Thursday, May 8, 2014
Slackpacking Trip - Day 6
[got up at 0645 and left the hotel at 0730 - filled up the gas tank after a nice drive through downtown Bristol (0820) and continued south on US-421 - found the A.T. (Low Gap, 3385 feet) around 0900 and hiked along the Johnson County (Tennessee) line for a couple of hours - saw lots of Butterflies and the trails were grassy - trees were very tall - saw three solo NOBO hikers and a pair of ladies dressed in pink - hiked on both sides of the highway and enjoyed clear sky views across the rolling mountains I've only seen from the Interstate before this trip - when I returned to my car (1105), I found a pair of older ladies (with their dog) who had run out of water (nearest town was quite a distance, yikes! - I was almost out too) - drove south to TN-91 and then east to where the trail crossed the road at a nice parking lot (1130) - before I started again, talked to a trail Maintenance Man (a former resident of Bland) who gave me lots of trail advice (including "drink water from springs - locals do") - grabbed a soda from a trail magic checkpoint (left by a local Baptist church) - walked through a jungle of rhododendron bushes and other big-leaf trees as I headed south - caught up to a family of five, who told me that it was a three mile hike to the burial place for Uncle Nick Grandstaff (hermit) on the top of the hill - decided to try to make it up there - uphill almost all the way - getting hot - drank what was left of my water and fought the instinct to turn around - fortunately, I saw several NOBO groups who reassured me the grave was there (3 solo men, one loud couple - lady - and father/daughter) - by the time I found the grave, with a sad warning "lived alone, suffered alone and died alone", I was very tired, sweaty and ached - I started down and caught the loud couple - it really would change the tenor of the hike to hear her chatting incessantly (glad I didn't have that for 2100 miles...) - hurried ahead to get away from them - passed the family again (I actually didn't think they would make it with their three young boys, but they did) - and caught up to the father/daughter and followed them for almost the rest of the hike - they told me great stories about their adventures and warned me about difficult sections to the south - by the time I reached my car (1410), I had decided that hiking on the other side of the road (open, unshaded farmland) would not be any fun - plus, I was hungry - so I headed south on TN-91 to Elizabethton, where I had lunch at Wendys (1445) - I have noticed that I end up taking a long lunch during this trip (tired, achy, catching up on internet while I have a signal) - after finishing, I drove a little further south and looked for the trail (along US-321) - found it near Watauga Lake (National Forest Recreation Area) at 1600 - I managed to fit in another few miles around the lake (very wooded, lots of great views) - found the shelter but didn't stop (filled with hikers already) - only saw two hikers (1 NOBO solo man with dog and another hiker who appeared to be SOBO as I finished) - made it back to my car (1720) and then changed into a bathing suit - lots of people were swimming, so I joined them - WOW! - it was so COLD - I could barely stand the temperatures - the only thing I was able to do was wash off most of the sweat and grime - but when I came out of the water, I air-dried immediately - left at 1745 and found a hotel (Traveler's Inn) - by this point in the trip, every bit of the clothing I had brought was dirty and sweat stained (salt lines) - so, I walked down the hill (1900) and found a coin-operated laundry - it had been awhile since I used one - there were a few other friendly people there who talked to me about local events and scenery I should see on the trail - I had to get some change next door at a Chinese Restaurant (got some great egg drop soup in the process) - finished around 2100 and posted photos to Facebook - bed around 2300 - total for the day was 8.01 miles on the trail (not counting backtracks) and Grand Total on A.T. is now 38.49 miles]