Max Patch 1939.2 to Green Corner Road 1952.8 (13.6 miles, 1952.8 total miles)
I did well on only my fourth of fifth night of camping totally alone on this hike. A couple packs of coyotes howling and yipping nearby gave me a chill, but I reminded myself that if there was something to worry about, I’d have heard about it. I wanted to get better at camping alone, as it would open more opportunities for me to hike less populated trails and increase my sense of independence.
When I opened my eyes in the morning, the first thing I saw were stars above me through bare tree branches. I’d slept with my rain fly off, though it meant my quilt was covered in morning dew. When I finally built up enough energy to rise, I laid it on top of my tent in the hope that the strong breeze would dry it off a little.
As I packed in the dark, I saw a couple of headlamps approaching, and greeted Lentil and Looseleaf. Painkles and Milky Moo passed by as a bright yellow glow appeared over the mountains. I could see the start of sunrise through the trees while I packed haphazardly, knowing I’d finish getting everything together up top.
Around 7:30, I hiked back up the .4 to Max Patch, and found a spot of grass to sit on and eat my breakfast while watching sunrise. It happened quite quickly, a cotton candy sky behind me and the deep orange sun popping out and shining upon me.
It was quite beautiful, though I thought sunset was actually a little bit nicer for some reason. I stayed longer than the others, repacking my bag, changing into my hiking clothes, and departing from the peak at 9AM.
The trail circled around the mountain, following the ridge for a few easy miles. At the road past Max Patch I ran into Lentil and Looseleaf, who’d just finished having breakfast. I hiked with them for a bit, trading stories until they stopped to remove a couple layers and I kept going.
I didn’t feel as tired as I thought I would after a big day yesterday, fortunately. I’d gone back and forth last night and this morning about how I wanted to handle my resupply for the Smokies. In the morning I thought I probably had enough food to hike to Newfound Gap, where I could get into Gatlinburg halfway through the park and resupply.
If I resupplied in Gatlinburg, I’d lose a large portion of the day because it was well off trail, but that would also mean I would only be carrying a couple days worth of food up the very big climb into the Smokies. I messaged Kathy, the trail angel, that I would just do that instead of resupplying today.
However, when I consulted my food bag I didn’t think I had enough snacks to carry me all the way after all. I decided I should still resupply with Kathy, then hike 4 miles into the first shelter of the park. It was then Kathy threw a lovely wrench in the works, offering me to stay with her and her family for the evening, getting me back on trail before 8AM the next morning.
I kept that in mind as I kept hiking along into another day of brilliant blue skies and warm weather. I had a steep descent to Brown Gap, then an equally steep .6 climb up to Rube Rock. It was a bit of effort, but over quite quickly. I walked in silence, deep in thought.
On the way down an easy couple miles toward Deep Gap, I pulled over to dig a cat hole, as there was no way I was making it to the shelter near there without becoming a statistic.
Supposedly 50% of thru hikers poop their pants on trail. I’m not sure where that statistic comes from, but whenever it comes up in conversation it seems to be correct in any given group of hikers.
It makes sense, because we spend a large portion of our time eating quite a lot of food, then combine that with 8-10 hours of physical activity per day. I had no plans to become a member of the 50% that had, so the cat hole was a must.
As I was descending the final mile toward the gap, I began dictating to my phone, as I’d been deep in thought all morning and started having revelations that I wanted to write down in my phone journal.
When I arrived at the gap, I still wasn’t done writing, so I sat for several minutes finishing up, not wanting to be talking to my phone on the next climb. When I was done, it was almost noon, so I decided I might as well have lunch and fuel up before climbing up Snowbird Mountain, a 2.5 mile ascent of 1,400 feet.
As I was eating my usual tuna, tortillas, and cheese, Lentil and Looseleaf arrived and sat down on the large log next to me to eat as well. Looseleaf got ready to walk the .2 blue blaze to the shelter to get water, and they offered for him to fill my bottle as well.
I’d been planning on making my 3/4 of a liter last the remaining 7.5 miles to the road, but gratefully accepted another liter from the shelter. It turned out to be a very good thing, because I drank just about all of it before the day was done.
I sat and watched Lentil make quite a spread for lunch. She is vegan, so they cook all of their meals throughout the day. She made a dish of textured vegetable protein, pearled couscous, green beans, taco seasoning, tortillas, and fried onions.
I watched with envy, and when she offered me a bite, I jumped at the opportunity. It was insanely good, and healthy to boot. I told Lentil how I used to be vegan, and even intended to stay that way on my first thru hike, but I hadn’t had the discipline or know-how to make that happen. I admired Lentil’s commitment and effort, because that was a lot of work both off and, especially on, trail
I began up the incline just before 12:30, listening to the new Taylor Swift album. The climb alternated between two steep sections, and two easier sections. I amused myself for a few minutes by going into a large, hollow tree that I could just squeeze into, gazing up through the trunk for a moment.
Finally I arrived on the edge of the grassy bald into an area with stupendous views of blue ridges in the distance, and walked over to look at the air traffic control tower up top.
I stopped in the woods to eat a nutty buddy at 1:40, only 4.6 miles down the mountain to go. I figured it should take under two hours and set off, listening to a podcast.
The descent ended up being much more difficult than I expected. It was steep, with several inches of leaves hiding the ground that sloped in places unexpectedly, turning my ankles in uncomfortable ways. I slipped on the leaves several times, sometimes catching myself with trekking poles but other times falling, and hit rocks and roots hiding under the leaves.
In addition, there were several blowdowns toward the bottom of the mountain, many of them unable to be stepped over, necessitating climbing around and even into a ditch at one point.
I was also starting to feel quite a bit of heat exhaustion. With no leaves on the trees to shelter from the sun, I’d been baking all day. I put on sunblock, but was more than ready to get to the road. It had taken an extra half an hour to descend the mountain, and I definitely knew I wanted to stay with Kathy for the night rather than try to rush to resupply then hike another 4 miles uphill.
I met her at the road leading to Standing Bear Hostel, happy to have made it. Kathy was an energetic and sprightly woman, her beautiful silver hair held up with a clip at the back of her head, full of interesting stories from various trails she’d hiked.
Originally from Texas, she’d relocated to Tennessee after thru hiking the AT in 2010. She’d also hiked it once more in sections, and had done the Colorado Trail, John Muir Trail, Florida Trail, and even several international trails.
We cruised down the highway to Walmart, arriving after 20 minutes in Newport, TN. I did my best to resupply without inventorying my food bag first, and only ended up buying a couple things I didn’t need.
We arrived at the house at 5PM, and I met Kathy’s husband, stepson, and two step grandchildren. Kathy finished preparing dinner, refusing my offer of help and telling me to get my resupply sorted out instead.
I did, my Ursack and fanny pack totally stuffed full of food when I was done. It was the most I’d carried since going into the 100 Mile Wilderness – five full days, but I wasn’t carrying as much rain and cold weather gear then, so I’d probably be carrying my heaviest pack yet this trip. The first day would be rough, but it would get easier from there.
I was very pleasantly surprised that I was going to be treated to homemade dinner with the family, and we sat down around 6:00. Everyone was so friendly and kind, and the food was amazing. Turkey, veggies, and homemade bread made my hiker hunger very happy.
After dinner, I did some reading, watching the grandkids jump in an enormous pile of leaves, did my laundry, took a shower, and watched part of a Hallmark Christmas movie with Kathy and Mike after the others left. It was crazy to me how we’d just gone from Halloween to Christmas in a flash.
I’d had a wonderful evening in a beautiful home with really lovely people. I was always happy when my network of hikers grew, so grateful to have such genuine people in my life. I knew I was in for a long climb in the morning, but couldn’t wait to get up in the Smokies and finally find out what it was all about.