More by The Smokey Mountains

Leaving Gatlinburg

On the morning of day 20 on the trail, Cody and I woke up after sleeping in after a very good night’s sleep. Breakfast at the hotel was first on the agenda. We each slowly walked down to the lobby and loaded up waffles, sausages, cereal, and fruit. Three of the guys were planning on taking a zero into town, but Cody, Billy Goat and I arranged a shuttle back to Newfound Gap. We all wanted to go to the clothing store, which turned out to be the NOC Outfitter store. Using my staff discount, Cody upgraded a pair of boxers and found an awesome River Station hat in the hiker’s box!

Return transfer and easy walk

Our shuttle driver, Scott, arrived right on time. He mentioned he was picking up some hikers at Newfound Gap, so it turned out we needed a ride there. What he didn’t mention (because he didn’t know) was that the people he was picking up were none other than our friend Apollo and a handful of other friends we’d been hiking with for the first two weeks. It was so good to see Apollo when we got there! The others had not arrived when we took off. But we made sure to tell Apollo what day we planned to arrive in Hot Springs and hoped to see him again on the way.

Although we didn’t hit the trail until midday, temperatures were still quite cold and ice still covered the tree branches. The first 5 miles or so had many day hikers going to and from Charlie’s Bunion, a very beautiful and popular hike. It was nice to share the trail with so many people, including a hiker named Prepper. He was hiking with a friend and had brought a little magic to the trail in the form of chocolate bars for any hikers he encountered! What a kind gesture!

Charlie’s Bunion and the Smokies

We arrived at Charlie’s Bunion shortly after meeting Prepper. The views were AMAZING! We were finally enjoying some of that nice weather aligned with the spectacular trail views! We took some pictures and stayed long enough to appreciate being able to see this. But we still needed to walk 12 miles a day and we had started quite late. The trail was easy and the views were incomparable! We walked along ridges, with views of mountainous landscapes on both sides. We walked through spruce groves and moss-laden forest floors.

We arrived at the Pecks Corner shelter that night, where we met up with Billy Goat. He and Cody are quite adept at fire, so it was very comforting to feel the warmth of their fire as we lay in bed for the night.

Cold morning in the Smokies

The next morning we went for a walk at a decent hour. Thirteen miles to the next shelter and the elevation didn’t seem too bad in FarOut. The temperatures were still quite cold, so when we arrived at Tri Corner Shelter for lunch we were pleasantly surprised to find that the embers from the previous night’s tenants were still hot enough to revive and make a small fire of our own. We stayed at the shelter for a long lunch break, enjoying the warmth of the shelter and letting the sun warm us as the day progressed into the afternoon.

The second half of the hike was very enjoyable. The continuous views, the peaceful terrain, the handful of friendly people along the trail. We finished at 4:00 at the Cosby Knob Shelter and spent the afternoon catching up on writing blog posts, relaxing, and enjoying another beautiful fire provided by Cody. I made one of my homemade dehydrated meals for dinner. It was delicious! The shelter also had excellent cell service, so Cody had the opportunity to talk to his mom and a friend. He told them all about how our hike is going and how beautiful the Smokies are, especially the northern half of the park.

holy socks

Before finally turning in for the night, Cody had the great idea of ​​warming his socks by the fire. Putting on warm socks before bed sounds delicious. Except unfortunately it got one of their own too hot. The entire bottom of his sock was completely burned when he bent down to pick it up. I guess new socks will be on the resupply list in Hot Springs.

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