Date: 2008-04-24
From: Spring Mt. Shelter, TN

To: Lick Log Gap, TN
Miles today: 14.4

Our biggest day yet! 14.4 miles.Crabby and I got up earlier than usual this morning and got a good start. When we reached Allen Gap just before 11:00 we saw a sign announcing trail magic happening 350 yards down the road and we decided to go check it out. The group of hikers behind us, a good group of younger people we've been keeping pace with since returning to the Smokies, soon followed suit, making 10 of us. It turned out to be awesome. Jodie and John (1999 thru-hikers with trail names Fal and Hercules) welcomed us into their beautiful log home and fed us copious amounts of food...Belgian waffles with strawberries and whipped cream, pork stew, vegetarian chili, and ridiculous desserts like huge banana splits and homemade warm bread pudding with ice cream. During dessert they passed around a stack of Christian books that we could take with us if we wished, but they weren't pushy about it. Their focus was really on just meeting and feeding us. Very VERY nice. Even their dog, a golden doodle, was sweet as could be and couldn't wait for all of us to play with her. Jodie and John said they usually serve about 400 hikers before calling it quits for the Spring and then they do it again for southbounders in the Fall. They've served over 1700 people in the 4 years they've lived near the trail!We all said good bye to our hosts (my offer of a handshake was met with a hug) and headed back to the trail with very full stomachs...two hours after seeing the trail magic sign. The unexpected stop had put a wrench in the gears of our 15 mile day, but it was well worth it. Trail angels like Jodie and John are a welcome part of the AT experience.After 5 miles we stopped at Little Laurel Shelter to rest and get water. The rest of the group that had been at lunch with us was all there. They were planning to try to make it the full 15 miles to Jerry Cabin Shelter, but Crabby and I were thinking we'd just go a few more miles and find a place to camp. The trail magic had turned our 15 mile day into an 11 or 12 mile one.A lot of little streams that are listed in our guides as water sources have been dried up, so I left Little Laurel Shelter with 3 1/2 liters (almost 8 pounds) of water for drinking and cooking in case we didn't find more water on the way to our camping spot. We climbed Camp Creek Bald immediately after leaving the shelter and I felt the extra weight of the water with every step. The blazing sun didn't help much, either. We've gotten a couple tastes of what it will be like to hike in the heat and I'm not looking forward to the 90+ degree weather of the summer.We ended up not being able to find a good campsite in decent time, so we continued on the trail and eventually set up camp 5+ miles past the shelter at what I think is Lick Log Gap. It's hard to tell for sure because signs that tell us our location are few and far between. That's really frustrating...it's like looking at a road map in a town with no street signs.We went over what I think is Big Firescald Knob on the way here. It's basically a ridge line of white rocks that's pretty tough hiking and it slowed us down a lot. There's a lot of small ups and downs over and in between tricky rocks and Crabby called it the Maze of Death. There were amazing views, though. We could see far into Tennessee on one side and far into North Carolina on the other. On the Tennessee side, we were pretty much at the edge of the Appalachians and there was a flat stretch of flat land just beyond. Totally amazing to see from above. Pictures can't do it justice. We also sat at Whiterock Cliff for a bit (probably too long) and the view from there was really pretty, too.By the time we got to Lick Log Gap, the sun was going down. We had been trying to reach Jerry Cabin Shelter since we had gotten so close to it, but we ran out of time. We quickly set up our tents and ate dinner, then hung the bear bags just as it got really dark.The trail angels we met today had printed a 10 day forecast for us. There's a 30% chance of a thunderstorm tonight and a good chance of rain for the next 4 days. Sounds like fun.