Day 34-A Great Say For a Short Hike

April 21-4.1 miles-Erwin to Curley Maple Gap Shelter-AT mile post 348.5

Primo decided to stay an extra day in Erwin, so just Sure Foot and I shuttled back to the trail with Doug. We had him pick us up at 10:30, since we didn’t have a very long day (the next campsite was too far, plus our packs were heavy again).

The main feature of the day was water. We walked above the Nolichucky River for awhile, then along the Jones Branch Tributary. There were several times where the trail was a running stream. 

The Nolichucky River and the rail line. We crossed over the tracks early on. 

Swift moving water. 

Kind of a big step up on to the bridge. 

Sure Foot crossing yet another bridge (there were several). 

Hard to tell, but there is a creek of sorts running down the trail. 

We did some climbing, and arrived at Curley Maple Gap Shelter about 1:30ish. Smiley was here, but was going back down to town to meet someone. He’ll probably catch us again. Tic Tac (who I met yesterday at the Super 8), Papa Smurf, and Pee Bottle were already at the shelter. Tic Tac is nursing a shin splint, so they took it slow today (let shuttled back to the trail earlier than we did). It’s pretty cool catching up to them because they are the only other “older” hikers that we know of still out here. 

Tic Tac and Papa Smurf hanging the bear bags. 

Tic Tac is mom to three boys, and is from Long Island. Pee Bottle is from Germany. Not entirely sure where Papa Smurf is from, but him and Tic Tac are a couple. It was fun tonight sitting around the fire. They had spent a lot of time with Mouse, so we compared our experiences. Sure Foot and I were lucky we didn’t spend any more time with her than we did. 

Tomorrow is a bigger day at 12.9 with a fair amount of climbing. Gonna be tough with the heavier packs, but I told Sure Foot that we can do it!


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