Day 24 - Mar 16
I got another great night of sleep again last night. We camped right on the edge of a stream and since we only got to bed at 10pm my body was ready to sleep.
One aspect of the trail that does surprise me is how many people only sleep in shelters. I'd have to say that it's at least a 1 to 5 ratio, probably even more. Some shelters are built great, no drafts, no holes in the ceiling or walls, just an all around well built structure. At least half the shelters though are run down, floors are slightly uneven, holes in the wall, the flooring is made of plywood.... and so on. Even with that said, almost everyone we meet stays in shelters. Walker and I definetly enjoy the privacy of camping, and 95% of the time we have a more comfy and warm sleeping spot. Plus we can hang out and talk and not worry about waking other people up or just disturbing them in general.
To each their own I guess.
We packed up by 930 and started up the trail. The first 13 miles of the day trended uphill. Since we had just recently left town, we had the joy of climbing back up into the mountains. Since it was a warm and partly sunny day, I figured that we would hike 20 miles and call it a day. Walker expected us to hike 15 and call it quits. He was right, I was very wrong.
Over the course of our uphill day, we became increasingly aware our the abundance of new weight in our packs. We stopped several times throughout the day to snack and decrease the weight but it was still very heavy.
I got into a fight with a thorn bush today. I went off the trail to use the bathroom and when I turned around my left foot stepped right into a whole patch of thorns... resulting in a nice slash across my left calf.
10 miles in we arrived at a lookout called beauty spot. I'm sure it would have been beautiful, if not for the overwhelming fog that decided to roll in.
After an hour or so, we had gone 3 more miles and decided to eat lunch right before the top of unaka mountain. Unaka mountain was something special. The entire top of the mountain seemed to have it's own climate. The trees went from hardwood to all spruce while the ground went from leaves to moss and ferns. The sky cleared somewhat and we were able to enjoy rays of sunshine beaming to the forest floor.
From the top of unaka we walked 2 miles down to low gap. We were planning on going a mile or so farther but for some reason I was so tired. We agreed to camp there for the evening.
In total, we did 14 or 15 miles today, not as much as we had hoped to do but that's no problem. Rain should move in sometime tonight and stay until wednesday morning. The accumulation should be around half an inch, and the temp will only be 45 degrees. Will probably be a chilly day tomorrow. Thankfully, we plan on hiking bigger miles tomorrow so we should stay warm.
Goodnight,
Tyler M.
One aspect of the trail that does surprise me is how many people only sleep in shelters. I'd have to say that it's at least a 1 to 5 ratio, probably even more. Some shelters are built great, no drafts, no holes in the ceiling or walls, just an all around well built structure. At least half the shelters though are run down, floors are slightly uneven, holes in the wall, the flooring is made of plywood.... and so on. Even with that said, almost everyone we meet stays in shelters. Walker and I definetly enjoy the privacy of camping, and 95% of the time we have a more comfy and warm sleeping spot. Plus we can hang out and talk and not worry about waking other people up or just disturbing them in general.
To each their own I guess.
We packed up by 930 and started up the trail. The first 13 miles of the day trended uphill. Since we had just recently left town, we had the joy of climbing back up into the mountains. Since it was a warm and partly sunny day, I figured that we would hike 20 miles and call it a day. Walker expected us to hike 15 and call it quits. He was right, I was very wrong.
Over the course of our uphill day, we became increasingly aware our the abundance of new weight in our packs. We stopped several times throughout the day to snack and decrease the weight but it was still very heavy.
I got into a fight with a thorn bush today. I went off the trail to use the bathroom and when I turned around my left foot stepped right into a whole patch of thorns... resulting in a nice slash across my left calf.
10 miles in we arrived at a lookout called beauty spot. I'm sure it would have been beautiful, if not for the overwhelming fog that decided to roll in.
After an hour or so, we had gone 3 more miles and decided to eat lunch right before the top of unaka mountain. Unaka mountain was something special. The entire top of the mountain seemed to have it's own climate. The trees went from hardwood to all spruce while the ground went from leaves to moss and ferns. The sky cleared somewhat and we were able to enjoy rays of sunshine beaming to the forest floor.
From the top of unaka we walked 2 miles down to low gap. We were planning on going a mile or so farther but for some reason I was so tired. We agreed to camp there for the evening.
In total, we did 14 or 15 miles today, not as much as we had hoped to do but that's no problem. Rain should move in sometime tonight and stay until wednesday morning. The accumulation should be around half an inch, and the temp will only be 45 degrees. Will probably be a chilly day tomorrow. Thankfully, we plan on hiking bigger miles tomorrow so we should stay warm.
Goodnight,
Tyler M.
Comments
Post a Comment