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It was an early morning for us. Last night there was a pretty intense thunder storm and a lot of rain. I slept restlessly through the storm and heavy winds. We started moving around 6:45 and were on the trail at 8 am as the sun came up.
The morning was overcast and foggy. It rained off and on for our first couple hours on trail. Nevertheless, we made decent time. After hiking 7 miles before 11 am we stopped for lunch at Laurel Mt Shelter. While we ate a section hiker passed through and talked with us about his hiking experiences.
Lunch was a nice break, but we were back to hiking in a half hour. The trail became very steep very quickly as we ascended back up to 4000 feet. We crossed over a ridge where we would have had excellent views if not for the fog.
Then we hiked our first and only full-on mountain of the day, Big Butt. Yes, the name of the mountain is Big Butt because of a rock on top which has a crack down the middle. I’ll upload a picture when we get to town. Anyway, whoever named the mountains of North Carolina deserves jail time. It’s an outrage.
The rest of the day was spent descending from the elevation we gained to summit Big Butt. We finished the day off quickly, hiking over 20 miles and crossing over the 300 mile mark on the AT.
We set up camp about a half mile before the next shelter, as we found an excellent stealth site right next to the trail in Flint Gap with a nice view of some mountains in the distance.
Tomorrow we will hike another 20 miles, setting us up for a 15 mile day into Erwin. We expect rain starting around 11 am, but we might run into Fresh Grounds for breakfast. We heard tell that he is in the next gap over from us, about 3 miles away. We continue to adapt to the trail, making better time every day with fewer aches and pains.
It’s strange being on trail, separate from all the commotion of the world right now. It’s pretty crazy with all of the Corona Virus stuff. I hope everyone is doing well and able to stay safe. We are probably very safe out here, basically quarantined in the woods. The only way we will likely be affected is if the towns where we pass through start closing the locations where we resupply. Otherwise, restaurants and motels might close down, but we will still be able to hike.
Goodnight.
Walker
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