Day 14: Small reunion at the NOC

We had less than a mile to get to the NOC and arrived before opening time. Luckily, they have some charging ports on the outside of the building, so we could start charging our phones and powerbanks.

Unfortunately, the NOC also does not sell bear cans. That’s three suppliers in a row that don’t have that damn thing. I need a different game plan. Well, a little more food hanging out, I guess.

I noticed that the trash compactor bag, where I’ve been storing my quilt and clothes, has some holes. It’s supposed to rain tonight and tomorrow, so that won’t work. I bought a new dry bag for my clothes and an OPsack: a big smell-proof zipper that’s supposed to keep bears from smelling your food. There are two per package: one for me and one for my dad. It may seem like a false sense of security, but we’ll take advantage of anything that helps us against food-stealing bears.

After resupplying and printing our Smoky Mountains permit, we saw Ferdinand, Tags, America, and Jarrod again! We listened to them about their plans for the Smoky and made our own.

Our plan for the Smoky’s

It takes about 72 miles to traverse Great Smoky Mountain National Park. There are no resupply or shelters there, so there are two lines of thinking for getting through Smoky’s: hike 40 miles to Newfound Gap, bus or hitchhike to Gatlinburg, resupply there, come back and continue, or fill your backpack with 5-6 days’ worth of food and hike 15 miles every day. We decided on the latter.

After Smoky’s, we will go to the I40 underpass and try to get transportation to a nearby town and catch zero there.

Completing the meeting

With everything ready and our plans made, it’s time to eat something proper! We all went to the restaurant, where we also saw Beavers, alone attacking a 16-inch pizza. A little later, Deer Foot also entered. It’s like a big little reunion of all the people we hike with! We are having a great time here!

From left to right: my dad, me, Ferdinand, Jarrod, America

What’s in a trail name?

One of the topics we talked about was trail names. Jarrod doesn’t have one yet, although he would like one. But that’s because he keeps suggesting trail names too interesting for himself. And that’s just not how it works.

The name of a trail is usually given to you by your companions and may be derived from something different about you, or from a good or embarrassing story that has happened. Trail names are often fun, useful, and a very interesting part of the hiking experience. But there’s also a side to route names that I really don’t like. Let me explain to you.

From the beginning people ask about the name of their route. And at first, you usually don’t have one yet. You just use your own name, which is totally fine. But there are some people who instantly try to give it a path name when they hear that it doesn’t have one yet.

In my experience, it is usually done by people associated with the trail, but not those who walk it. Such as tracking angels, shuttle drivers, etc. All very well, but the names given in general are unoriginal and have nothing to do with you.

For example, my dad didn’t have a name for the trail yet. On the third day of the tour, a shuttle driver suggested the name of the tour «Lucky», based on nothing really. A little later, someone tried to hit him with «Nonami,» a different way of saying «no name.» A day later, someone suggested «hello, you» as the name of the trail.

My dad doesn’t really care about trail names and just takes whatever they give him. But I thought they were all a little stupid.

That’s why I was so happy when Jarrod told us that he’d been calling my dad “Stroopwafel” since day one. That’s because my dad brought some stroopwafels, the best kind of waffle (come fight me, Belgians), from home and shared them with all the hikers.

Stroopwafel, huh? He’s Dutch, he’s got a little backstory. Seems appropriate! Stroopwafel it is!

Hiking in

Towards the NOC you have a spectacular descent, but after the NOC, you go back uphill just as high and steep. Here you will discover if you like uphill or downhill more. My verdict? It’s a 50/50. A little complicated, but it’s my honest opinion.

Struggling

I found a snake! My assumption was a rat snake and after checking with another hiker, I seemed to be right!

I met up with Beavers again, which was a bit surprising, because he left the NOC a couple of hours before us. Apparently he has stomach pains from the huge pizza he devoured. I’m sure he regrets that decision!

After 7 steep miles, we reached the Sassafras Gap shelter. It’s supposed to rain tonight, along with thunderstorms. I guess we’ll sleep in the shelter tonight! Today was a good day.

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