field was awesome.
The section of trail along the North Carolina, Tennessee border just seemed to get more and more interesting the farther North we travelled. A small sign indicated a short detour to “Jones Falls.” Everyone loves a waterfall, so we decided to make the short trek to the falls. The thunder of the water could be heard almost a quarter mile before seeing the waterfall. We stopped, posed, snapped some photos and returned along the short side trail.
Me, striking a very serious pose at Jones Falls.
Back on the A.T., we hiked down into a valley and followed a wide river. The river flowed through a massive flat grassy field. It felt like a painting. Hiking along the river we saw a tree standing solitary in the field and decided to camp there for the night. We set up our tents and dove into our subs. It was magical. After dinner we made a large fire. That’s when I realized we were doing exactly what every ten year old boy wishes he could do: Camping every night, eating massive quantities of candy bars, exploring, and making fires. Seth and I took some pictures while hanging the food bags. We reenacted the scene from “Predator”, Dillon sees Dutch making a trap from ropes and sticks and asks, “You really think this boy scout bullshit is going to work?” To which Dutch replies, “Instead of complaining, why don’t you lend a hand?” Then they are immediately shirtless and pulling ropes. Navigator and Vegan caught tree frogs and took some cool pictures. I slept great on the grassy field. Best day on the trail so far.
The trail winds through a valley next to a wide river. A great way to end a fantastic day of hiking.
Our awesome campsite in the field near the river.
Seth doing his best to look like Carl Weathers
Smooth's Appalachian Trail Thru-Hike 