old shoes
Today everything is a matter of waiting. Waiting for my shoes to appear so I can go for a walk. Tracking led to the shoes showing up today between 9am and 1pm Optimistically, I decided not to take the 9am bus into the city and get something to eat, but rather to eat some of my own food in the hopes that my shoes would show up before 11am. That’s when the ferry would bring people back from the city to the hostel. Unfortunately, that optimism was in vain. It didn’t take long for tracking to adjust the arrival time to a range of 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm So I settled in and watched a movie on my phone. Later in the morning, I had a pleasant surprise when Freight Train and Butterfly showed up at the lodge. I hadn’t seen them since I started in the Smokies, but the previous two weeks I had been walking around them pretty steadily. It’s a pleasure to greet them and catch up with them a little.
My bunk at Uncle Johnny’s house
New silly shoes
new shoes
Around 1:45 p.m., my shoes arrived! And at 2:15 p.m. I was back on the road after two and a half days of rest. The first mile of hiking was along the Nolichucky River, which was a nice start back. However, before long I had a fairly steep climb, which lasted only a mile, but for most of the rest of the day it continued to climb, although not as steep. I had a nice respite for a few miles halfway, which was nice and relaxing. I finally arrived at the Beauty Spot, a popular viewpoint in the area. There were some nice views at Beauty Spot and you could tell it was a popular spot as even on a weekday there were day trippers.
The place of beauty
After Beauty Spot, I had a couple of miles of downhill that allowed me to do some decent sailing. At this point it was getting dark, so once I got to the next water source, I filled up and eventually looked for tent sites.
Sunbeams breaking through the clouds in the distance
Unfortunately, there weren’t many good spots and I had to keep walking longer than anticipated. So much so that I ended up walking almost to Unaka Mountain. Which I really didn’t want to do, since ending the day with a 700 foot climb is no fun. Especially when you’re tired. However, near the top I found a relatively flat and open area to the left where I camped. It was 8 pm and almost dark, but I was able to enjoy the sunset a little. As I set up my tent and ate in the dark, I realized that from my vantage point I could look down and see what I think were the city lights of Erwin below, as well as what appeared to be Johnson City in the distance. Which was a pretty good way to end my day.
Statistics for the 29th:
13 miles
4,183′ ascent, 1,073′ descent
Erwin, TN to stealth site
21 DSLC…
Stove use times: 4
This website contains affiliate links, which means The Trek may receive a percentage of any products or services you purchase using links in articles or advertisements. The buyer pays the same price they would otherwise pay, and their purchase helps support The Trek’s ongoing goal of bringing you quality backpacking information and advice. Thank you for your support!
For more information, visit the About page of this site.
