I’m not sure what Casey’s bunkhouse experience was, but I didn’t sleep well. It was super hot, and of course we had the inevitable snorer in the room. Earplugs were useless. The one nice thing was that we didn’t have to pack up a tent.
The day was pretty much just one big uphill climb out of the Nantahala Gorge. It started out okay, but man… it was not an easy trail. Some sections had switchback, but others just sent us straight up the fall line. And with the sun blazing again, it was just a hot, sweaty, sticky day.
After the initial 6.9 mile uphill climb, we took a nice long lunch break at Sassafras Gap Shelter. There was a nice water source there too, so we could refill all the water we sucked down on our climb. It was nice hanging out having a leisurely lunch, and I think we’re going to try and continue that tend. The nice part about planning lower mileage days is that we can relax and enjoy our time at streams, shelters, or overlooks. Plus we get the added bonus of not continuing the destruction of our knees and feet…so that’s a good thing.
After lunch, it was up up up again, all the way up to 5062 feet on Cheoah bald. Another pretty steep climb, but there was a payoff. First of all the summit had a nice open grassy area with a view to the south. Then off the the west, northwest, we had a breathtaking view of the valley with the big old Smokey mountains right there. I hope the weather continues to cooperate as we head up the ridge.
After spending some time on the summit, we descended to Locust Cove Gap, our campsite for the evening. Luckily we were the first ones here, so we got the only flat-ish spot in the campsite. As the late afternoon and early evening moved on, more and more hikers joined us. We got our camp chores done pretty early and got into our tent before the sun went down, mainly to get away from the bugs. It’s finally warmed up enough for the bugs to be out.
Oh, dinner was great tonight. Sweet and sour noodles that we made at home and re-hydrated. They came out awesome. I think even after this trip we’ll continue to make our own backpacking meals.
We’re now two weeks into this adventure, did a total of 10.3 miles today, and we’re currently at mile 147.6 of the trail. By next Friday we should be hitting the 200 mile mark. I’m a bit surprised at how quickly the days seem to go by, even though we’re just walking. It’s like all of a sudden it’s lunch time then suddenly it’s time to make camp, then after chores, eating, and cleaning up it’s bed time, then we do it all over again. Before we know it, we’ll be through the Smokies, April will be over, and we’ll have well under 2,000 miles to go.
