Cosby Knob Shelter to Waterville School Road (I40), Northbound

Woke up to the sun rising at Cosby Knob.

May 14, 2013
10.4 miles
7:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

It’s funny that we now consider 10 miles a short day.  Considering that back in Georgia it took most of the day for us to cover 8 or 9 miles, it is amazing that we can now do 10 miles by early afternoon. 

The trail was first uphill until we got to the side trail to the Mt. Cammerer Fire Tower, then downhill all the way. There were several trees down on the trail, one that we had to literally crawl under.



Yep, we walked that 31.4 miles from Newfound Gap.

When we reached Davenport Gap we had a most lovely site awaiting us – a TRAIL ANGEL!  Woo hoo! This guy was from Ohio and he does trail magic full time on 4 different trails.  He had a table set up with Famous Amos chocolate chips cookies and a bag full of different kinds of chips, and a cooler full of sodas.  My, my, did that ever taste good and was the perfect reward for making it through the Smokies.  He even had camping chairs for us to sit in.  Firemaker – I mean two-point-oh – a guy named Mark, Frizz and us were there about the same time and we all enjoyed a little break before heading on up the next mountain toward I40 and Standing Bear Hostel.  Us to our car and them to stay at the hostel for the night. 

The distance from Davenport Gap to Waterville School Road is 2.4 miles.  Anything can happen in 2.4 miles in the mountains.  We thought we were home free but, low-and-behold, when the walking was good and level, a root got in Wait-up's way and he went down - HARD!  He actually turned a flip right there on the trail.  Once a 35 pound backpack gets going in one direction, it keeps going.  His head hit the ground and his hand came down on a rock as he tried to break his fall.  Nothing was broken though, so he got up and we went on down the trail.  Too close to the end to stop now. 

We felt quite an accomplishment to have finished the Smokies finally after first planning to do them back last July when the heat wave came through and knocked us out of it. We were happy to be back to our car and on the way to Knoxville for the night to stay with our daughter and son-in-law for a short rest.

Wait-up surveying the goods at the Trail Angel table.

Frizz, Catch-up, Wait-up, and Two-point-oh enjoying trail magic.

The AT passes under I40.

Pecks Corner Shelter to Cosby Knob Shelter, Northbound



A Cairn marking the trail. 

A good place to rest, wouldn't you agree?

May 13, 2013
12.9 miles
7:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Rough day, what can I say? Mostly uphill.  Reached Cosby Knob Shelter to find lots of folks there already. One older gentleman (maybe late 60s, early 70s) had walked from Orlando to here. He had a hurt ankle so was walking pretty slowly right now.  Another older lady had a really bad hurt ankle and was going to call it quits at least for a short time when she got to the next crossing.  There were several section hikers and also some thru-hikers.  A couple of guys were out only for 50 days to see how far they could get. There were a couple of guys from Ohio who were doing a –day loop to and from Standing Bear Hostel (I40).  We gave one of them a trail name, “Iceman” because of his job back in Ohio. The other guy didn’t get a trail name yet.  There was a young lady named Frizz who was going as far as Harper’s Ferry.  We saw her many times throughout the remainder of our time on the trail.  And a fellow named Mark who we leapfrogged with the next day.  Firemaker came in later but was too tired to build a fire until he was cajoled into it.   It was going to be another cold night.



Cosby Knob Shelter

 

Bear cables at Cosby Knob