Date: 2016-10-24
From: Locust Cove Gap

To: Cable Gap Shelter
Miles today: 11.6
Weather: clear sky

10/24 Day 2:  We started the day with minimal water and the next water source was around five miles away.  Normally, I like to drink a liter of water throughout the night to recover from the day's previous sweat loss.  This was not an option on this night as water was becoming gold out here.   I misplaced my tent stakes in the morning and had to take 20 minutes retracing my steps until I finally found them hiding under the bag I keep my chargers and spare batteries in.  Err.  We finally got packed up and were on our way.  We hiked up and down various hills knowing full well that Jacob's Ladder would be on our agenda today.  Unfortunately, the water source we were attempting to get to was actually after the ladder.  For those who don't know, Jacob's Ladder is a pretty stout climb of 600 feet in 6/10ths of a mile. The cold spell from the last couple of days had left and it was starting to get a bit warm in the woods.As we dropped into Stecoah Gap, I noticed on AWOL¢s guide that there was a hostel/B&B near the gap. I thought, perhaps when we get there, if it isn¢t too far, the caretakers wouldn¢t mind letting us fill up our water. Generally near road crossings, there are wooden signs on the trail giving you distances to various trails and shelters. As I was reading the sign just prior to Stecoah gap, Blister said, ¢Look at that.¢ I looked down and saw the wonderful sight of two cans of cold ginger ale that had been left by some kind hearted soul. They were propped against the sign. Ahhhh-Trail Magic! Happy enough over that, as I walked down the final steps towards the gap, I saw two gallons of water sitting on a picnic table with no names on them. I was sure someone knew the water situation out here was bad and kindly put them there for our use. Whoever did that, I say thank you, thank you, thank you. We filled up and got ready to move forward after a couple phone calls and a small break. While sitting there, we met ¢Durham¢ who was thru-hiking with his dog and slack packing from Fontana Dam to the NOC¢¦in one day. Oh to be young. We also met a Joshua who was section hiking before going to EMT school. He had been a Hot Shot forest fire fighter in New Mexico in the recent past.We hiked on and the trail got pretty steep. I wasn¢t sure if we were on Jacob¢s ladder or not, only because I didn¢t know how far we hiked, not because it was not difficult. It was a challenging climb, but at 6/10ths of a mile it was over pretty quickly. I think the climb up Albert Mountain was steeper, but also much shorter.After the ladder, weight to Brown Fork Gap Shelter for some rest and lunch. I walked down to the water source and (drumroll please)¢¦you guessed it. It was dry. Had we not received that trail magic, we honestly would have been really having issues.Following lunch, we came across a freshly blazed blue blaze trail around 1/4 mile north of Brown Fork Gap shelter. Joshua told us he walked down that trail and was able to get water. It was good to know that at least all the water was not dry. The afternoon was filled with some nice trail walking with a gradual down hill towards Yellow Creek Mountain road. Near the bottom of the hill we hit an oasis in this desert; Yellow Creek Gap Stream. It was flowing nicely across the trail and we took the opportunity to fill up all of our water containers in case Cable Gap Shelter was dry. We finally got into Cable Gap shelter with around an hour left of daylight left. As luck would have it, there was a small seep of water coming out of the ground. We put the hammocks up above the shelter on some flatter ground, ate while perched on the porch of the shelter, and seriously contemplated what we were going to do regarding the Smokys. I really had reservations on whether or not we should continue. Blister had the same reservations. I told Blister we would check the map for side trails out of the Smokys in case we were stuck for a couple days with no water.Shortly after turning in for the night, we heard this loud, large, heavy aircraft seem to be flying just above tree line on the ridge to our south. When it went by, it was so loud, I started counting in my head waiting for the ¢boom¢ of a crash. When nothing happened, I thought perhaps it was just a military training operation. The plane went by another time around an hour later.