16.2 miles

March 10, 2018

Unicoi gap (mile 52.3) to Dicks creek gap (mile 69.00)

I “slackpacked” today. What does that mean? Well I leave the bulk of my gear at the hostel, take a day-pack with food and water and whatever else I’d need for the day. Then the hostel shuttles me back to where they picked me up yesterday and I hike back towards the hostel.

It meant it would be a big day, but it also meant I’d have somewhere warm to sleep.

To be honest it kind of sucked. I did not like having the time pressure to get done for the day, and I was also still pretty tired from the 15 miles I did yesterday. To make matters a little worse, it was well after 9 am when I got dropped off at the trail head.

Turns out the miserable hiker from yesterday was correct, it rained all day. All in all the day was just a slog through the rain and mud whilst worrying about the fading light. Most folks had also heard the weather was going to be much worse, so there was hardly anyone in the trail.

There was a lot of big climbs throughout the day, with the main climbs being Today the main climbs were Rocky mountain (3992 feet) Tray mountain (4398 feet) and Kelly Knob (4144 feet).

I did get some trail magic from a nice dude named Keith right before Tray mountain. The can of sprite was like rocket fuel, and I got halfway up the mountain with it. That last half though…

My left ankle started giving me some grief early on. I was able to walk, but it slowed me down somewhat. Perhaps an indication that I’ve been pushing it a little too much over the last few days.

It was starting to get dark by the time I got to Dicks creek gap at 6:35 pm. Even though the walk was not the greatest I still felt pretty elated to have done it.

The evening was pretty awesome though, lots of hikers to talk to. Many laughs were had.

Tomorrow I have a whole lot of nothing planned.