Date: 2009-04-25
From: Davenport Gap (Standing Bear Farm)

To: Mt. Cammererer (Round Trip Slack Pack)
Miles today: 19.5

Slack PackSince we had missed part of the Great Smoky Mountains between Gatlinburg and Standing Bear, Colin, Anna, Liz and I hiked southbound back into the Smokies, once again leaving Einstein behind. We were taking the opportunity to slack pack, a term used when you are hiking without backpacks.Our plan was to hike up Mt. Cammerer to an old fire lookout tower that had been restored in the 1980's. It was about an 8 mile hike up and another 8 mile hike back down. We took only some water, snacks and some food for a small lunch. The hike from Standing Bear Farm to Davenport Gap was very pleasant, winding along a mountain stream until we hit the Pigeon Fork River, a popular whitewater rafting area. The trail headed over a ridge that had seen some extensive fire damage in recent years and was still recovering.When we hit Davenport Gap we met two former thru-hikers who were set up to provide trail magic in the form of lunch, soda, water and beer. We stopped for a bit then continued on up the trail, which led to Mt. Cammerer. In this case, when I say up I mean all up. It was 5.5 miles straight up hill from the gap to the top of the mountian. We walked for several hours until reaching the peak in the late afternoon, where we found the side trail leading 0.6 miles out to the fire tower. 1.2 miles on a blue blaze trail would usually be something too far off the trail for most thru-hikers to hike, but as we were slackpacking it seemed worth the trip. The blue blaze trail followed a ridge, so it was nice to follow some relatively flat ground for awhile, until we reached a field of boulders we had to climb over to reach the tower.The climb was quite worth the trip. The tower was a large wooden octagon structure that sat upon a large stone fundation, witha walkway all the way around the tower offering a 360 deg. view of the surrounding mountains. After taking in the views, and taking some pictures, we sat inside the tower and made lunch - a very late lunch since it was now after 5pm. Knowing it was getting late, and the sun would soon be setting behind the mountains, we headed back and made a fast pace down the mountain. The steep climb uphill was now a steep race downhill, which got more precarious as the light waned. We finally made it back to Davenport Gap around 8:30pm, just as dusk was turning into night. Unfortunately we only had two headlamps betweeen the four of us, since we weren't expecting to be hiking that late into the night. So we were dreading heading back up the trail in the darkness. We paused for a snack and discussed how nice it would be to hitch a ride, but on the gravel road heading through the gap we figured the prosects were slim.Just as we began to cross the road back to the tail, a red Ford ranger campe flying around the curve. We stuck out our thumbs and the truck stopped, revealing three large hispanic men stuffed into the small cab of the truck. After an initial attempt at a conversation, we discovered they didn't understand English. Having both spent time in South and Central America, Colin and Anna asked if they spoke Spanish. One man nodded no, another said yes, and all three stared at us with quizzical faces. We tried to explain that we needed a ride down out of the gap to the river and hopefully down the river road to Hwy 40 near Standing Bear Farm.I don't think they really undesrtood what we were asking, but they motioned for us to hop in the back. We did. The truck barreled down the road to the river where they crossed the road leading to Hwy 40 and continued across the bridge. We signaled for them to stop, and they stopped the truck in the middle of the bridge. We tried to explain that we needed to get out and take the road we just crossed, and they tried telling us something, but none of us were c mmunicating very well with each other. So we got out of the truck and headed down the road along the river toward the highway. The truck then crossed the river, turned around, turned on to the road we were heading down and waved as they drove by. We all just stood there dumbfounded knowing our best chance for a ride back to Standing Bear just passed us by. It was the only road to Hwy 40, with no turnoffs in between, so they would have been going just where we needed to go.So, with two headlamps among us and very tired legs from already hiking 16 miles, we trudged the remaining 4 miles down the river road back Standing Bear - every step heavier than the last knowing we didn't need to be hiking it if we had just figred out to communicate better with the gracious men in the red Ford Ranger. When we finally arrived around 10:30 pm, almost everyone had retired for the evening.   Einstein was again ovrrjoyed at a second reunion, though we barely had the energy to return his love. A quick round of showers and a hasty meal, and we collapsed into our tents for the night.