Day 42
Start: Unaka Springs Rd
End: Indian Grave Gap
Miles Hiked: 8.4
Miles on AT: 352.8
Follow my journey on Instagram (@jenbrownhikes) for more updates!
Last slackpacking day before Trail Days! We had planned to go to the Beauty Spot and do around 10 or 11 miles, but the road accessing that spot was closed, forcing us to modify our plans. Our other options were a 20 mile day or an 8 mile day. Obviously, we opted for the 8 mile day.
I’m a little bit worried about our pace. We’re probably going to be finishing in October, which is fine with me. But, I thought we would be doing bigger days already. We’re not in dire territory. I did the calculations – if we take 20 zero days and average 15 miles per day on our hiking days, we can make it by the first week of October, totally doable. We’re just holding steady and we’ll ramp up when we can.
Today’s hike was nice and easy; there was only one steep section and the rest was a nice easy uphill. We wanted to take a break at the Maple Curly Gap Shelter, but there were wasps everywhere and they weren’t too hospitable.
To pass the time while hiking, Janitor and I asked each other random questions and came up with equally unhinged answers. We ran into Billy Bob again just as we were reaching the end of our hike. He had opted to do the 20 mile day and was returning to Erwin with only a few miles left.
At the gap, our ride awaited us and back to town we went. Tomorrow is Trail Days in Damascus, Va! I’m so excited to see what it’s all about and to revel in the hiker vibes. Tonight my legs are a bit restless because they didn’t get to do enough miles; they’re twitching for more.
And that’s day 42.
A version of this post originally appeared on TheTrek.co.