Date: 2009-05-07
From: Devil's Fork Gap

To: Hemlock Hollow
Miles today: 21.3

Slacking AgainThe morning after we arrived at Hemlock Hollow, we went down to the store for coffee and breakfast when Hattie informed us of the forecast for the day - severe thunderstorms, flash flooding and tornado conditions. So we decided to wait it out and spent most of the day playing Trivial Pursuit on the porch and catching up with our fellow hikers ducking in to get out of the rain. After Fred suggested taking us 19 miles up the trail the next day to slackpack back into Hemlock Hollow, we decided to scrap hiking for the day and take a Zero. Since we were each only paying a couple bucks to tent there, it seemed economical and a great way to get in some good miles. He would take us up to Devil's Fork in the morning and we could hike back without our packs. Then he would take us back to Devil's Fork the following morning and we would start hiking back north with our packs.So we got up early the next morning and Fred gave us a ride up winding mountain roads to the Devil's Fork Gap - about a 45 minute ride. We got on the trail by about 8:30am, while the mist and fog still hung over the mountains. Fred was going to make another trip a few hours later to drop off Panama Bob, Just Larry and 501 at the same point so they could slackpack back as well.The hike through the morning mist was quiet and peaceful, and we didn't talk much. It was a fairly easy hike at first, and we just strolled along in silence until late morning when we stopped for snacks and water at a mountain stream just before the Flint Mountain Shelter. We all thoroughly enjoyed hiing without our packs, especially Einstein who raced constantly from the front of the pack to the last, and back to the front again.Soon the fog broke, the sun came out to heat up the outdoor sauna again, and we began a very long upward climb to the summit of Flint Mountain. The climb seemed to go on forever. Along the way we passed Trampoline, Odin and several others who were headed out northbound the previous day - and quite surprised to find us walking the 'wrong' direction, then jealous when they realized we weren't carrying our packs. Just as we were wondering if we might pass Graveyard and Jess, they both came running down the mountain to greet us and tackle us with huge hiker hugs. They were in a hurry to get to Devil's Fork Gap to meet Jess's dad and yellow blaze up to Erwin, TN - which planted a very dangerous idea in our heads. So, we bid them well as they headed north toward the gap, and we continued south back to Hemlock Hollow.When we finally reached the top of Flint Mountain, the trail turned onto an old dirt logging road and meandered along the ridge for several miles. We passed by several headstones, including one marking the spot where a former thruhiker's ashes were spread 15 years before, and two more of the Shelton brothers, North Carolina natives who went off to fight on the Union side of the Civil War and were shot dead by a confederate neighbor upon their return after the war.At the end of the ridge the trail left the dirt road for a narrow and treacherous patch that led through, and over, a field of boulders. It was a fun and interesting section, with nice exposed views of teh valley below, but it was also quite slippery and time-consuming. I slipped once, banging my ankle between two rocks, leaving me with a limp for the rest of the day and a nasty bruise that was sure to last a few days longer.After the boulders, the path opened up onto a long exposed meadow on Big Butt mountain that looked just like the opening scene of The Sound of Music. Liz regaled us with her best Julie Andrews impression, complete with the open arm spin down the meadow, and Einstein took a swim in a small, oddly out of place pond on top of the mountain.Soon after the meadow, we reached Jerry Cabin Shelter. This shelter was once known as the nastiest and dirtiest shelter on the trail, but was adopeted by a former thruhiker in the area, Sam Waddle, who faithfully visited the shelter and kept it clean and in good repair. He even installed a phone, lightbulb and outlet as a joke, which of course weren't hooked up to anything and didn't work. Unfortunately, Sam died a few years back and the shelter has reverted to one of the nastiest on the trail.Shortly after leaving the shelter, we began another climb up the next mountain, where we ran across a sign indicating a choice of a white blaze (indicating the official AT trail) up to an exposed ridgeline or an alternate blue blaze "Bad Weather Trail" around the base of the mountain. Considering my ankle, Liz suggested I take the blue blaze, which was sure to be easier terrain, and meet them on the other side of the mountain. But not being sure if the blue blaze was longer and not knowing were it met back up with the AT, I continued on the white blaze up to the exposed ridgeline - and was very grateful I did.The exposed ridgeline trail was a winding trail up and over rocks and boulders, and was quite technical. But once it opened up onto the rocky exposed ridgeline, with views for miles in all directions out over teh valley on one side and across to the mountains on the other, it really gave me the feeling I was hiking across the top of teh world. The ridgeline remained technical with a lot of hand-over-hand climbing that stretched on for a mile or more. A few times I was sure I was going to have to hand Einstein up to someone because of a steep hand-over-hand climb - but he would easily bound up the rock face making the rest of us look like amateurs (which I guess we are). At the end of the ridgeline the trail wrapped back down through the cliffs and bluffs through thick growths of azaleas and rhododendrons that formed a long green tunnel over the trail. Other than our Eagle Creek blueblaze in the Smokies it was my favorite part of the trail yet.The stretch leading back down from the mountain was a long downhill hike that really did a number on my knees. The bugs along this stretch made it pretty miserable and intolerable to pause even for a quick water break. The shelter at the bottom, Little Laurel Shelter, was even worse so we didn't stay there long. I got a second wind, however, when Panama Bob and Just Larry passed along the trail, even though they started their slackpack 3 hours after us. The raised with us the possibility that a homecooked meal might await us back at Hemlock Hollow. It probably didn't, since Calamity had told Hattie we weren't interested in the homecooked meal when we left that morning, and I was still only half awake and too dazed to protest. But just in case, Einstein and I flew down the final 3.5 mile stretch to the Log Cabin Road (even jogging at some points) and got there in less than an hour, and was down Log Cabin Road and sitting on the porch of Hemlock Hollow 15 mintues later, even having already fed Einstein his dinner.I figured the girls would be at least an hour behind, but Liz showed up 15 minutes later and Calamity and Stone skipper were just 15 minutes behind her. It seemed we all raced, and occasionally jogged, down the hill just in case. But unfortunately since we hadn't signed up for the meal that morning, we missed out on the home cooking. After a few more frozen cheezeburgers, and a long soak for my ankle in the creek, we collapsed into our tent - exhauseted from the long day's hike. Einstein was no exception.