Tuesday, May 7th, 2024, 0715-1830
Loss creek camp to Sandy Gap, mm 140.5
21 miles, Gain: 5010′, Loss: 3360′, elevation 2600′
I had a great sleep next to the creek and my tent was mostly dry in the morning…no rain overnight! I left my camp shoes on to ford the creek, then changed into my trail shoes. The remaining trail along the river was much easier than the day before. There was one small climb with a nice view of the canyon then back to the river for a final spell and a large creek crossing, but this time with a bridge. I almost ate it on the bridge though, since the wet wood was very slick. My trekking poles saved me, once again.
The trail became an old road, with a very nice grade and perfect tread. I thought the climb out of the canyon might suck, but it was one of the easiest yet. It felt great, in fact. I made it to hwy 68 just after 9:30 am, where I was set to meet a trail angel. Linda had reached out to me through Instagram days earlier. I wasn’t even clear on our connection but shortly we found out that we knew tons of people in common. She’d started following me since we were both friends with the Strawbridges (Triple Crown family that I met on the PCT) and Honeybun (who I knew from the FT Billy Goat Days). It turns out, I also knew Linda’s daughter Claire, who I met at the FT kick-off Jan 2022. She hiked the FT and then AT that year. Since Linda was a thru-hiker’s mom, she was instantly one of the best kind of trail angels.
I asked her to please not bring much, since my hiker hunger was a week away and I already had too much food. But she hit the nail bringing me real coffee…that I could almost always go for. Also, she’d been able to give trail magic to another hiker that had just come through ahead of me. This was a big surprise, since I hadn’t noticed any fresh footprints and didn’t expect anyone was that close to me. He must have camped at the site that was only 1 mile from mine. It made me reflect on my naked tent pitch the night before.
I sat with Linda for almost an hour while we had quite a nice discussion about hiking and the region. I also played with Sadie, her adorable black mouth cur, a breed of hound dog common to the region. After awhile, Sadie made it very clear that we should all go for a walk and so we did. They couldn’t make it too far since Linda had an afternoon appointment, but it was great to have a hiking companion for a few minutes.
This was my day to see people on trail I guess, because I met 2 more ladies later in the afternoon: Jekyl and Just Jess. They were also from Florida but at opposite ends from me in Pensacola. We chatted for awhile and they too told me about the guy that was just ahead of me. I hoped to see them again, as they were hop-scotching the trail by making use of 2 cars. They would park a car at one end of a segment, drive to another end, and hike back to the first. They were hiking each section south but working their way north along the trail. In this way, they didn’t have to worry about resupply boxes or hitches. I expected to run into them again somewhere around Fontana.
I had lunch under a powerline just past Unicoi Gap (not to be confused with the Unicoi Gap along the AT), which offered views down into both Tennessee and North Carolina. Thus began the point at which the trail followed the ridgeline that forms the border of the 2 states. AT hikers are familiar with this trend, as it continues well through the Smokies. Much of the time, it’s hard to keep track of whether you’re in TN or NC, not that it matters much. A small thunderstorm was threatening as I ate, but never materialized into much. I did question the wisdom of sitting under a giant lightning rod (powerline tower), but it was hard to resist the views and fresh air in the open up there. Earlier I’d almost stepped on a black rat snake while searching for a spring, but it turned out that the snake was dead. I wondered if this was some sort of foreboding omen, yet still I enjoyed my lunch in my poorly chosen spot, serpents and strikes be dammed.
The rest of the day was chill, as I rambled along the ridges. So much of the trail was on old road beds, perched perfectly on the ridgelines, it was such a joy to walk. There were many partial views of the valleys below and I had that sense of being on top of the world all day. I went farther than planned, taking advantage of the nice weather. The thunderstorms were forecasted to come back on Thursday, so it made sense to get in the miles now. I made camp on a side trail, which had been a road once. I thought I might catch up to the hiker ahead of me by the end of the day, but I never did see him.