Friday, October 10, 2025. Up at 7:30. Cold, foggy, overcast, breezy. Got down to 38 last night. Sunny and upper 50s today.
On trail at 8:55. Fingers crossed we get one of the 30 spots at Lewis Campground.
Fairly easy morning. Uphill .7 miles to start but not bad. Chilly and breezy. Reached the Swift Run Gap, US 33 park entrance station at 10:30 and 3.68 miles. Walked to the entrance to get water and have second breakfast.
Hiked 2 .2 miles uphill to South River Picnic Area at 12:00 for a snack and a rest. Still chilly, mostly cloudy even though forecast say sunshine. Oh well.
Tons of people here. Just about every parking spot taken. I guess it is a holiday weekend. Laughing at people who are disgusted by the park pit toilets. They are perfectly fine. LOL.
Back on trail at 12:30. Boring hike today with not much to see.
Arrived at Lewis Mountain campground at 2:45. It’s all booked up as I suspected. Got a soda and a sandwich as a late afternoon snack and chilled at the camp store for a bit. Picked up some resupply I probably did not need. Pushed on another mile to Bearfence Hut at 3:30.
We arrived at Bearfence Hut at 4:00. Nice little shelter and very nice tent pads. No cell service, but sheltered from the wind. Can’t have everything. Nobody else here once again.
Ed and I had dinner about 6:00 then headed to our tents. It’s getting cold fast.
I have been worried about the weather on Sunday. It’s supposed to rain all day and the temperature is a wild card. It could be in the mid 50s on Sunday, but it will most definitely be in the 40s or worse Sunday night. I’ve done cold rain on trail for a few days at a time and it sucks big time. This is hypothermia weather.
I told Ed we need to start thinking about backup plans for Sunday. While we are equipped to survive this kind of weather, this isn’t a thru-hike and we are out here to enjoy ourselves. Not just to survive.
Ed texted with Lisa via satellite and she got us a room Sunday night at Skyland resort about 18 miles north on the AT. I thought there might be a chance of a room there. That’s the most expensive place in the park and usually the last to book up on weekends like this. We may have gotten the last room.
We will camp in the rain Saturday night then hike about 2.5 hours to Skyland and make like hiker trash in the lobby or elsewhere until we can checkin later in the afternoon. I can just imagine what that room will look like with two of us trying to dry out our gear in the hotel room. Brings back fond memories of my time in the Smokies on my thru-hike last spring.
Technical Notes:
- Pop Tarts 360
- Snickers 250
- Trail mix 210
- Skittles 120
- Skittles 120
- Italian sandwich 590
- Dr pepper 140
- Dr pepper 140
- Ramen 370
- Tuna 70
- Fritos 560
- Water liters 2.5
- Miles 14.32
- Time 7:09
- Up 2999
- Down 3045
- Calories consumed 2930
- Calories burned 2349
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