Little Laurel Shelter 1899.8 to Allen Gap 1904.6 (4.8 miles, 1904.6 total miles)
It was a very rainy and windy night, with the whole evening full of rain being sprayed back into the shelter, soaking our hiking clothes that and our packs were hung out to dry.
In the morning when we awoke around 8AM, Iroh suggested shuttling to Hot Springs from the next road so we could dry off and enjoy Halloween in town, plus he was out of food. I said I was in as long as we came back to make up the miles the next day.
We started calling around for shuttles and received quotes of $50 one way, so decided just to hike to town. We hiked out around 10:30, beginning a 3 mile descent to Log Cabin Drive. A couple tenths of a mile in, we hit 1900 miles on our trip, quite a milestone. I remembered vividly when we’d reached that landmark up north for the NOBOs so long ago.
Rather early on, Quasar yelped and dropped to the ground, licking at his right leg. Iroh hurried over to him, trying to figure out what was wrong. I was reminded of Moose’s reaction to getting stung in Virginia, and thought I saw a yellow jacket flying nearby, so urged Iroh to get him a bit down trail before continuing to check him out.
Quasar wouldn’t let Iroh look at the inside of his leg, but after a minute was up and running around again. We kept hiking, Iroh and Quasar running ahead of me for about a mile, as I followed decked out in my full rain gear in the gloomy morning.
I caught back up to them when Iroh stopped to shed his rain jacket, and when Quasar hiked ahead of me again he seemed to be limping. Iroh watched him walk and confirmed, thinking we really should probably shuttle out at that point.
Iroh decided to carry Quasar for the remaining 2 miles to Log Cabin Drive, picking him up in a fireman’s carry and bringing him that way all the way down to the road. Quasar looked over his shoulder back at me, looking very cute indeed.
At the dirt road, we saw a sign stating the log cabin down the road had unfiltered water and homemade cookies. We had read about the “cookie lady of the south” and was excited to sample her no bake oatmeal cookies.
Peggy greeted us at the door, a very kind woman with her gray hair pulled back in a low bun. She was happy to see us and Quasar, even getting out a bag of dog food and olive oil for him to have an early lunch.
The cookies were delicious, and Peggy told Iroh and I how she and her husband had retired and moved to the gorgeous cabin full time. They had a couple grandkids nearby, and I told her how I used to spend time with my grandparents in Vermont when I was around their age.
It was a beautiful, peaceful location, and Quasar seemed to be walking fine again. We weren’t sure if it had been a bee sting or a leg cramp, but we were really glad he was doing better.
We departed from the cabin after stashing away our rain gear around 12:30, with 16.7 miles still to go to town. We’d slowed down quite a bit with Iroh carrying Q and visiting with Peggy.
The next couple miles were rather easy, and the sun even came out. We went up and over a little hill, as I turned on my Halloween Party playlist and ate a Gatorade energy bar. I caught back up with Iroh at NC Route 208 and found him checking his map to see which way we’d need to hitch to get to Hot Springs.
It was only 14 miles to hike, but there were a few extremely steep climbs and it was already 1:00. We could hitch in to town, get more food for Iroh, let Quasar rest, and enjoy Halloween. It seemed like a busy road, so I figured we could make it happen, and as long as we came back to fill in the 14 I didn’t mind getting to town early.
It ended up being a very long time to get a ride, and we had no cell service whatsoever. We walked down the road to a parking lot, and though a couple locals stopped by and said hi as they were passing through, none of them was going the way we were.
Finally, after an hour or so, a nice woman picked us up in her Jeep. Her name was Chris and she worked for the forest service in the area. She told us all about the drought in the area similar to what had contributed to the local 2016 wildfires and how they were expecting a mild but humid winter.
She took us all the way to Hot Springs, even though it was a bit out of her way, and refused my offer of gas money. Chris dropped us off in town, where we ran into fellow thru hikers Heat Lightning, Swift, Cheerio, Gnarly, Big Cat, and a couple others. They were on a zero day and all dressed in Halloween costumes they’d made out of town clothes at Laughing Heart Hostel in the theme of The Wizard of Oz.
Iroh and I stopped at the outfitter in town first, where I picked up a couple mail drops of clothing items I had and Iroh bought a lightweight backpacking chess set, inspired by me watching The Queen’s Gambit.
We walked over to Smoky Mountain Diner next, that I’d been hearing about since Mt Rogers in the Grayson Highlands. I had beef stew and cornbread while Iroh got a burger and sweet potato fries. I won the first chess game as we sat at an outdoor table with Quasar.
We followed the AT out of town to Laughing Heart, where we got settled in. It was a nice hostel, with plenty of space and very friendly caretakers. We did laundry and showered, then got ready to head back out later on and see what was going on in town for Halloween.
Downtown was full of families with trick or treaters visiting the various shops that had people standing out front passing out candy. It was really fun to walk around and see the revelry. Though it was a very small town, it had a nice atmosphere.
We stopped at Iron Horse Restaurant for dinner, where I had some of the juiciest and most delicious chicken tenders and hand cut fries. Old Halloween cartoons from the 70s and 80s were playing on the TV, and Iroh beat me at our second game of chess.
We made a Dollar General run before heading back to the hostel, where a fire was going. It was a laid back rest of the night, and I tried not to feel overwhelmed with the logistics of the Smokies coming up, getting permits, boarding Quasar, hiking the last 300 miles of the trail, etc. I had to lot to reflect on, and was hoping a good night of sleep in a warm bed would help clear my head.