Day 9-Sweatin’ as We’re Steppin’

March 27-Day 9.  9.4 miles

Today was not a long day (okay, it was our third longest day, but after the last two days, it didn’t seem long), but it was sure a warm one. I’d guess it was near 80. I even pulled out my little roller sunglasses (the ones from the eye doctor that fit behind my regular glasses). 

The first climb of the day was Trey Mtn. It wasn’t too bad of a climb. I took a little break at the top. Sure Foot joined me shortly after I arrived. 

See the mountain? That’s Trey Mtn. Believe it or not, trail distance, it was only 1.9 miles away. 

The view from the top of Trey Mtn. It took me 1 1/2 hours to get from the campsite to the top. 

Coming down, Sure Foot blasted ahead of me, and I didn’t see him again until after lunch. I stopped where there was a water source .1 off the trail. I dropped my pack and hiked the longest .1 mile down to the spring. I filtered water, took off my shoes, and ate my lunch. All that took me about 30 minutes. I caught up to Sure Foot on the way up from my lunch spot. 

Sure Foot said he was going to get water at Sassafras Gap. When I got there, I didn’t see him. I figured he was either getting water, or he had already gotten water, and had continued on. I continued.  At Addis Gap, I decided to take a break (only the third time I had taken my pack off). Pretty soon, here comes Sure Foot. He had been down getting water. 

From Addis Gap, we had our last climb of the day up to Kelly Knob. It was a hot mile. 

There goes Sure Foot heading up up up. 

We were both quite happy to reach the top. 

Hot and tired!

We came down .9 miles to the turn for Deep Gap Shelter. The shelter is .3 from the trail. There are only two other guys here, Penguin, and his friend (didn’t catch his name). 

Now for some troubling news. I called the Budget Inn in Hiawassee. Good news is they are open, and will pick us up at 11:15 tomorrow morning at Dick’s Creek Gap (3.4 miles from here). We will go into Hiawassee to resupply, shower, do laundry, and spend the night. Then, the guy at the Budget Inn said he will shuttle us back to Dick’s Creek Gap. But, he also said the trail is closed, and there is a $5000 fine for being on the trail. I found the US Forest Service post regarding closures. What is closed is the trailheads (no parking, locked restrooms). There is no mention of a fine. What we will do, is see what is happening at the Gap when we get there tomorrow. If it just appears the trailhead parking is closed, we will return to the trail and continue hiking. Now, here’s the problem. The next town is Franklin, NC. It is another 3 days away. The two guys here tonight are planning to get off to go into Franklin, but they’ve been having trouble finding a place to stay. Everything is closed in Franklin (hotel wise). It is 80 miles from Hiawassee to the NOC (which is closed, but the Wesser General Store at the NOC is open). So, Sure Foot and I are going to get as much food as we can carry to get us to the NOC without going into Franklin. We are going to try to carry 10 days of food. It’s not going to be fancy, and we are aiming for 2000 calories per day, which is a little slim for hiking (fortunately, we could both stand to lose some belly fat). We’ll be going for as calorie dense of food as we can. I hoping to get rid of my colder weather gear I was going to carry through the Smokies so i can carry more food weight. So, basically, at this point, our plan is to keep going until we can’t. The alternatives are not great. If we come off the trail, where do we stay? We can’t fly home. We are still safest in the woods.