Appalachian Trail SOBO Day 96 – I could just quit now?
30th October 2023
TN 91 (1749.3) - Laurel Fork Shelter (1776.5)
Daily miles: 23.2
Total miles: 1773.4
I’m pleased I pitched my tent under the roof because the others had tents wet with condensation in the morning. I was keen to get going early as we had a big 27 mile day ahead and I felt crappy yesterday so I wanted to give myself the best chance of getting there in good time.
Morning with trail angels Shep and No Miles
I was shooting for 7:30am but we ended up back on trail at 8am which wasn’t too bad. No Miles shuttled us to the trailhead so I made sure I was in the first shuttle.
I hiked out with Jet, Hendrix, Lemonhope, May Queen and Toe ahead of me and we were hiking in a train. It wasn’t cold so we had to stop pretty early on to delayer then it was just me Toe and May Queen in the train and then May Queen stopped to delayer again and Toe got ahead so it was time for headphones and head down and get on with it.
Hiker train
Toe was ahead of me and I saw her fall. She said she went over on her ankle and she was a bit upset. I asked her if she was ok and if she needed some time alone which she did. Sometimes you just need to have a bit of a cry.
I hike on. I’m on the verge of giving myself a panic attack thinking about the rain later and the cold over the next few days. It’s ridiculous, but I seem to have a knot of anxiety right now and I can’t get rid of it.
I also had a bit of a moment where I thought I could easily get off trail and quit right now because the leaves are just making everything so difficult. They are so thick and sometimes you can barely make out where the trail is. Plus the amount of times I’ve been tripping and stumbling over hidden rocks is getting relentless. And my usual favourite downhill has just become difficult as I slide on the leaves.
Lemonhope in the distance
Toe overtaking me on the uphill
There were a lot of people on trail today, a big group of kids and some adults, hopefully from the same group. There were varying examples of trail etiquette.
I came to a shelter where Jet, Lemonhope and Hendrix were eating lunch. Water was a 0.3 side trail which I was absolutely not going to do, so instead of having noodles for lunch like I planned I ate some Pringles and cheese and went on my way after a 40 minute break. Toe and May Queen arrived in that time and Toe was feeling a lot better.
It had started to drizzle so I left with my rain coat on but after about half an hour I was far too hot and sweaty. The trail was nice, it had views over to the left of Watauga lake looking all moody with the low cloud - it was actually a dam. There was a little road walk which was the actual trail and it was a sweet relief from the leaves.
A cold and wet kinda day
Nice views between the rain
This was a very welcome relief from the leaves
The road walk had nice views of the colourful trees
The trail skirted the edge of the water and I was pretty thirsty by this time and I considered going down to get some water but I’m glad I waited as I found some nice water on the trail. I almost missed it because it was all covered with leaves but there was a good flow.
Watuga dam
Colours are poppin
It was so nice walking around the edge of the lake
Only just found this water source
Here comes the rain
Still pretty though
SNAKE!
Water water everywhere
The end of the lake
Just after that it started to rain and by 4pm it was properly raining and I had my waterproofs on and my umbrella up.
The trail crosses a road and then climbs up a big 2000ft climb and then goes back down 2000ft the other side. I wasn’t looking forward to this at all, especially in the weather as it was likely to be worse up there. Someone had pointed out a road walk around it earlier in the day, cutting off the climb and saving a few miles.
So I decided to do the road walk. It was about 2 miles and it was super sketchy. There was hardly any shoulder and the cars were passing very fast and very close. I would say about 50% moved over, 25% couldn’t move over and the remaining drivers were dicks who passed as close and as fast as they could. It’s not like they couldn’t see me. I had my big sliver umbrella up but that wasn’t protecting me from all the spray.
As soon as the road went downhill a bit I jogged so I could get off the road as quick as possible and back on to the trail. I made it without dying and I was very happy to be back on a trail. It was about a mile back to the AT and then another mile to the shelter.
Back on the trail which is completely covered in leaves
About halfway into the Laurel Falls trail I get a call from May Queen saying they were all going to stay at the hostel before the sketchy road walk. Ok. They said they would see me tomorrow. I thought for half a second about turning back and getting someone to pick me up at the road, but the thought of staying another night in a hostel with a lot of other people after the previous 2 nights, and with a plan to stay at a hostel tomorrow, it seemed a bit much. So I carried on hoping that Rabbit Foot would be there. I then got a text to say that Cal and Hendrix were going to come to the shelter.
The Laurel Falls Trail was actually really nice, it was only when I got back to the AT that the trail turned steep and rocky again. I collected water from the creek and made my way slowly to the shelter. It was uphill so I was going extra slowly so I didn’t sweat too much in my waterproofs. It was still raining lightly.
Laurel falls creek
A right slip n slide!
Salvation – a less common stone shelter
When I arrived it was empty. No Rabbit Foot. So I sat in the shelter and took my wet things off, got some dry warm things on and set about making some noodles and a hot chocolate. There were all these bugs around which were really annoying, I had about 4 in my hot chocolate which I had to fish out.
I had arrived at 5:35pm and I procrastinated pretty hard just sitting there in my sleeping bag. It was dark now and I thought maybe Cal and Hendrix had changed their minds about coming to the shelter so I set up my tent inner inside to be away from all the bugs and got all my stuff organised and then I saw the headlights coming up the hill.
I would have been fine in the shelter on my own - it was a glimpse of what it might have been like had this been a more solo experience - but I was very pleased to have some friends. Cal also packed out a soda for me! I think I’m going to have it for breakfast, if I drink a whole can of soda now I will need to pee in the night.
It’s still raining I think, or it could be the trees drizzling. Either way I’m pleased to be in the shelter and not packed in like sardines. It’s nice and spacious with only 3 of us. I’ve also put the fly on my tent so it might be a little warmer although it’s not as cold as I was anticipating.
My feet have got soft from being wet for a few hours and the temptation to pick off the skin and remove the callouses is strong but it’s not a good idea. It’s best to just let them harden again.
