Date: 2009-04-23
From: Dennis Cove (Laurel Fork Lodge)

To: Stealth Camp Spot
Miles today: 9.4

I'm writing this part of the entry here in Laurel Forks in the morning before anyone else is up. Beautiful morning....cool crispness and bright sunshine. A good day for hiking. We're going to get a late start today....not too far to go, but we know we will be climbing!My sister, Mary, sent me an Easter package that I was supposed to get in Hot Springs, but our wires got crossed and I missed it there. I did get it yesterday here at Laurel Forks......awesome stuff. Some Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs which were the bomb, some Peeps (pure sugar...a hiker's dream), and some chocolate bunnys. She also sent a stuffed Bison...which we are in the process of naming. This is good as Goofy (Goof's companion) now has a playmate on the Trail.I received a question asking how we find our way up the trail, and if we ever get lost. There are white blazes (2" x 6") marked on trees and rocks all along the trail. There is no standard for how much distance there is between blazes and it differs from section to section out here. Many times it seems like there are way too many and sometimes I have walked "forever" wondering if I'm actually still on the A.T., as I hadn't seen a blaze in quite a while. When approaching an intersection of Trails, you usually see two blazes, one under the other. This is basically a warning to pay attention and make sure you follow the A.T. out of the intersection. Usually there is a white blaze within sight from the intersection on the trail that is the A.T.. There have been a couple of instances when we have had one person start walking one way and the other walk the other....."just yell when you see a blaze"...but these are rare occurrences. Also, they sometimes will put two blazes together, one over the other, but have the top blaze offset to the left or right indicating which way the A.T. turns....very nice! On one very rainy day I was walking down what looked more like a stream bed than the A.T., so much water and rocky. After a while, not seeing any blazes, I turned around and walked back until I found a blaze, then started back again. I was on the A.T., but I wasn't sure at the time. Also, sometimes you can just turn around and see the white blazes that the South Bounder would see walking south instead of north....this has been handy many times.A side trail that intersects the A.T., but is not the A.T., will have blue blazes. These are used to lead us to viewpoints, some summits, and shelters which can be off the trail a good distance (e.g. 1.2 miles, .5 miles). Shelters are regularly off the Trail a couple tenths of a mile. The key to these side trails is remembering which way you turned to get on the side trail....so when returning to the A.T., you know which way to turn to go North on the A.T.. Weirdly enough, the A.T. actually goes in all directions at times, even south, on the compass.....generally finding its way north.Finding the way in fresh snow is the hardest since you can't see the trail underneathe. I have had the luxury of following tracks for my snow adventures so I can just follow them, looking carefully for blazes. Goof and Mr Buffalo Man have hiked in sections where the wind had blown over the footprints ahead of them and they were left to search for blazes. Basically, they would find a blaze and then guess which way they think the Trail would go (based on "clearer tree lines", straight ahead, or wild guess) and start walking a bit....no blaze, go back and go a different direction. Snow conditions make it the toughest to follow the trail.Ok, to the hiking today....got up around 6 am and couldn't get back to sleep....you know how your mind starts thinking about everything. So I laid there for about 30 minutes and decided I might as well get up. So I got up and got on the Internet and did some journaling and was actually able to have some time to proofread some entries and correct the million typos I make trying to hurry.The computer wouldn't let me download pictures so that will have to wait until Damascus on Monday.So we loafed around all morning, got our supplies together, and had breakfast. Finally left the Lodge at 11:30.The first few miles of today's hike were perfectly awesome. We started out hiking along Laurel Fork, a good size stream (or small river). It was beautiful hiking. We followed the Fork right to some very cool water falls and had to hang out there a while. Staying at Laurel Fork Lodge for a long weekend and doing some day hiking would make for a great, inexpensive, weekend getaway.Wow....then we had to climb up to Pond Flats....a flat area on top of a huge mountain. Nope, I saw no pond. (Editorial Note: A young local hiker I met a day or two later informed me that there is actually a pond up there!)And it was an anticlimactic climb as there was really nothing special about the top of that particular mountain. So the trail led us down the other side. You would think going down would be easy but it actually beats you up pretty bad.Going up takes more energy and gets the cardiovascular system pumping, but it's not hard on my body.....even the big climbs. Going down puts a lot of pressure on the feet and knees. I hate going downhill! My favorite terrain is rolling ups and downs, or, of course, level. But extended ups and extended downs are the worst for me.OK. So we knock out that mountain and finish the down portion and wind up hiking right through a recreational area with a beach on Lake Watauga. So of course we had to hang out there for a bit. Then we simply hiked to the other side of the lake and made camp. Beautiful spot.....beautiful day!