Going in at Newfound Gap

If we were a little slow to reply to your emails last week, it’s because we were out of the office. WAY out of the office. We took off Wednesday through Friday to hike a section of the Appalachian Trail in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It wasn’t a grueling hike, but the rain made parts of it more challenging than usual.

We set off from Newfound Gap on Wednesday and hiked up to the Icewater Spring shelter where we would spend the night. We decided to have dinner that night at Charlies Bunion, even though we knew it was completely fogged in. We hiked a mile to the Bunion and dined on freeze-dried beef stew. Then the fun really started.

The Shelter

As we were packing up, it began to rain. By the time I got my poncho on, it was really raining. Also it was dark. So we hiked a mile back up to the shelter in the dark and pouring rain. We arrived alive but thoroughly soaked and ready to dry our boots by the fire…but…no fire to be had because of two weeks of wet weather. I don’t think I was the only Fool to sleep in at least one article of soggy clothing that night.

The next day we woke for the sunrise and goofed off for an hour, mostly trying to delay the inevitable: Putting on our cold, wet boots. Then we headed back to the Bunion for a clear-weather view, which was worth it. We hiked down in the afternoon and stuffed our faces with burgers, steaks, and then more burgers.

A great short hike with exciting scenery and interesting shelter-mates. Next time we’ll stay out longer, which means better preparation and (hopefully) nicer weather.

First day at Charlies Bunion - Socked in

Magnificent Sunrise @ the Icewater Springs Shelter

Looking out over Charlies Bunion the next day

View from Charlies Bunion

And finally, a short video we made on the trail:

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