Reach 600 miles in the rain

Waking up to a vibrant pink sunrise at Chestnut Knob was a lovely way to start the day. Cody is usually the one who wakes up first and it usually takes me longer to get going. But that day I left the shelter, retrieved the Ursack that Cody had tied to a tree the night before, and began making myself a cup of instant coffee in the Jetboil. I sat outside at the picnic table enjoying the sunrise while Cody lay in bed and took his time getting up. The plan for the night was to camp about 17 miles down the trail. So we finally packed our bags and set off.

morning walk

Morning walks usually go without a hitch. Well-rested, cool legs and cooler temperatures make for an easy hike. I’d rather have a big climb in the morning than late afternoon any day! This morning was great! We stopped to look for water on a long trail of blue flames. We don’t usually take long blue blaze trails to find water, but it was the only source for miles and we had just stayed in a dry shelter. So we needed water, even if we had to walk a long way to get it.

Planning the day

We stopped at Jenkins Shelter for lunch. It was nice to get out of the heat and sit in the shade of the shelter. We also let Turk take a nice nap while we were there.

Lunchtime nap

There are a few things that every hiker had in mind on any given day. How is the weather today? When am I going to eat next time? Where is the next water source? Where will I sleep tonight? Before leaving the shelter at lunchtime, we had the rest of the day planned. The plan was to have dinner and load water at a water crossing. We would then hike another 2 miles up a mountain and camp at an unmarked campsite. That would leave us at 17 miles per day. It’s not bad at all.

Dinner by the stream

The water crossing was a delight. A large bridge spanned the entire width of the stream that appears large enough to be called a river. We found large flat rocks at the water’s edge to prepare dinner while Cody filtered the water. Turk took the opportunity to take another nap. We dipped our feet in cold water and took bird baths in the stream.

I had to convince myself to pack up and leave knowing we still had 2 miles uphill to walk. Leaving the creek, we crossed a gravel road and returned to the rhododendron-lined trail. We passed a fairly large group of hikers camping in tents in a clearing just off the road. Another mile down the trail we saw three more tents. These belonged to some familiar faces, including Billy Goat and two other hikers we had met the night before, NOMO, Mouse and his dog Pittie.

Set up camp early

We stopped to chat with them for a moment. Until someone mentioned a free camping spot near them. I looked at Cody with exhausted eyes knowing we would have to add those two miles to tomorrow’s hike. But at least the 2 miles uphill would be first thing in the morning and not the last few miles of the day. It didn’t take much to convince him. We gladly unbuckled our hip belts and joined them in camping that night.

Recover the miles

The next morning we arrived very early. I had one of the best night’s sleep so far. It may have been before dawn, but I got out of bed and got to work on the morning’s tasks. Coffee and breakfast are my tasks. Cody packs up the tent. I think it’s a fair deal. It works for us. We still needed our headlights on as we set off. The 2 mile climb didn’t seem so bad that morning. In fact, we had caught up with another hiker, Johnny Walker, who had slept on the ridge the night before. We enjoyed walking with him the rest of the day.

Crossing the interstate

Mid-morning we left the forest and stopped at the road junction. FarOut informed us that the hiker-friendly Brushy Mountain Outpost was right around the corner. Signs on the building advertised hot sandwiches, ice cream and snacks. Unfortunately, the open sign was off and there wasn’t a soul around. Closed on Saturday. We sat at the picnic tables outside the outpost and each took out the meager snacks we had in our backpacks. It was close to resupply day so we were scraping the bottom of the food bag. What we would have given for a sandwich and ice cream that morning!

Continuing to lunch

As we followed the white blazes along the highway, we crossed a busy interstate. The trail hike continued for about another mile before we headed back into the desert. We stopped to admire the azaleas in bloom, especially the flame azaleas. Its vibrant orange flowers stand out against the brown and green background of the forest. Simply awesome!

Very soon we arrived at the Helvey Mills shelter. It was the perfect place for lunch. We had checked the forecast sometime earlier in the day while we had signal. Rain was expected in the afternoon. In retrospect, perhaps we were too optimistic about our chances of reaching our destination (Jenny Knob Shelter) before the rain. But the prospect of doing so prompted us to eat quickly and get back on the road.

A stormy 600 mile marker

Before we knew it, we were crossing the 600 mile mark. Like every hundred mile marker before it, some hiker had organized a small tribute to mark our achievement. With storm clouds closing in on us and 4 miles to go, we turned around to keep walking…quickly.

Our efforts were useless. The backpack covers came on as we hurried to zip up our waterproof jackets and hooked Turkenna into hers. Our pace quickened as we almost ran down the hill. It poured down rain for about an hour, but luckily it stopped just as we reached the shelter. There we enjoyed an evening full of company and conversation with the full house. There we met the hikers from the Scout and Blaze section. And because of the possibility of rain overnight, we packed 7 of us (plus Turk) into the 6-person shelter.

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