Miles 344.2-352.5 (8.2 mi.) Total ascent: 3415’; descent 1677’ How much later we sleep with our stomachs full of Mexican food and with just one window to the morning! We stirred just after 8 and, after making several trips to the bathhouse, ate an eclectic breakfast of strawberries, bananas, olives, and toasted jalapeno poppers. We […]
Category: Uncategorized
Miles 341.1-344.2 (3.1 mi.) Total ascent: 535′; descent 2060′ Flat tent spots tend to be found in two places in low-altitude mountains, like the Appalachians: on the ridge and in the valley. The biggest reason to camp on a ridge, assuming a clear night and morning, is the sunrise. No sunset is as spectacular as […]
Miles 330.8-341.1 (10.3 mi.) Total ascent 3596′; descent 4242′ Today began with what we worried was a forest mirage: trail magic. Less than a mile after we bgan hiking, we stumbled on two generous trail-runner types carrying not one, but two coolers. We arrived just after another group, two members of which we’d visited with […]
Categories
4/14: Sam’s Gap to Whistling Gap
Miles 321.1-330.8 (9.7 mi.) Total ascent 2881′; descent 3064′ At Sam’s Gap, Rachel hid the bear cans. She hid them so we’ll, in fact, that I just missed our health insurer’s 8 a.m. ET call center open. I wanted to call early, while I still had battery and the wait was likely to be at […]
Miles 309.5-321.1 (11.6 mi.) Total ascent: 4108′; total descent: 3507′ It is with disgust that, after today’s Trail Magic, I crown the honeybun the best all-around hiking food. I thank the two ER nurses at Sam’s Gap, one of whom called herself Honeybun, for helping me see just what a strategic play the beleaguered sticky […]
Miles 297.0-309.5 (12.5 mi.) Total ascent: 2818′; total descent: 3881′ One of my and Rachel’s favorite questions to ask each other in the evening is “What was your favorite part of today?” Today was one of those days when answering that question was tough not because of a lack of options, but because of a […]
Mile 285.9-297.0 (11.1 mi.) Total ascent: 4062′; total descent: 3176′ I spent too much of today looking for tragedies of the commons, stemming from an interaction I had this morning. Packing her gear next to the shelter was an older, red-haired woman Rachel and I now know as Aspen. Last night, Aspen had broken not […]
Mile 275.9-286.0 (10.1 mi.) Total ascent: 4541′; total descent: 2356′ Having camped between a bluff and a river last night, my first task this morning was to deconstruct the rock fortress we’d built around our bear cans. Because we’d resupplied yesterday, we also hung a bear bag, which came down with less effort than I […]
Mile 274.9 to 275.9 (1 mi) Total ascent 151′; down 105′ Rachel and I woke up this morning in an Italian-Victorian hostel, the first place I’ve stayed I might call a mansion. Built in 1840 and expanded in 1875, Elmer’s Sunnybank Inn has no central air or even radiators. Each room has its own fireplace, […]
My and Rachel’s stories from the Smokies fall along two surprisingly complementary lines. One is that the Smokies have been hard, despite our having hiked them before. We accidentally planned three days of food for a four-day hike, forcing us to either go quickly or go hungry (we chose “quickly”). We experienced temperatures warm enough […]