Day 31 Unaka

Writing from my tent after hiking 20 miles and finishing one of the hardest mountains between the end of the Smokies and Virginia.

I didn’t sleep well last night since there was a lot of noise in the shelter and from the rain. It poured all night. And with 6 people in a shelter there’s bound to be snoring and a lot of shuffling around. I probably managed to sleep for around 4 hours. After the sun rose, Tyler was able to check the weather and see that the rain was supposed to slow down around 8:30AM. So we took our time getting ready and eating breakfast. The rain did let up and we started hiking just before 9. 


There was one very strange thru hiker at the shelter last night. He was friendly but definitely a strange character. The other two people were very nice section hikers. 


Once we started moving the first 10 miles up Unaka Mountain went pretty quickly. Unaka was challenging because we had to ascend for the entire 10 miles, so there is very little break. To make things harder, the morning was cold, foggy, and windy. The weather would stay like that pretty much all day. Fortunately the rain mostly held off so we didn’t get soaked. 


On the way up Unaka we passed a lookout called Beauty Spot. Unfortunately it was too foggy for us to witness the beauty. There is something cool about the fog though. 



We summited Unaka around 1PM, and only had 10 easier miles left on the day. The top of Unaka doesn’t really have views but is very interesting terrain. 



Having passed Unaka, we are officially in the Roan Highlands. I’m very interested to see the views in the next 30 miles of highlands, as last time Tyler and I were here we had fog the whole time. Tomorrow is supposed to be beautiful and clear so we should actually see what’s around us. And the Roan Highlands are supposed to be beautiful.  


I felt very good all day. My stomach is settled so I can eat without any issues and my legs are still feeling awesome. I’m still regaining stamina but overall I didn’t find today particularly challenging.


I’m so grateful to be back out here hiking again. Even though the weather wasn’t perfect today it felt incredible to be hiking, making progress, and spending the whole day outside. 


I experimented by cooking mac and cheese for dinner and it turned out very well.  The extra cooking and cleaning felt very worth it for a warm meal that I scarfed down as soon as it was ready. 


We made it to camp at Greasy Creek Gap around 5PM, having hiked 20 moderately challenging miles in 8 hours. It’s nice getting to camp a little early and have time to eat, set up and get warm before dark. 


Tomorrow is supposed to be 50 degrees and clear without much wind. We plan to hike most of the Roan Highlands, covering another 20 miles. This will just leave 8 miles for the following day before we cross out of NC for the last time and get our resupply that will get us through the last 70 miles of TN and into VA. 


It will be cold tonight, in the low 20’s. I’m able to stay pretty warm so I plan to sleep incredibly well tonight.


Goodnight,

Walker 



If you want to follow Tyler or Spencer, here are their logs as well:


Tyler: https://tylerat2024.blogspot.com/?m=1


Spencer’s: https://www.instagram.com/baxter.bound?utm_source=qr&igsh=MWx4MzRqa3M4dGk3Mw==

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Epilogue

I am officially an Appalachian Trail thru hiker. We hiked the AT from start to finish. It took 125 days, with 20 days off. Counting my 2020 attempt, I have hiked over 2,830 miles of the Appalachian Trail. Including days off we averaged 17.58 miles a day for 125 days. Not counting days off we averaged over 20 miles a day. It was harder, more beautiful, and more worthwhile than I hoped for or expected. When I think back on the hike as a whole, the generosity of our friends and families is foremost in my mind.   My biggest fears going into the hike were related to health and weather. When asked for prayer topics, these were the primary two items that came to my mind. The largest injury suffered through the entire hike was when Tyler cut his finger after a fall in New York. Otherwise we had all of the minor blisters, sore joints and muscles that you would expect, but we had no major injuries. We were given remarkable weather throughout the hike. Without a hint of exaggeration, I believ...
Read more

Day 125 Summit Day

Image
Today we finished the Appalachian Trail.   A quick note before I get into the update for today. In a separate post I will write out an epilogue where I go over my broader thoughts and experiences of the trail. For today, I will write like I have for all the other days, capturing my memories and sharing my initial thoughts.   I slept well last night between 9PM and 4AM. We woke up early to make the 2 hour drive to Katahdin Stream trailhead. We grabbed left over pancakes from the day before and hopped in the car. The drive to the trailhead went smoothly. We arrived at Baxter and made it to the parking lot with some time to spare. We registered with the park ranger and got our AT Thru Hiker finisher cards.  Spencer and I are 40th and 41st people to finish the AT this year.  Spencer, Brooke, Ashley and I started hiking at around 7:30 with 5 miles to the summit.   The initial ascent was quite easy. With 10 miles out and back to hike we really weren’t in a rush. Ashle...
Read more

Day 118 Fording Rivers

Image
Today we forded 4 rivers and hiked 26 miles in 90 degree heat.   I slept very well last night, pretty much straight through the night. We woke up at 6:30 and started hiking around 8.  We had a couple decent views from the Pleasant Pond ridge before dropping down into the valley.  We spent most of the day just hiking through the woods. Occasionally there would be mud or roots or rocks, but overall it was pretty simple.  Before climbing our only mountain for the day we passed Moxie Pond.  Then we climbed up Moxie Bald Mountain. On the way up the trail went through some really cool rock formations and caves.  The top of Moxie Bald had a couple good views.  After Moxie Bald we spent pretty much the next 18 miles hiking through woods.  The only remaining excitement for the day were the river fords. None of them were dangerous, but we had to walk through the river to get to the trail on the other side. We forded Bald Mountain Stream, Marble Brook, and t...
Read more