Triple Trail Magic on the AT

This morning we woke up in Jerry’s Cabin Shelter right around 4:30am. Then quietly got ready and were walking a little before 6am. We only had about 10 miles to go to get to Devil’s Fork Gap. Where apparently we will be getting some trail magic this morning!

The sunrise this morning was incredible as we hiked past Big Butt.

We had a climb up to Big Butt to start our day. Then the trail was pretty easy after that for the next couple of hours. Plus we got to see the most incredible sunrise! It was unbelievably bright with reds and pinks. I love walking through the forest as the sun is coming up.

Climbing up the trail as the sun rose.

Those first few hours of the morning were about as easy as it gets on the AT. We had a few short segments of climbing, but the trail was primarily flat or downhill. It feels like typically the AT is always bringing you downhill and then immediately back uphill. But for a little bit we got to have an easy ride all the way down to the gap.

Trail magic for breakfast! These guys from the NC Mountain Club were so nice!

When we arrived at Devil’s Fork Gap it was around 8:45am and we saw a truck parked alongside the road! It was Deaver, who I have been corresponding with on Instagram. On Instagram his account is @fat2fit, so that’s the name that has stuck more in my head over the last few days of corresponding.

He was excited to see us and also shocked how early we had gotten there. When we arrived he had only just pulled up and began getting set up. He had chairs laid out around a fire pit. And a truck load of goodies for hikers! There were oranges, chocolate, bars, trail mix, jerky, muscle milk, juice, and he brought chocolate milk special for us. What a guy! Sadly there aren’t a lot of other hikers around, so I wasn’t sure if he’d get a chance to feed anyone else after us. The trail had been unbelievably quiet recently.

This roaring fire had me feeling so good!

We hung out there for a long time, chatting with Deaver and mowing down. I drank two chocolate milks, had some Oreos and mini chocolate bars, then an orange to round it out. After a little while Deaver had a friend named Henry who arrived with his dog Willie. Deaver and Henry know each other because they both help out with the Carolina Mountain Club. An organization that helps to maintain the trails through North Carolina. Their chapter is massive and has done a lot when it comes to repairing the trail after Helene. It’s amazing to meet people like this who care so much about the trail and the community.

Once Henry got there they got the fire pit roaring. Which was amazing because it was starting to get really cold out! I spent a lot of time giving love to Willie the adorable long haired dog. He was so cute! Then just ate a bunch more food before we had to continue on. We were planning on going at least another 20 miles for the day. So sadly we couldn’t stick around for much more than an hour. But I was so grateful for these guys coming out to support our trip! And even more grateful for all of the amazing work that they do for the trail.

We got some great views after leaving Devil’s Fork Gap.

It was right around 10am when we finally headed back out to continue along. The trail was nice and easy for the next mile or so. Then we began another climb, which was a little bit steep. And for the next few hours we were just going up and down non stop. We passed by one hiker who was sitting on a log. But they didn’t really chat us up when we walked by and said hello.

Then later on in the afternoon we passed by another hiker Dutch. He was super nice and we talked to him for a bit. And then we continued along and made our way over the next mountain. Up near the top we passed by Hogback Ridge Shelter. Then passed High Rock which was the high point for that climb. From there it was almost entirely downhill to Sam’s Gap.

We spent hours weaving through the forest, up and over small hills.

When you get down to Sam’s Gap you have to go under an overpass and then walk along the road briefly. Then the trail picks up on the other side of the road. When we got to the trailhead there was a plastic box marked “trail magic”! And it was filled with canned sodas, candy, and chips! I had a coke and a mini bag of Doritos. While we were lingering around the box a trail runner passed by us. She looked me up and down and told me that I was “making her nervous” because of my clothes! I was just wearing my shorts and sun hoodie. But with all of the climbing that we’ve been doing I’ve been staying nice and warm.

Leaving the trail magic we had another climb to warm us up too. For the next 6 miles we were going to be climbing on and off pretty continuously. The first mile or two was a nice easy climb up to a view point. Then we just rolled up and down along hills for the next couple of miles. I’ve been appreciating the way that the AT takes you up for a bit, and then rewards you with just enough flat or downhill to keep you going on the climbs.

Walking across a bare hill as we made our way toward Big Bald.

Then after another hour or so we had a pretty continuous climb for a mile or two. I hadn’t checked my map, but figured this was the final push up to Big Bald. But of course I was wrong! The AT will play with you like that sometimes. It seemed like we must be getting up to the top. But the trail just kept weaving around and going up and down. So I managed to get a few snacks in before the final climb began.

The final mile up to Big Bald was shockingly steep. There were a lot of stone steps to make your way up. And it just got colder and colder as we got closer to the top. By the time we were up near the top there was a thick fog rolling in. It almost felt like it was sprinkling rain on us, but I figured we were just walking through a literal cloud.

Then when we got up onto the actual Bald the wind was whipping like crazy! The fog had fully rolled in and you couldn’t see anything at all. But it still made for some cool views up top. I had to put my wind layers on when we got up top because it was freezing! And we began a long stretch of downhill after coming off of Big Bald. There were sections that were pretty dang steep with a lot of steps.

Around this time we began seeing the worst of the damage from Helene. Earlier in the day we had gone through some stretches with dozens of blowdowns. Some areas even had maybe 20-30 all in one big pile. But the trail had been completely cleared! Because there was so much damage all that could be done was just clearing the trail itself. They literally sawed straight through and created a path, but left the logs right off of the trail. Which made for a perfect path for hikers. I’m so grateful for all of the people who must have taken so much time to get the trail ready for hikers this year.

Big Bald was cold and foggy!

While we were coming off of Big Bald we went through the worst of the damage though. There were quite literally whole hill sides where every single tree had come down. Some sections were 50-100 trees all piled on each other and across the trail. But the crews came through with a sawyer and literally cut a path straight though. It was absolutely wild to see. Some of the biggest damage seemed to be from the trees which got ripped out of the ground. Massive root systems had been right across the trail and now were removed, or the trail was routed slightly around them.

I really liked this portion of the trail, where you could see it weaving off in the distance.

You would walk through a section with major damage. Then an area which seemed like it wasn’t impacted at all. Then back into a spot that had well over 50 downed trees all in a row. I had truly never seen anything like it. It made me think about the southbound hikers who came through here toward the end of last year. I cannot fathom attempting to hike through with all of the trees down. Then must have spent hours climbing over trees and navigating around. That must have been absolutely brutal.

The trail from Big Bald to Spivey Gap was the worst of the damage that I had seen. Maybe the worst I’ve ever seen along a trail. There were a couple more small climbs along our descent to the gap. But they didn’t go on for long.

Walking through a particularly wild section of blow downs.

As we began getting closer to the gap we went through a few more stretches with major blow downs. Then as we were getting closer to the gap we saw a hiker coming our way. It was Zach Galifianakis! A hiker that Punisher has met on a few different trails over the years. He brought us out a pizza to eat as we walked the rest of the way to the road! It was cool to talk and meet him. He’s hikes so many different trails over the years and is a super nice dude!

It blew my mind just how many trees had gone down in this area.

When we got out to the road he had oranges and Dr Pepper too! We hadn’t sat done since the trail magic this morning, and in that time we did another 21 miles and about 8,000 feet of climbing. So I sat there and ate more, did some stretching, and drank a Dr Pepper. Originally we were planning on just stopping around here for the night. But there is a storm rolling in tonight. The idea of tenting in the pouring rain all night doesn’t sound great. So we made the decision to push even further.

We’re going to continue on to No Business Knob Shelter, which is another 5 miles up ahead. There isn’t much of any elevation gain between here and there though at least. Maybe 500 feet in total over the next 5 miles. And after fueling up on pizza and soda I was good to go! I really needed that break if we were going to push out a 36 mile day.

Leaving Spivey Gap there was a bit of a climb. Honestly the hardest part about it was that I was bundled up in my wind gear still. Now that we weren’t on top of a mountain anymore it wasn’t nearly as cold. So I heated up really quick along the climb. But it wasn’t long until we were up on the top. Then we just had a few more miles to go to get to the shelter for the night.

It got dark as we walked along and the trail was super narrow. There were portions where there was a lot of fall out if you had slipped or tripped. So I watched my footing along rocks and roots in the dark.

We managed to get to No Business Knob Shelter around 7:40pm, which wasn’t too crazy! Especially considering we hung out at trail magic earlier for over an hour, then hung out eating pizza with Zach Galifianakis, and made it 36 miles today! With just shy of 9,000 feet of elevation gain.  Not too shabby!

When we got to the shelter there was a section hiker there for the night. He was actually excited to see us because he had been getting creeped out by the dark. And we were just happy that there was space inside after such a long day. It’s supposed to rain from midnight till around 7am, so being in the shelter is going to be perfect.

I was still pretty full from the pizza so I didn’t eat much more dinner. But I had a couple oranges that Zach G had given me so I ate those. Then just stretched and relaxed for the rest of the night. Tomorrow we’re doing a short day and are probably going to stay in Erwin. The weather is going to be rough tonight and tomorrow night. So we might as well use the opportunity while we can. But that means that we can sleep in at the shelter tomorrow morning and get into town whenever we’d like!

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