I stayed in a cabin last night so I slept well for once. It was nice. We don’t know how good we have it in this modern day and age until it’s taken away from us. Simple things like comfy beds, hot showers, and warm meals, are luxuries we should never take for granted.
I got my laundry done, resupply taken care of, and showered. These are the 3 things we do every time we get off the trail. I plowed through some work items as well and got packed up once again and caught a ride back to trail. I started at Davenport Gap as that’s where I got off the trail. As I was getting dropped up o thought for sure I saw in the distance a line of hikers that included Cushy Life, Spinner, Trigger and a 4th person I didn’t recognize. I believe Cushy Life planned on having her daughter join her for a few days so perhaps that was her with them. They were pretty far away so I couldn’t yell to them to get their attention. I figured I’d just catch up to them on the trail.
As I was getting on the trail I saw a pretty big cat. It must have been about 40 lbs. since I was still close to the road I just assumed it was an outdoor domestic cat so I didn’t pay much attention to it. It ran up a hill next to the trail. As I passed by it I looked up and noticed how wild and mangy it looked. It had big yellow eyes and big ears and a long tail. It ran off into the woods as I passed by. I thought, surely that wasn’t a wild cat? I know bobcats have short numbs for tails. Maybe a baby mountain lion? Of course I wish I would have gotten a picture of it.
The hike was pretty gradually going uphill most of the day. I met an older hiker by the name of rebel, and a younger hiker by the name of mountain goat. I thought it was supposed to be clear and warm all day but it was cold and foggy instead. I crossed over the Pigeon River bridge and stopped to take a few photos. Shortly after I passed a well-known hostel on the trail known as Standing Bear Hostel. I didn’t stop there since I had only been hiking half a day at the point.
I then started a long climb up another mountain. When I reached the top I could hear a humming sound. Not like someone humming, like something mechanical running. I was in the middle of nowhere on top of a mountain. What could possibly be making that noise. It was still really foggy so I couldn’t see anything. Just about 15 feet in front of me and behind me where the trail disappeared into the fog. I walked forward some squinting and looking from side to side. Finally I could see something. It was really big and circular in shape. As I got closer the humming got louder and louder. It looked like a UFO landed. I slowly creeped closer. Through the fog I could now see it was a building surrounded by a fence. Oh, I see, it’s some sort of communications tower silly, I thought to myself. I snapped a few photos and continued down the trail.
I arrived at the shelter I planned on staying at for the night. I thought for Cushy Life and the others would be there. They weren’t. Where did they go I thought? This would be the perfect distance for the day for them to stop. Then I realized they could have started somewhere sooner than I did and possibly could has stopped at Standing Bear hostel.
The shelter was a wreck so no one was sleeping in it. Which is unusual. But it was in pretty bad shape. Everyone was camping instead. I met Stretch and Radar who were eating at the shelter table. I stopped and chatted with them for a few minutes. Nice older gentlemen. They pointed out a few good tent sites for me. I went and setup and came back to cool and eat dinner with them. Mountain Goat and his brother Red both joined us as well. We talked about the weather and the fact we made it through the Smokies. They say about 50% of people don’t make it this far. If we had drinks we would have toasted to this accomplishment. I don’t think our plastic water bottles crunching together would have had the same effect:)
I received a text from Snickers. He met up with Cocoa in Hot Springs. They didn’t know each other so it was funny they met and someone my name came up. Most likely Cocoa telling people about our bathroom debacle at New Found Gap. They were about a day ahead of me. “Cocoa says hi” Snickers texted me. It would be cool to catch up with them, I thought.
Because of the foggy day everything was wet outside. So there was no camp fire. With no fire and the temps dropping quickly everyone grabbed their stuff and headed to their tents to warm up. The sun wasn’t even down yet. So it seemed strange. But this was pretty normal in the thru hiking world.
I caught up on some work items before turning off my headlamp and tucking into my sleeping bag for the night. I need to get some good miles in tomorrow so I can catch up with the others.
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