We arranged to leave the hostel by 9am, along with Chef, who was being dropped off near where we planned to start. Our shuttle driver, Corey, was a bit of a squirrel, easily distracted and unpredictable. We ended up leaving Stanimal’s Hostel nearly an hour later than planned.
The drive, once again, was harrowing, and I was so thankful when we made it to the trailhead. Ada didn’t seem to mind the crazy driving at all, and she snuggled with me and then hopped in the front seat to take in the view when Chef left.
We had about 14 miles to hike today and it was already 10am. No time to waste! To start the day’s hike, we had a 2,000 foot climb up to Bald Knob. It was long and slow and steep, and we stopped several times to catch our breath. The view, once we made it to the top, was pretty great!
On the way down, Misty took a slight fall and was ever so kind as to let me take a picture before helping her up.
The trail stayed at higher elevation, with little dips and climbs along the way. There were many great lookout spots!
Then we climbed up Cole Mountain and were greeted by wide, open spaces with 360° views. It was bright and sunny and beautiful up there!
We made our way down to a slightly lower elevation and the fall colors were so beautiful. It was fun to look back at the huge mountain we had just tackled, too!
We kept remarking on how great the weather was and how nice the trail was today! We were in good spirits.
And then our packs just started to wear on us. At one point, we threw them off and sat down right in the middle of the trail for a break. Snacks would make it all better!
Late in the day, we hopped across the Piney River on some large rocks and went up and away again.
We stopped at Seeley-Woodworth Shelter, dropped our packs, and made our way down to the spring that supposedly would have water. It was quite a hike down, but when we got there, we were so happy to find a pipe with fresh, flowing water! We filled all of our bottles and headed back up the trail.
With about an hour and a half of daylight left, we decided to hike one more mile to a tent site at Porters Gap. It was the golden hour before sunset, and everything was glowing and magical.
Porters Gap had many flat tent sites to choose from, and we quickly set up camp, got cleaned up and made our dinners. There was no table here, so I just made a little spot for myself on the ground.
After dinner, we were almost out of daylight, so we decided to crawl into our tents and sleeping bags to keep warm.
Almost immediately, Misty realized she had a leak in her air mattress. I encouraged her to re-inflate it and make sure her valves were closed. After three attempts, her mattress was still losing air. She was starting to panic a bit. I was starting to panic a bit, too! She couldn’t sleep the next four nights on the ground! While I started to look for a way out the next day, she began trying to find the leak. After just a short time, she found it! Luckily, we had patches with us, and she was able to repair the mattress. Crisis averted!
Once the air mattress drama had settled, we did, too. It was eerily quiet at this campsite, and I was a little unsettled knowing that we had no cell service and the nearest exit point was ten miles away. Eventually, I burrowed down into my sleeping bag and drifted off to sleep.
Total Miles: 15.27
Total Elevation Gain: 4,488 feet
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