Day 120: Hike from Pecks corner Shelter to Davenport Gap Shelter

I ‘m not sure you ever get used to being eaten by a bear. It’s annoying every, single time.

May 30, 2023
AT miles: 19.8
Ascent: 3035’
Descent: 5742’
Weather: despite a cloudy beginning, sunny and bright and mid-60’s
Sightings: lots of hikers with sore knees
High points: skittering down the long downhill super-fast!

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Because today was basically a 20 mile day, we woke up at five, and all seven of us were on the trail before the sun was up. Since bears are active around dawn, Scott and June and I hiked together for the first five miles.

We got to see dawn in the Smokies.

For quite a while, we thought that the clouds were going to come in and it was going to be a gray day.

We were up around 6000 feet, and the woods were mossy, and filled with ferns and the odor of cedar. Absolutely magical.

This is what I was looking at when I looked down the path for much of the morning. June is actually in front of Scott, but she is about 5’0” and Scott is 6’4”, so I didn’t see much of June!

We stopped for lunch at Cosby Knob Shelter, a sunlit and spacious shelter. We were originally supposed to stay there, but a few weeks ago a bear punctured the bottom of a hiker as she left the privy. Thankfully the hiker is fine. She now has a great story, and her new trail name is “Sweet Cheeks “. However, the bear had to be put down, and the shelter is closed indefinitely.

All of this means that we couldn’t stay there so we needed to hike another seven miles to the next shelter.

The day turned out to be beautiful.

Much of the earlier part of today’s walk was along ridges. The leaves prevented the views from being amazing, but the feeling of height and space was amazing. The trail was narrow, and the drop off on each side was up to well over 1000 feet, but there was lots of shrubbery, so, unlike at Mt. Katadin, I wasn’t nervous about just tripping and rolling down off the mountain.

As we descended the trail looked increasingly like Virginia — hardwood forest with lots of greenery on the forest floor.

The long descent was steady. I skittered down the trail rapidly, keeping a close eye on my footing since there were rocks and roots and occasional wooden steps.  I loved flying down the trail!

I was the first person at the shelter by over an hour — apparently my enjoyment of the descent was unusual. Every other hiker came into the shelter groaning about how the descent was absolute murder on their knees. Everybody was popping lots of Advil,

Once upon a time, all of the shelters in the Smokies were small, surrounded on the open side with chain-link fence so bears couldn’t get to the hikers and their food. Literally, the hikers would lock themselves in the shelter for the night! Then hanging food away from shelters (on bear cables or bear poles) became de rigueur, so the bears no longer bothered the hikers and the chain-link fences were no longer needed. All of the shelters in the Smokies except one have been rebuilt, adding bear cables (for food storage at night) and removing the chain link fences. We are currently staying in the one old shelter that does have chain link fence but has minimal seating and tables and neither a privy nor bear cables. The shelter is dark and quite claustrophobic.

Many hikers avoid this shelter by hiking an additional four  miles to Standing Bear Hostel, the memorable hostel just beyond the northern end of Smoky Mountain National Park. Some of us, however, decided that 24-mile day was out of the question so we had to stay in the worst shelter that I have ever stayed in on the entire Appalachian Trail!

Last night was also the only time that I have ever slept with my food on the entire Appalachian Trail. We all kept our food inside the shelter, listening to the mice run up and down the chain-link fence all night!

Some experiences make great stories!

Today is a great day for a long walk in the woods!