Waterfalls on the Pinhoti Trail

This morning I woke up at the Horn Mountain Pavilion feeling cozy and well rested. A welcome change from the last two days. The sun was shining and the wind whipped into my tent. After lazing about for a few minutes, I got out of my tent and spread out everything I needed on the bench. It was a beautiful day but still quite chilly. I walked over to the fire tower where I had stashed my ursack and grabbed my food. I made coffee, ate some breakfast, and enjoyed the view. To make up for the long day yesterday, I planned to only go about 9 miles today. After I finished eating, I got dressed, packed up all my stuff and headed back to the trail, just after 10:30. 

Had lots of space to spread out!

The dirt road back to the trail was much easier going downhill, and I got back to the trail in no time. The terrain was a beautiful pine forest to start, and the trail was covered in pine needles. The sun was shining and I felt great and happy to be out in the woods. There were only 4 miles to get to the next water source, the inaptly named ‘Dry Creek”, which was right beside a big lake. There was a small uphill section to start but the rest was downhill all the way to the creek. The trail switched back and forth between pine forests and leafy forests with rocky terrain. It was quick going though, and before I knew it the trail opened up and I could see the lake down below. The trail curved and I arrived at the creek! 

View of the lake from the trail.

It was just after 12, so I decided to have a nice long lunch. There was nobody around and I hadn’t seen a soul all day, so I stripped to my underwear, switched to my tevas and got in the water. It was too cold to fully submerge in the water, but I splashed water in my face and on my arms which felt awesome. After my toes couldn’t take it, I got out of the water and spread out my groundsheet to dry off my shirt and have a little surface to eat on. I ate my lunch and enjoyed the sound of the water flowing and the birds chirping. I filled up water and packed up. I kept my tevas on for the stream crossings, which was a good call since it was pretty impossible to keep your feet dry on these crossings. After the first crossing, there was a waterfall and then the trail followed alongside a lake for a little bit. I only had 5 miles to go and just about 300 feet of elevation gain with that, so it was a very cruisy breezy walk for the rest of the day. The miles flew by and before I knew it I had reached my campsite for the night, right after 4 pm. It felt great to have an early finish compared to the first two days. 

I chilled at the campsite for an hour or so, eating snacks and texting some friends. At one point a hiker passed by the campsite, but I was too far off trail for her to see me and by the time I noticed she was too far to call out to. Oh well! I wasn’t meant to speak to anyone today; that hiker was the first person I had come across all day. I had some packaged dal that I had grabbed at the Krogers in Atlanta to try. I decided to boil some water and pour it straight into the bag instead of following the cooking directions. It came out really good, and I didn’t have to get my pot dirty which was great! After dinner, I set up my tent which I’m definitely getting better at pitching. Only 14 miles to go for this hike, so close to the finish! 

Nice sunset view through the trees!

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