“Along a Ridgeline”

AT Day 11

Miles: 23.14

Total Miles: 244.39

(Cosby Knob Shelter, TN)

I can hear the rain on the outside of my tent. It’s the first night that it’s rained at night so far on trail. It rained and hailed much of that first day on trail–11 days ago–but since then it’s been significantly warmer than normal for this time of year. Not that I would have known that were it not for all the comments from the other hikers who are more familiar with the area.

It’s been so warm in fact that there have been multiple wildfires burning not far from where I’ve been on trail. Not close enough for me to be in any danger, but it did close down part of the trail behind me last week, and people tell me that’s unprecedented for this time of year. It’s just really dry and hot. So the rain isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

I thought that we were going to walk to rain this morning in Gatlenburg, but when I opened the blinds I was surprised to find that it was mostly blue sky.

I had breakfast with Specs at the hotel lobby, and I swear that kid ate at least five pounds of food just from the breakfast buffet alone. I give him credit for it. He’s a true pro, and has turned out to be a good dude.

I realized tonight, after getting to camp that I left my down jacket in the hotel with him, as he’s staying an extra night and i didn’t see it there with his gear when I left. But somehow we were able to connect via text today and he’s going to ship it to me up trail. He’s a really good dude.

It took a bit longer to get to trail this morning from Gatlenburg than I had wanted. I tried hitching back, but the local police very quickly let me know that’s against the law in TN, so I had to wait an hour for a local shuttle that brings hikers up. I knew maybe 3 of the 8 of us who were all gathered there, waiting for a ride, avoiding getting another warning from Gatlenburg PD.

The trail today mostly ran ridge lines through the high elevations of Great Smokey Mountains National Park. It’ll be my last full day in the park. Tomorrow I’ll likely exit and head north, where the trail will dance between North Carolina and Tennessee for around 150 miles before entering Virginia.

Some of the best views of the trail have been today, though they really don’t even compare to anything out west. It’s really just an opportunity sometimes where the brush will open and I can get an overview of the forest below. Being up in the mountains also gave me a perspective looking down on what I assume was Gatlenburg.

There was a lot of sign from the hurricane up here today. Last year Hurricane Helene came through here and did a number on this part of the country. It actually closed the AT for a little bit, and I’ve met a few thru hikers from last year who are finishing up the trail by hiking the parts that were closed last year.

I hiked for a little bit with a guy named Shaggy. He was super chill, and although we hike at very different paces, we matched one another for a mile or so, and I really enjoyed the conversation. I also met with a group of hikers at one of the shelters before this one for dinner. I keep trying to stay on top of my pushups (10x per mile per day), and I’ve been adding pull-up on as well, since the shelter frames almost all have some beams I can use as a pull-up bar. I’m stoked that both my maximum pull-up and pushup counts have increased since starting the trail. I really believe that the extra focus on nutrition and upper body strength on trail has been paying off this time.

My body is feeling better in all the places that were hurting me before. My left calf is now 100%. My right calf bothered me a few days ago, but is better now. My foot was hurting for a bit, but no problem today. But the one thing that hurts like absolute hell right now is my left shin. It’s in a very specific spot too, almost like I kicked something really hard, or like a shin splint in just one specific spot. If it’s shin splints that concerns me. Strange though, as I hadn’t felt it before today or ever that I can remember, but by the end of today I was in serious discomfort from it. Call it a 7/10 for me tonight.

I got to shelter before sun set, had my second non alcoholic beer, chatted up with a cute hiker from Florida (none of them are doing enough miles that I’m likely to see them again), had dinner, and set my tent just as the rain was starting.

The forecast is calling for rain for the next week or two, but we’ll see. It keeps getting pushed off, so I’ll wait and see what happens. Thank god it was my down jacket that I left behind and not my rain gear though.

Wormwood.