Appalachian Trail - Day 018 - Painter Branch Creek to Phil's Gap

Day: 018

Date: Friday, 12 May 2023

Start:  Painter Branch Creek (AT Mile 243.7)

Finish:  Phil’s Gap (AT Mile 263.9)

Daily Kilometres:  33.0

GPX Track:  Click here for Julie’s Strava & Photos

Total Kilometres:  445.4

Weather:  Fine and cool in the morning with some heavy rain showers and distant thunder in the afternoon.

Accommodation:  Tent

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Pop tarts

  Lunch:  Trail mix

  Dinner:  Rehydrated meals

Aches:  Dave - very tired with a few niggles; Julie - nothing to report.

Highlight:  Max Patch (4,615’) is a clear-topped mountain, a rarity in this part of the Appalachians, and we had fantastic views in all directions when we crossed its summit after lunch.

Lowlight:  We were hit by a heavy downpour around 6:00pm, just when we were looking for somewhere to camp.  We were both drenched as was our gear and just kept walking until it eased and we reached somewhere to camp.  Then it was a race to get the tent up without everything getting too wet from the water dripping from the trees.  Once the tent was up and we had thrown all of our clothes and bedding inside, we climbed in, peeled off our wet clothes, dried and put on some warm dry clothes.  Bliss!

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

We woke at 6:00am and were pleasantly surprised to find out tent fly dry despite us being camped in a fairly damp little valley.  We were packed and walking by soon after 7:00am with the goal of another 20-mile day, which would only leave us a short day tomorrow into Hot Springs, a little trail town where we have booked a hotel room.  A half day off will be nice.

The trail continued steadily uphill immediately, and Dave was soon struggling with the residual fatigue from yesterday.  He just plodded steadily upwards and Julie waited for him to catch up every 10-15 minutes.  The woods were beautiful with abundant wildflowers again, so there was plenty for Julie to look at while she was waiting.

The trail builders must have had a sadistic streak because once we reached the top of the first hill the route went from summit to gap over a never-ending series of knolls along a long ridge.  Up and down, up and down, with Dave getting ever slower.

Eventually, around 1:00pm, we reached Max Patch Road and the end of that particular section.  We had some lunch, near to some other very talkative thru-hikers, and then climbed Max Patch, gaining some fabulous views from the summit (see above).  As we descended, it began to rain, the first of a series of heavy downpours during the afternoon.

The trail changed dramatically for the next hour or so, passing through an old farm area with the remains of wooden fencing, then it followed an old road bed and then the Roaring Fork River, giving us a break from the hills for a while.  It was quite dank down by the river, made more so by the rain and wet trail, but at least the walking was easier for a while, so long as you didn’t slip on the mud or wet roots.

The easier trail was too good to last and soon we were climbing again through the wet forest up to the top of Walnut Mountain.  We considered staying in a shelter there because of the possibility of more rain, but there were already a number of hikers in residence so we continued on expecting to camp in another few miles.  Unfortunately, the weather intervened and we ended up trudging some extra distance while we waited for the rain to stop, eventually finding a nice place to camp, though everything was very wet (see above).

 

Appalachian Trail - Day 017 - Tricorner Knob Shelter to Painter Branch Creek

Day: 017

Date: Thursday, 11 May 2023

Start:  Tricorner Knob Shelter (AT Mile 223.4)

Finish:  Painter Branch Creek (AT Mile 243.7)

Daily Kilometres:  35.8

GPX Track:  Click here for Julie’s Strava & Photos

Total Kilometres:  412.4

Weather:  Mild and sunny in the morning, overcast and humid in the afternoon with some thunder.

Accommodation:  Tent

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Pop tarts

  Lunch:  Trail mix

  Dinner:  Rehydrated meals

Aches:  Dave - exhausted with a few niggles; Julie - nothing to report.

Highlight:  Completing our transition of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park which is a milestone on our way to Maine.  The trail through provided some awesome views and beautiful, if tough, walking and we were fortunate not to get much of the rain for which it is well-known.

Lowlight:  Quite a few annoying bugs and flies today who seemed to target eyes, nostrils and ears.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

We woke at 6:00am and packed up while chatting to the two guys who had set up their tents very close to ours.  They were just hiking through the Smoky’s and were finding it tough.  Very friendly nice guys, but we stayed away from discussing politics and didn’t comment when told that they were also hunters, one of them with 19 bears to his credit!

We started hiking soon after 7:00am on a nice mild morning and began our descent, punctuated with a few climbs, out of the Smoky’s. There were occasional views and some more razorback ridge trail as we passed through the predominantly conifer forest.  We saw a few other thruhikers during the morning and learned from one old-timer, “Grits”, who was moving a lot faster than Dave, that he had hiked the whole trail in 1991, five years after Dave and a long time ago.

After a few hours of hiking and descending the conifers were left behind and we were back to the luminescently green deciduous forest with more wildflowers and more birds.  It also became warmer and more humid.

Around 3:30pm we reached Davenport Gap and exited the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and, after another couple of miles, passed under Interstate Highway 40, along which we drove for many miles on our way to Georgia from Los Angeles to begin our hike.  It was busy and we could hear the traffic noise for an hour’s hiking either side of the highway.

As we approached the highway and emerged onto a minor road along which we had to walk, an ATV blowing an incredible amount of blue smoke with three guys aboard, who possibly were returning from sampling their latest batch of moonshine at their still in the mountains, came round the corner and stopped next to us.  They kept offering to give us a ride, especially Julie (guffaw! guffaw!), but eventually lost interest and roared off, thankfully.

From the highway, for our last five miles of the day, we ascended steeply and Dave was soon struggling in the humidity.  Our target for the day was the first water source once we got back into the forest and that turned out to be a long uphill slog at the end of a long day. Dave persevered and Julie waited patiently ever so often for him to catch up.

Finally we reached the Painter Branch Creek at around 6:30pm and then messed around for a while trying to work out where the best place was to camp, not what you need when tired.  Eventually, we settled on a spot and were soon into our setup routine and in the tent for the night by about 8:30pm.

 

Appalachian Trail - Day 016 - Newfound Gap to Tricorner Knob Shelter

Day: 016

Date: Wednesday, 10 May 2023

Start:  Newfound Gap (AT Mile 207.7) but staying at Gatlinburg

Finish:  Tricorner Knob Shelter (AT Mile 223.4)

Daily Kilometres:  25.0

GPX Track:  Click here for Julie’s Strava & Photos

Total Kilometres:  376.6

Weather:  Mild, sunny in the morning and partly cloudy in the afternoon.

Accommodation:  Tent

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Cereal, eggs & sausages, waffles & syrup.

  Lunch:  Ham & cheese sandwich/Italian sub

  Dinner:  Soup & rehydrated meals.

Aches:  Dave - left ankle giving him some grief; Julie - nothing to report.

Highlight:  We have spent the last two weeks hiking the Appalachian Trail hoping for a black bear sighting.  This morning, while we were having breakfast in the motel dining room, a black bear walked past the window and spent a few minutes wandering around the motel courtyard checking out the garbage cans and dumpster (all bear-proof), then disappeared!

Lowlight:  None really.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

We woke at 6:00am and had breakfast in the motel dining room where we had our first bear sighting of the trip (see above).  After breakfast, Dave tried several times to get an Uber pickup to take us back to the trail, but with no success.  So we checked out of the motel and started walking to where we thought a good hitch-hiking point would be on the edge of town.  Dave tried Uber one more time as we walked and, holy-moly, we could get an Uber in 20 minutes.  We booked the Uber and sat down by the side of the road until it arrived and then were driven back up into the Great Smoky Mountains and Newfound Gap where we had left the trail on Monday.  It was a beautiful sunny morning and already some of the trailhead carparks were filled to overflowing with hikers’ cars.

At Newfound Gap it was less busy, but still quite a few people around though, when we started hiking northwards along the AT, we were soon on our own.  The first morning after a zero day, is always tough, inevitably uphill with full packs and full bellies, but by late morning we were back in the groove.

The trail was impressive, often along the top of razorback ridges with just a metre or less either side of the path before a steep drop-off.  There was still brush and trees beside the trail so only filtered views to the mountains and valleys beyond most of the time, but still awesome.  And, in a few places, there were rocky outcrops offering fabulous vistas.

Away from the ridges, we were walking through peaceful moss-carpeted conifer forests on broader ridges or along the side of mountains.  The trail was generally good with moderate gradients, but still plenty of up and down as we oscillated between 5,000’ and 6,000’ most of the day.

We saw a few other hikers along the way, one of whom told us a female hiker had been bitten on the butt by a bear last night at one of the shelters we were to pass later, but we never had this story confirmed.

We reached our goal for the day, the Tricorner Knob Shelter, at around 5:30pm and found there was already quite a noisy gathering of hikers.  Rather than join them in the shelter we found a sloping campsite nearby and had a relatively early night.  We are still within earshot of the shelter.  Hope they don’t keep us awake tonight.

Appalachian Trail - Day 015 - Zero (miles) day in Gatlinburg

Day: 015

Date: Tuesday, 09 May 2023

Start:  Newfound Gap (AT Mile 207.7) but staying at Gatlinburg

Finish:  Newfound Gap (AT Mile 207.7) but staying at Gatlinburg

Daily Kilometres:  0

GPX Track:  Click here for Julie’s Strava & Photos from her walk around town today.

Total Kilometres:  351.6

Weather:  Rain overnight, then warm and mostly sunny.

Accommodation:  Motel

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Motel buffet breakfast - cereal, sausages & eggs, waffles.

  Lunch:  Ham & cheese sandwich/Turkey & cheese sandwich

  Dinner:  Salad & pizza, milkshake

Aches:  Nothing to report

Highlight:  For Dave, a quiet day catching up on admin and resting his body.

Lowlight:  None really.

Pictures: Click here (courtesy of Julie)

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

We had a good night’s sleep and didn’t get up until 7:30am.  Around 8:30am we walked down to the motel dining room and enjoyed the hot buffet breakfast included with the price of our room.  It wasn’t spectacular, but good enough and we’ll be going there again tomorrow morning before heading back to the trail.

The rest of the day involved planning supplies and resupply for the next week or so, then Julie going to buy the supplies and walk around town while Dave endured a hard day catching up on various admin with the TV going in the background.

We spent some time trying to find a shuttle ride back to the trail early tomorrow without success, so will try the same process we used in Hiawassee, call for an Uber as we finish breakfast and, if none is forthcoming (Uber says it has “limited availability”), then hope we can hitch a ride from somewhere on the edge of town.

In the evening we walked down to a nearby all-you-can-eat pizza restaurant for dinner followed by a milkshake.

We’ve enjoyed our day off in Gatlinburg.  It’s a bit kitsch and glitzy, but is also neat and tidy.

Appalachian Trail - Day 014 - Silers Bald Shelter to Newfound Gap (then ride to Gatlinburg)

Day: 014

Date: Monday, 08 May 2023

Start:  Silers Bald Shelter (AT Mile 195.5)

Finish:  Newfound Gap (AT Mile 207.7) but staying at Gatlinburg

Daily Kilometres:  20.1

GPX Track:  Click here for Julie’s Strava & Photos

Total Kilometres:  351.6

Weather:  A very mixed bag.  Cool overcast and foggy early, then some clearing and an icy wind, followed by some light rain, then warmer with sunshine.

Accommodation:  Motel

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Pop tarts

  Lunch:  Wraps & peanut butter

  Dinner:  Hamburger & chips, thickshake.

Aches:  Dave - struggling with a painful ankle and fatigue, but getting there; Julie - nothing to report.

Highlight:  The views from the lookout on top of Clingmans Dome (6,612’), the highest point on the whole Appalachian Trail, were fantastic.  Following the weather front that moved through last night, we could see blue ridges with valleys filled with white cloud as far as the eye could see, in almost every direction.  On the climb up we feared the top would be covered in cloud, so were delighted to find it was not, though an icy wind didn’t encourage dallying up there.

Lowlight:  None really.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

It poured much of last night, especially around midnight when the rain, accompanied by thunder, absolutely hammered the shelter’s tin roof.  It was deafening, and I’m sure none of us was sleeping.

However, seemingly miraculously, it was stopped when we woke at 6:00am and we only had one very light shower later in the day though there was plenty of threatening cloud around.  We were hiking by 6:45am, eager to see the views from Clingmans Dome (see above), but also looking forward to getting to Newfound Gap and then hitching into Gatlinburg for a day off tomorrow.

After about an hour’s hiking up and over Silers Bald (5,587’) with no views, the vegetation changed significantly to conifer forest with a moss-carpeted forest floor.  It was fairytale scenery and a nice change after the deciduous forests of the last two weeks.  The trail remained hard work - very rocky with big step ups and step downs, and some boulder scrambling - and our (Dave’s) pace was slow.  We were passed by a few young hikers we had briefly met at the shelter after ours earlier on.  They seemed a cheerful bunch, though most travelling separately and, half of them girls, gave the impression of being fit and likely to make it to Maine.

As we neared Clingmans Dome, the fog cleared and we were given some glimpses of the kind of views we were going to get from the top.  When we did get there, the views did not disappoint, and we felt rewarded for all of our hard work to get there.

Then we began what seemed like a very long hike down to Newfound Gap through the damp and dark conifer forest on, initially, some very technical rocky rooty trail.  Perhaps the 7.5 miles seemed long because, in our minds, it appeared a short step after Clingmans Dome to the end of our day but it took four hours.  On the plus side, the lower we got, the sunnier and warmer it became, and our spirits were high.

We arrived at Newfound Gap (4,996’), a tourist destination in its own right on a scenic highway, at around 2:30pm and immediately began hitching towards Gatlinburg from just beyond the carpark at the Gap.  Within 10 minutes we had a ride with a lovely couple vacationing from Massachusetts in their brand new vehicle (in which we left some muddy footprints on their rear carpet!) and chatted all the way down the pretty winding highway 15 miles to Gatlinburg where they went out of their way to deliver us to our hotel of choice and insisted we took their phone number in case we needed a lift back to the trail on Wednesday morning.

We really feel like we have had exceptional good luck over the last few days - finding an empty shelter last night just before the rain hit, getting clear views from Clingmans Dome and then getting a ride almost immediately down to Gatlinburg.  Hope we haven’t used up our quota!

The hotel we picked was recommended by the hikers app we are using which has crowd-sourced information.  It is central, has a laundry, and offers a hikers discount.  Although we hadn’t booked, we got a room without trouble and were soon showering, snacking and laundering.  Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge is a tourist hot spot (home to Dollywood) with all kinds of attractions and sights.  It has been described as “Las Vegas for Hillbillies”, which may be a little cruel, but it has that feel and was bustling on a warm sunny afternoon.

We passed the 200 Mile mark on the AT today and it is evident from chats that we have had with hikers along the way that we are moving faster than most.  We are looking forward to our well-earned day off tomorrow.

Appalachian Trail - Day 013 - Mollies Ridge Shelter to Silers Bald Shelter

Day: 013

Date: Sunday, 07 May 2023

Start:  Mollies Ridge Shelter (AT Mile 177.7)

Finish:  Silers Bald Shelter (AT Mile 195.5)

Daily Kilometres:  29.0

GPX Track:  Click here for Julie’s Strava & Photos

Total Kilometres:  331.5

Weather:  Cool and foggy early, then milder with occasional sun, with thunderstorms and heavy rain in the evening.

Accommodation:  Shelter

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Pop tarts/Honey bun

  Lunch:  Wraps and peanut butter

  Dinner:  Rehydrated meals

Aches:  Dave - not a good day with fatigue from yesterday and the recurrence of an old ankle injury; Julie - nothing to report.

Highlight:  The highlight had to be arriving at Silers Bald Shelter at 6:00pm to find it empty (after seeing the previous shelter five miles back was filled to overflowing with hikers) and then, two minutes later, having a thunderstorm with heavy rain unexpectedly arrive.  A heavy rain event had been forecast for several days, but kept getting pushed back.  When it arrived it was without warning.  We stayed dry and our tent stayed dry.

Lowlight:  The middle section of the day saw a string of enervating steep and technical ascents and descents around Rocky Top (5,442’) with no view from the top because of fog.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

We set out at our usual 7:00am on a cool morning and enjoyed good hiking for the first few hours, though we did miss sighting a bear that a thru-hiker who passed us said he had seen a short distance behind us.  The vegetation changed from the usual woodlands around Spence Field to small grasslands and what looked like orchard trees as though it was some long abandoned farm.

From there, the trail grew more difficult, and Dave was dragging the chain, courtesy of a long day yesterday, a poor night’s sleep and a bothersome left ankle.  It was clear the day was going to be a long one for him and Julie patiently waited every ten minutes or so for him to catch up.

The Rocky Top section was paricularly arduous and slow and we were not rewarded with any views.  A lunch stop around 1:30pm was most welcome and our wish, that the trail become a little easier, seemed to be granted with gentler grades and less technical rocks from then on, but it’s all relative and the climbing continued.

We did at least see some deer in the afternoon and the fog cleared and we had the usual mountain views filtered through the trees.  Dave’s focus was just on reaching Silers Bald Shelter, which was not highly rated, rather than the much more highly rated Double Knob Shelter, 1.7 miles further on.

Our arrival there was fortuitous both because the shelter was empty and because the heavens opened and the rain started immediately after our arrival.  It is still raining heavily now, two hours later as I write this, and we have been joined in the shelter by two bedraggled thru-hikers who arrived some time after us.