Charlie’s Bunion
Starting mile 207.8
Today I left Gatlinburg after taking a zero day. It was really nice to have a day to do nothing. I feel rested and anxious to start doing some miles every day. The shuttle back to the trail was packed full including people sitting on other laps. We definitely were not legal, nor could we have fit anyone else in.
We got dropped off just after 9 am and on the trail by 9:15 am. The morning started with a nice long uphill as we climbed out of the Gap. We were blessed with great vistas to both the left and right side of the trail. The best view of the day was four miles in at Charlie’s Bunion. We spent 15 minutes just hanging out and taking pictures.
After leaving the Bunion we continued to climb. This was really a great day for views; in fact, I would say it had the best views of the trail so far. You would go around a bend on the trail and have another great view.
I got to the turn off for Pecks Corner Shelter and I really needed water. I didn’t want to go down to the shelter because it was 0.4 miles away. I thought I would have to go all the way to shelter for water, but 0.1 miles down I found a little trickle of water. It took me 5 minutes to fill my 2-liter water bag but it was worth the time not having to walk an extra half mile.
I had just over five miles to the next shelter so after filtering my water and having some Gummy Bears I took off down the trail. Like the rest of the day, I had gentle ups and downs. I cruised the rest of the day, getting to camp a little after 4 pm. I ended up doing 15.9 miles with 4,500 feet of elevation gain in about seven hours. It was a really great day.
Ending mile 223.7