Backpacking the AT - Day 3

 Day 3: Dismal Falls mile 612.4 to Doc’s Knob Shelter mile 628 11.5 miles 

We awoke with the sunrise, got busy with coffee, breakfast, and packing up, and then Misty and I started this day with a hike down to Dismal Falls. After a night of hearing them in the distance we were ready to see the falls in person! What a great little spot filled with cascading waterfalls and a big swimming hole that is a favorite with through hikers as well as the locals.

 It was fun to play on the rocks and walk right on top of the falls. I could easily imagine the summertime fun, jumping into the water below and hanging out with friends here. 

We refilled our drinking water and headed out. 

The trail was pretty easy to navigate this morning, following the river, and we were surrounded by rhododendrons. The Green Tunnel was definitely living up to its name!

The trail stayed at a lower elevation for quite some time, and we were loving all of the little stream crossings and the green moss covering nearly every surface.

 Originally we had planned to hike 17.5 miles today, but we really didn’t have that in us.  There was an option to take a blue blaze trail which would shorten our hike by about six miles. Blue blaze trails can be side trails to water or points of interest, or in this case, detours around certain sections of the official AT. So, when the Ribble Trail blue blaze appeared, we took it.  

This would be just a short three mile side trail, and then would re-connect with the AT. The first two miles were very manageable but I’m quite sure the third mile was trying to kill us. It took us one hour and two minutes to climb ONE MILE.  Many, many cus words were spoken. In fact, every day for the rest of the trip, one or both of us would mutter, “Fucking Ribble Trail," at one point or another. That blue blaze trail definitely made its mark on us.

 As we climbed the last little bit of that trail, we passed by the ruins of an old house. There was nearly nothing left of it, but it did cause my mind to wonder what life would’ve been like living here.

 Then there was the rest of a very long climb, and at long last, we reached the AT junction. We stopped to take a rest from our packs and have a snack. We hadn’t seen a water source in quite some time, and there didn’t seem to be one in the foreseeable future. Handwritten on the trail sign was, “water 400 yards” and an arrow pointing back to where we had just come from-down the hill, of course.

 We left our packs and took our water bottles. Quickly we noticed some hand-tied orange markers and followed them, past the old ruined house, to a nice flowing pipe of icy cold water. We thankfully filled our empty bottles and headed back to our packs. 

The next section was downhill, but it was not fast. The trail was filled with so many rocks. It felt like we were picking our way down the mountain. We were really feeling the miles of the last two days at this point and going downhill wasn’t feeling much better than going uphill. 

Speaking of uphill, we had one more big climb to go before we’d be at our shelter for the night. I didn’t know if I had it in me. Thankfully, this trail up was quite gradual and much more manageable than some of the prior climbs.

Just as we were nearing the summit, we saw the first person since leaving Owen two days prior! We met Bright Eyes and her sweet dog Sadie, who were Southbound (SOBO) thru-hikers! They had started their journey in May of 2023 and were getting closer to completion. Sadie even had her own little pack she carried! In fact, these two were about to finish their Triple Crown, completing not only the AT, but also the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) and the Continental Divide Trail (CDT). We were in the presence of trail hiker royalty! We stood and chatted for quite a while, and Bright Eyes recommended we stay the night at the next hostel and indulge in some Mexican food there before heading on. Hmmm, maybe we would!  We wished each other happy trails and headed off in opposite directions. 

We had just over a mile to go, and Bright Eyes had really lightened our mood! And then, just like that, our shelter was in sight.  Doc’s Knob Shelter recently had an upgrade and was fresh and like new. There was even a new pipe providing drinking water right under the deck!

 We planned to sleep in the shelter tonight, instead of our tents, as rain was predicted.  We set up our pads and beds and then set about building a fire. After trying and failing for an hour, we sadly gave up the fight.  Everything seemed to be just a little bit damp here and we couldn’t keep a flame going.  Oh well. We decided to make our dinners and eat them in bed. Not a bad alternative option! Our legs were so sore from the climbing, and again by 8pm we were snuggled quietly into bed for the night. 

But THEN, there was the howling of coyotes. And let me tell you, those yips and barks sound a lot scarier when the noises are echoing off of the walls of mountains! We sat very still as we listened to them, happy they weren’t anywhere near us. Just as that eerie sound was dying out, Misty yelled, “A MOUSE!” There was a mouse in the shelter, on the ground, headed for her face! We were up and out of our sleeping bags as fast as lightning! 

The mouse was scared off for the moment, but we didn’t know what to do. Rain was going to start falling shortly, we didn’t want to sleep in our tents in the rain and trying to sleep with the possibility of mice crawling on me was not an option I was willing to entertain. So, against shelter etiquette, we decided to set up Misty’s tent inside the shelter and share it, but only because we were the only people here and were quite sure no one else would be arriving this late into the night.  We clearly couldn’t use tent stakes, so we tied all the guy lines to nails above our heads and then loaded our mats and bags into the tent. 

After hanging our packs and everything a mouse might like to nibble on, we crawled inside the tent, inside the shelter, and zipped it tightly closed. We were so warm and cozy, and most importantly, safe from mice, and listened to the rain fall as we drifted off to sleep.