Day 37 – Flint Mountain Shelter to Sam’s Gap

“I blew out my flip-flop, 

Stepped on a pop top,

I broke my leg twice, had to limp on back home,

God, I still feel pain,

I wish I had some cocaine,

But that’s been gone since early this morn’ (long gone)” – Jimmy Buffett

A slight chance of showers and thunderstorms after 3 p.m. Mostly sunny. High near 75, with temperatures falling to around 69 in the afternoon. North wind 0 to 5 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%. New rainfall amounts less than a tenth of an inch possible.

Up at 7:00. Ate, packed, chatted with folks a bit, and out at 8:45. Cool, not humid, mostly sunny. Day looks great.

Easy 3-mile warmup downhill then climb number one for the day. It is 2.6 miles and 1600 feet up. 

Made it to Devil’s Fork Gap at 9:55. First of these steps over a fence. Lots more in the future. This is typically where the trail crosses private land such as a pasture or farmland. Also a water cache here.

As I was climbing up out of Devils Fork Gap I kept hearing a bell, and it was getting louder. Turns out that fence with the steps leads into a wooded cow pasture area. Here comes a big old milk cow with her bell ringing followed by about 4 calves and two more cows. Moooo!

The next 2 hours was a nasty climb up a beautiful gorge with a stream running the entire length. Lots of small waterfalls along the way. 

Near the top of the gorge I ran into this little lady. She was not shy at all, just stood in the middle of the trail staring at me. We had a nice one-sided conversation. 

Finally finished that big nasty climb at 12:46. That was a tough one! 

Finally got a view and cell service at the end of the climb. 

Took a break for food and water. Texted the hostel and they have lots of rooms. Will meet me at Sam’s Gap. Back at it at 1:15.

Made Sam’s gap at Interstate 26 at 4:05. Shuttle will be here soon. Knee hurts and overcompensating is causing other walking issues. Glad I called it. Next stop would have been 7.7 miles UP to a shelter. I’ll do that tomorrow. I’m 24.4 miles from Erwin, TN. At this rate, I’ll get there in two more days. Probably Wednesday around 6:00 in the evening. 

I’m staying at Nature’s Inn Hostel. Rustic but just my redneck style. Two other thru-hikers here: Overkill and one other. Awesome owners. Got settled in, unpacked, clothes hung up to dry, showered, and hung out in the common room/barn. 

Had a pair of nice homemade pulled pork sandwiches for dinner part 1.

Dinner part two was a 1/4 lb hotdog and I have not ruled out dinner part three.

And dinner part three is an entire frozen pizza at 9:00 p.m.

The owner dug up an awesome old-school ice pack. That and 600mg of ibuprofen should help. 

This hostel offers slackpacking. I had not considered that option before, but carrying 30 less pounds will be a huge deal. Therefore, I’m slackpacking from Spivey Gap 13.4 miles back to Sam’s Gap and spending another night (Tuesday night) here at Nature’s Inn Hostel. That 13.4 will be the first 1/2 up Big Bald then 1/2 back down the other side of Big Bald. That will leave 11 miles downhill on Wednesday into Erwin. I have the option of slackpacking that part into Erwin as well. Game time call on that depending on my knee.

Picked out a small school kid-style backpack to use for slackpacking (a Jansport, of course) and made a list of things to bring. With 1.7 liters of water, snacks, and rain gear, I’m guessing 8 lbs  fully loaded. 

Headed to my room around 9:30. Called Dana and chatted for a while, set an alarm for 7:00 a.m. Shuttle leaves at 8:15.

I have mixed feelings about today. Started off good with great weather, but started to become just work by the final third of the day due to my knee. Also need to figure out why my pack is hurting my back. Ended quite well thanks to a shower, real food, an ice pack, and a bed.

Technical Notes:

• Pop-Tarts 370
• Snickers 250
• Trail mix 270
• Trail mix 270
• Snickers 250
• 1/4 lb hotdog 390
• Pulled pork on a roll x2 700
• Frozen pizza 1080
• Dr Pepper x 5 750
• Water liters 5
• Miles 11.3
• Time 7:15
• Elevation gain 2900
• Calories consumed 4700
• Calories burned 5500