Date: 2017-05-03
From: Low Gap Campsite 

To: No Business Knob Shelter 
Miles today: 14.6
Weather: few clouds

Note:  I have some good news. I presently have access to good Wi-Fi and have been able to catch up the text part of my journal. I have added text for the following dates:  4/20, 4/21, 4/22, 5/1, and 5/2. I hope to be adding photos again soon. I believe this will be the new norm because of service issues along the trail. Thanks!Stephen and I both slept well again and didn't wake up until 5:30. We broke camp and were on trail by 7:20. We were first met by a three mile ascent to Big Bald Mountain, gaining over 1,000 feet in elevation. Unlike yesterday's ascents, which somehow felt like PUDs (an AT term meaning "Pointless Ups and Downs), this ascent was challenging but fun. For one thing, we could see Big Bald Mountain looming in front of us so we knew where we were headed. We left tree line and entered the bald area and were absolutely blown away by the view. We had a 360 degree perspective of mountains as far as you could see. We could see roads and houses in the distance and layer upon layer of mountains. We spent over 30 minutes admiring the view and were undisturbed by any other hikers. We set a bit of Beau free before we left by hiking off the peak and then along Big Stamp, a long treeless saddle that followed the ridge line. We saw many birds, including a hawk. We then dropped elevation until heading up Little Bald Mountain, which, despite its name, is  tree  covered and afforded us no views. The climb up was intense but short. We then descended about 1,500 feet to Whistling Gap. There are campsites here, and my original plan was for us to stay here.  I'm glad things worked out otherwise, because it was not nearly as nice as Low Gap had been. We then hiked back upward, this time to High Rocks. We took off our packs near the top and took the blue blazed trail to the top of the rock. It required some rock scrambling, but it was well worth the effort to be able to stand on this huge rock with another stunning view. Many hikers forgo the blue blazed trails since they are not officially part of the AT, but my thought is that I will probably be this way only once, and I want to experience as much as I can. We walked/crawled back down the rocks to the AT, retrieved our packs, and began the long descent to Spivey Gap, where the AT crosses Highway 19W. There was a sign on the south side of the road announcing that the trail is maintained by the North Carolina AT hiking club and a sign on the north side staying that this responsibility was now shouldered by the Tennessee AT hiking club. Our reintroduction to Tennessee consisted of a tremendously steep climb out of Spivey Gap following a beautiful stream. The trail crossed the stream on two different foot bridges. At the top of the climb, by the headwaters of the stream, we stopped for a late lunch. Powered by Spam and MRE Cheese Burritos, Stephen and I completed the last three miles of our day and arrived at the shelter area at No Business Knob (again, the names of some of the places we have been).  We set up camp and prepared supper. We only have 6.2 miles to go to reach Erwin tomorrow, and we plan on a very early start. Since we will be there before lunch, Stephen opted to eat tomorrow's lunch for supper tonight. His reasoning was sound. He didn't have to cook, lunches weigh more so his pack would be lighter tomorrow, and, after all, who can go wrong with two Spam burritos in one day? I decided to cook up my pouched rice meal but, who knows, a Spam burrito for breakfast sounds pretty yummy. We plan on a "nero" tomorrow (a near zero, since we will only be hiking 6.2 miles) and should be in Erwin before noon. We will then get a shuttle back to Hot Springs to retrieve Stephen's car. The trip to Hot Springs takes about 40 minutes by car/five days by foot. Then it's off to Asheville to meet Stephen's friend Chance. We will spend the night in a hotel in Asheville. On Friday we will return to Erwin, and Stephen will head home and I will continue my journey northward to Maine.  Some of the news of the devastating floods back home have reached me.  My prayers are with every one in Missouri who has been affected by this tragedy. It seems truly unprecedented.