Plumorchard Shelter to NC line and back to Blue Ridge Gap

Day Ten – Sunday, October 9
7.5 miles in 3.5 hours
Plumorchard Shelter to NC line and back to Blue Ridge Gap

For the first time this morning I felt no sore muscles in my legs. We hiked 4.4 miles to Blue Ridge Gap. 

We took one water bladder and some snacks, our camera and my journal and hid our backpacks in the woods.  Then we headed toward the North Carolina line.

Entering the Southern Nantahala Forest.

Going the remainder of the 3.1 miles up to the line was a breeze, wow! What a difference it made not to have a load of 35 and 45 pound backpacks on our back. 

We were surprised to see the tree in the middle of the trail and realize it was the tree that had the NC line sign on it in 1.5 hours!  We celebrated by taking lots of pictures of us and the tree, then sat down for a snack of cheese crackers and water. 

Our first view of the NC/GA line. 

Yee-Haw!  We made it!  The first 76.4 miles of the AT!

The little bag that Wait-Up was carrying was even lighter on the way down and he was leading the way, so we made it back to Blue Ridge in 1.25 hours. 

Like one old man said when we met him coming up the trail when we were going back down, “We're hiking machines by now!”  He and his wife also came from Springer Mountain and left the day before we did.

We then picked up our backpacks where we had hidden them and started walking down the rough gravel road to wait for our ride.  The walk down was rougher than any walking we had done today.  At the end of the gravel where the paved road started (about a mile down), we laid down and rested until Sally came and picked us up.  She was a welcome sight!  

The slag road at BlueRidge Gap we had to walk down to get to our last shuttle ride. 

When I got in the car, my leg started itching (my inner thigh to be exact).  By the next morning, I had a full-blown case of poison ivy on my inner thigh and it later spread to other surrounding areas…..

We booked a room at the Holiday Inn (no more Budget Inn for us!) with a king size bed and a Jacuzzi.   Awwwwesome!

We were on the trail for parts of 10 days, hiked about 8 1/2 days of the those 10 days.  Walked a total of 81.5 miles in 59 hours, a rate of approximately 1.4 miles per hour. 

We have already planned our strategy for next Spring.  We will park our car at Sally and Joyce’s house, have them shuttle us up to NC to some point depending on how long we want to hike and we will hike backwards to Blue Ridge Gap. 

Can’t wait for more adventure !