Day 53-Well, That Was a Tough 14 Miles!

May 10-14 miles-Davis Hollow to Lynn Camp Creek campsite-AT mile 561.8

And on Mother’s Day too! Actually, I didn’t even know it was Mother’s Day today until Nolan texted me. Kind of lose track of those things out here. 

This morning was a first. Sure Foot was ready before me! However, he’s still having problems with his left lower leg, so he was taking it slow. Yet, throughout the day, he was never far behind me. 

I caught up to him at this milestone this morning. 

Of course, we are not really a quarter of the way (because of those blasted Smokies), but it is a milestone worth noting. 

The trail was pretty good today, it was the climbs that made it tough. We had three good size ones. The first was Gullion Mtn. That was probably the easiest one. But there were a few moments of stuff like this. 

Pretty much stairs going straight up. 

I did see a few rhodies starting to bloom. 

Eventually, it will be a mass of flowers as there are so many rhododendrons...entire tunnels of them! 

Got one nice view from up high on Walker Mtn (climb number two).

I think we ended up going across that pasture down there. 

We actually went through two pastures. The first one had a few cows near the trail. 

Hey cows!

Hmmm...a white cow, but no snowstorm...

Nice horns there, Bessie!

The problem with this first pasture was that there was a white blaze on a post, but it wasn’t a double blaze indicating a turn. I could see another post, but when I got to it, it was a yellow blaze, which means a different trail. I stopped and checked Guthook. Nope, I was not on the AT. I went back as Sure Foot was coming along. He saw me looking at my phone, and looking around. He realized the trail switchbacked (should have been a kick-over double blaze). I think the reason the path on the yellow blaze was so worn was because lots of people make the same mistake. 

Looking back to Walker Mtn. (We had crossed the road down there to enter the pasture).

At the ends of the pastures, there were stiles to climb over. I think we climbed over three or four today. 

This one came off a road, then the trail went along the North Fork of the Holston River. 

We crossed the river on a road bridge. 


Here’s another stile after the bridge. This one was quite high and steep. 

We went through the second pasture before beginning yet another long climb. It was quite sweatifying work. On the way down we came to Knot Maul Shelter (SF said, “ If Knot Maul, then what?” We took a little break, then descended the final 1.1 miles to Lynn Camp Creek Campsite. It is at the confluence of Knot Maul Branch and Lynn Camp Creek. After setting up my tent, I took off my shoes and soaked my feet in the creek. 

It’s very cold water, but felt good. 

Today’s temps were in the 60s. It got a little breezy, but tonight was the first time I’ve not been cold while fixing my dinner, and doing the various camp chores.