On the Road Again… – The Trek

No one else wanted breakfast in town, but I’ll never pass up a chance for real food. Eating only processed stuff can’t be good for physical, mental, or gut health. So, at Crockett’s Breakfast Camp, I brought my pack stuffed to the gills with food in and ordered an eggs benedict, while inhaling all too much coffee and the nice fresh fruit. Sure, I’d miss the free Gatlinburg shuttle provided by the church nearby, but… that’s ok.

The day before, the NPS had indeed blocked off the road to Newfound Gap. So even if we wanted to hike, no such luck. Today, however, was open! Passed by the NOC and met Trouble, a 2x thru hiker going for a third round this year. Made some conversation, but needed to head on over to the other side of the road, where I stuck my thumb up and… waited. Not for long though! I was quickly picked up by the lovely mother daughter pair of Jolene and Emily. They’re here on their spring break from Indiana, and Jolene’s planning on thru hiking the following year! They took me up to Newfound Gap, where I took some brief pictures and set out!

Starting to hike completely alone somehow was an unfamiliar experience at this point. Though we had a semi set end goal of the Tri-Corner Knob Shelter, I’d gotten used to seeing at least one or two others in the morning before they set out. It’s interesting to me that I got so anxious over something that was just how I rolled two weeks ago. I wanted to experience some level of self sufficiency out here, and while there’s a level of that achieved through being able to live out of my backpack, I’ve lost a bit of the autonomy, planning, and confidence that comes with being my own boss for the day.

The trails were wet and slippery throughout the morning, with yesterday night’s rainwater running through it. Kind of a finally moment, since it’s what I was expecting, heading into the trail. Not pleasant, but not terrible either. Just something to accept. Right when I ran out of water, passed by a beautiful sunny, patch of grass, full stream next week, and decided to hunker down and eat some lunch.

Isn’t it magical how when you listen to your body, and take care of the things that make you feel bad, you suddenly feel better? Things like being hungry, need to pee, hydration, wanting real food, I would’ve probably just ignored in frontcountry life. and yeah, out here, you have nothing to do, but listen to your body. And when you help it, it really helps you. After lunch, I had a burst of energy, and was able to start hiking a lot faster. I eventually ran into Five Lives, Danielle, Michaela, and Richard! Richard had spent the last two days at Standing Bear Farm, and was just fortunate enough to pass by us at the right time. Again, we never really coordinate schedules, but still just worked out.

Michaela and Danielle stopped quickly for lunch, and while I kept up with the other two for a bit. For some reason, even after the zero, I’m feeling out of it physically. It might just be the breaking of the new shoes, but my feet are hurting just as quickly, if not faster, than before. It could also just be from the insane amount of sugar that I’ve been dumping into my system. As I mentioned the previous day, I started eating an Oreo based trail mix, instead of just one of the pre-mixed ones. though, I messed up the ratio, and put too many Oreos, and not enough almonds in it. Oops.

Took some major breaks along the trail, and try to get a little nap in at one point. Sugar really was getting to me. Spent the rest of the day just meandering in the woods. Stuck in my own thoughts, as the temperatures were rapidly dipping. stuck isn’t the right word, more so an observer to them.

At the shelter, ran into Crazy and Trash Dog again. I’d seen them at Neels Gap, way back in Georgia. I’m not gonna lie, I completely forgot about it, but then he made another comment about my Jolly Gear. and that kind of sparked another memory. We also met second breakfast, from the UK! Everyone was huddled in the shelter, trying to stay warm. It was going to dip too pretty cold tonight, possibly some freezing. And Crazy was trying to get a fire going, but so much of the wood around was wet that it was difficult to get it roaring.

I wish I had more memories to mention. But really, it was just lots of huddling around the shelter. And lots of purposeful dehydration. I think we all had the fear of needing to get up to pee as it got colder… and colder…

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