To Town Or Not To Town that is the Question

Day 29- 10.5 Miles today from Double springs gap shelter to Newfound Gap 2,336 Ascent, 2,805 Descent

An Eerie Mist

We prepared last night to get up early this morning with a goal of over 13 miles for today’s hike. We started out at 6:30 which was still dark. There was an eerie mist as we hiked through a spruce forest covered in moss.

The forest floor look like it’s covered in moss similar to a rainforest on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington. It was hard to see because of the dark and the misty clouds like smoke wisping by.

We were the first ones out so we are so we are silk blazing. Knockerz is acting as spiderwoman today this morning catching all the newly laid spider webs from last night.

It was still windy but warmer probably in the 60s but a nice cooling breeze was blowing through. We love hiking in the dark although I hate missing this beautiful forest.

Christmas time

It smells like a wonderful Christmas tree in the spruce Forest. It smelled exactly like a three-wick spruce candle from Bath & Body Works. The ground is littered with spruce limbs that have fallen off because of the high winds. These fallen limbs had a reflective quality and lit up on top of the dark moss when I shined my headlight on them.

Approaching Kuwohi we traveled along a spruce covered knife ridge. There were several technical rock pieces to climb over. Every so often the clouds would part and you could see beautiful views on both sides of the ridge down into the smokey mountain park.

A Lust for Town Food

After days of cold trail food I had been dreaming of a calzone or a hamburger. When we were climbing up to Kuwohi we both started talking about the various types of town foods we wanted to eat thinking we were at least five more days from town food. It was just a way to entertain ourselves as we did the climb.

After Kuwohi we headed towards Newfound Gap after climbing Mt Collins. We had intended to do a 13 Mile day to Ice Water Springs but Knockerz suggested maybe we should go down to Gatlinburg. At the gap I put up a laminated sign that said “to app trail” on one side and “to town” on the other side. I held out the “To Town”side as we walked along the highway we immediately got a ride to the Microtel hotel in Gatlinburg.

After a shower, our first one in a week, we went to get those calzones at mellow mushroom pizza. Then we did the normal Town duties where I snuck into Gatlinburg Inn to their laundry area that was described on the far out app. And did our laundry for the first time in a week. After a few more town duties the day was all used up. It amazes me how quickly town days evaporate. See you tomorrow.

This website contains affiliate links, which means The Trek may receive a percentage of any product or service you purchase using the links in the articles or advertisements. The buyer pays the same price as they would otherwise, and your purchase helps to support The Trek’s ongoing goal to serve you quality backpacking advice and information. Thanks for your support!

To learn more, please visit the About This Site page.