Day 14

Starting mile 140.5

This morning I woke up half way up the mountain from the NOC. I still had another 3.5 miles and 1,500 feet of gain before I was at the top. The climb up to this point wasn’t so bad so I figured the next half wouldn’t be so bad either. Boy was I wrong! There was one section that was 0.2 miles on the map called “The Jump Up” that was over 400 feet of gain. It was some very slow going.

I finally made it to the shelter where I refilled my water, ate a little and took a break. Then I had to keep going. The rest of the morning was a lot easier with some more gentle ups and downs. I ran into a family that was doing the trail. They were taking it slow and really enjoying themselves.  I made sure to tell the kids how lucky they were to be on such an adventure at such a young age. 

I made it down to Stecoah Gap where they were doing a lot of road construction forcing me to figure out the trail detour. The detour included a nice steep climb to make back onto the trail. I figured I only had about six miles to go so it shouldn’t be too bad. Once again today I was mistaken. The hike out of the Gap was another steep climb with a few places you look up and the trail just keeps going.

Once again I made it to the top and I was able to cruise the last 4.5 miles to camp. When I got to camp there were about 10 people already there, including two other hammockers. I hadn’t camped with anyone else that hung so far on this trip. It looks like the Hilton is going to be full tomorrow night because that is where everyone is headed.

Total milage for the day was 15.7 with about 4,500 feet of elevation gain.

Ending mile 156.2