Day 40-A Long Pleasant Day

April 27-16.6 miles US 19E to campsite at AT mile 411.9

Yes, that’s correct. We did 16.6 miles. Actually, we thought we did 17.4, but I’ll get to that in a moment. 

We were joined at the hostel last night by Neo, Music Man, Garlic, and Donatello. Neo was most annoying. The dude did not shut up until 2:00 in the morning. At one point he locked himself out, and didn’t know the door code. So what did he do? He bangs on the door loud enough to wake up the entire hostel! Dumbass! This morning, Sure Foot and I were sorely tempted to bang around as we were getting ready to go, but, as they say, two wrongs don’t make a right. 

Freefall drove us back to the trail at 7:30. We were back on the trail at 7:35. Karen, one of the owners, had told us a lot of people slackpack this section, but we are not ready to do that just yet. Besides, it is not a difficult section from 19E to Hampton. 

The sun was shining from the beginning this morning! It was a little chilly, and the ground was still wet and muddy in places, but it was an altogether nice day for a hike. Here’s some photos from early in the day. 

Goodbye The Station at 19E 

See the snow on the top? We were there day before yesterday. 

Just a nice walk through the greenery (although, as it was wet, my shoes got wet). 

A little climb out of the valley. 

We reached a meadow with some nice views. 

Another gnarly old tree. 

The mountains in the distance are Roan (far right), Little Hump, and Hump Mtn. 

The climbing wasn’t bad, and neither was the descending. It really was a good day. Curiously, we passed by a cemetery (Isaacs Cemetery). 
There were quite a few graves. 

One of the highlights of the day was passing the 400 mile mark. Of course, for us it is not 400, but it’s exciting nonetheless. 

The 400 mile sign was really at 400.7, but who cares. 

We also took the side trail to Jones Falls. It was worth it. 

You tell ‘em Flat Will!

We also went by Mountaineers Falls. It wasn’t quite as spectacular, but still pretty. 

The guardian of the Falls (complete with tent)

Mountaineer Falls. 

We ate lunch near the Mountaineers Shelter. 

Nice logs to sit on and everything!

We had done 8.9 miles before lunch. We were feeling pretty good about that! We continued on, stopping to get some water a couple miles later, then continuing our way up and down the trail. 

Water was quite the feature today. We also spent time along the Elk River. 

This was actually before lunch. 

We came to one more waterfall called Hardcore Cascade. 

It’s named after a group of trail maintenance people. 

We reached the campsite at 5:30. We thought we had done 17.4 miles because we were going to stay at a campsite that was earlier, but decided to push on to this one. Well, when I planned the day, I meant to come to this campsite anyway, and that was 16.6 miles. Still, it is our longest day. 

When we were setting up, a gal named Dusty and her husky, Koda came by. We talked for awhile. She was going to continue to the next shelter, but she decided to stay here too. She started back in February, but got off trail at Hot Springs because of the virus (she lives in South Carolina). She is the first person we’ve met that has returned to the trail after getting off. 

Finally, a little TMI. I set another new record today. I had to stop to pee 9 times! What’s with that??? Geez!

Oh, and I saw my first snake. Yikes!