This was our last day in the Smokies. We woke up eager to make our miles. It was mostly downhill out of the park. As we were leaving, we ran into a crew with 3 horses that were cutting up trees that had fallen across the trail. I truly appreciate all of the volunteers that take their time to maintain the trail so I can safely walk it. Without them, our hike would be infinitely more difficult and dangerous.
We had just a handful of miles after we left the park to get to the hostel where we knew we wanted to shower and do laundry. It’s been since Fontana since we’ve showered and we are gross.
It got hotter as we came down the mountain and the poison ivy got thicker. Ben will need to be really careful now.
We had a small stretch of road walking. Right before that 3 ladies were handing out trail magic: fruit, toiletries, trash bags, etc. They make a local magazine and took our picture. Maybe our beautiful dirty faces will end up inside people’s homes and on their pristine coffee tables.
We dragged ourselves those last few hot miles to the hostel. We weren’t sure if we would stay there, but it was already the afternoon and for what we would pay it would include camping on their property. I knew we had a big day ahead of us with showering, resupplying, and laundry. So we decided to bite the bullet and stay.
A lot of our friends were there. Many were already resting on the side of the river, feet in the water, beer in their hands. It didn’t take long before we joined. It was a fun night. We still had a full day of hiking a respectable amount of miles and we got plenty of time to relax and clean up. We showered in a covered outdoor stall and did our wash by hand with a washboard (the washboard thing I would rather not repeat – I’m so thankful for modern day appliances).
After the work was done, we had hot pizza and sat by the fire. We went to bed late and slept without the rainfly on. I think it’s our first night without the rainfly. I laid there watching the stars. When the moon rose at 3a(ish) the rooster crowed. That should give you an idea of how bright it is right now.
– ansel