I made it to 19-E

This section was blessed with some great views. Here is the view from the Big Bald when I arrived for lunch:

Here it is ten minutes later:

Then Brendan and Maria appeared too, and it was fun overlapping with them again for the last few days, most especially as we were all picking up our speed and miles.

Now here is something I never expected: a bear-hunting dog adopted me as its owner, even though I didn’t feed it.

It must have slept by my tent at Zen Chemist’s and my ridge campsite, for it was in my face the second I opened my food bag in the morning — but not during our morning Mass. It followed me three miles, disappeared into the woods, then found me seven miles later, skipping past other hikers. I suitably played Sarah Jarosz’s “Lost Dog” for it:

When I paused at the hostel at the river, we called its owner, who picked it up. Sadly, though, these dogs seem to be treated more like hunting tools than loved ones. A few nights later, I camped out in an old orchard on the edge of a wildlife management preserve, and so I was able to hear a bear hunt quite well.

The dogs hop out of the truck when they smell a bear; the hunters find the dogs and bear by gps once the dogs have treed the bear; then poof. Maybe “Ghost” was back at hunting bears again, maybe he was escaping…

I guess the hunt made me feel safer, but I already had great confidence in my newly-mastered PCT-bear-hang:

While I’m on the topic of this orchard, I ran like an endurance athlete 4+ miles after dinner to reach it and complete my chores before dark, and my phone / the universe selected Greensky’s version of “Running the Briars” for my sprint. In racing the remaining daylight to put me in position to reach 19-E on time, I was moving faster than the pace of this song at the end of a 17-mile day that included over 3000 ft of ascent!

Next, I’m proud to say that the Catholic Church offers great trail magic and outreach by way of Br Tom’s truck stop at a gap. This Glenmary Missioner daily offers brownies, banana bread, and Arnold Palmers to hikers:

To that point, I had met three Catholics in 350 miles, each only fleetingly. SOBO Catherine had thrown her pack down in disgust that she was .5 mi off the AT, only to become overjoyed she had happened providentially into my Sunday Mass. 21 said her mom would be overjoyed that she was traveling with a priest, but that mountain girl “crushed miles,” as the expression goes. Then, at Br Tom’s lawn chairs, the three grannies traveling alongside me that day revealed they were all Catholics too. They were strong hikers and great lunch buddies, but I needed to go farther than them, in order to reach 19-E before the clock ran out — I’m hoping Sarah/Candy passed on her new PCT hanging skills to them (pictured in the distance below):

Next, the landscape was varied and beautiful in this section:

Many wild Catawba rhodies were blooming at lower altitudes. Unfortunately, the largest wild garden of them, from which many varieties of rhododendron come, was not yet in bloom at Cloudland:

The flame azaleas were still blooming

Here are the Spruce forest at Unaka mountain, followed perhaps by the fir forest by Clouldland on Roan Mountain:

The efts were out in this area:

Now a hiker would be remiss were he not to mention some clear differences in state hospitality. In Georgia, there were bear boxes, privies, paved roads; in NC, privies and paved roads; in TN, just dirt roads; here is the border between TN and NC:

We enjoyed the NC shelters better, but the TN hostels better — more on that later. Also, some hikers did stealth camp behind the bathrooms! at Cloudland in NC— ya gotta do what ya gotta do at 6,000 ft in the rain, just before sundown.

And then there was the spectacular beauty of the Roan highland balds. If anyone wants to day or section hike in the Smokies, Carver gap is the place (using Mountain Harbor B&B as your base):

Well, here I am putting my pack down on the other side of 19-E, 403 miles from Amicalola Falls. Chipmonk was there to greet me!

Brendan (now Caveman), Maria (now Twinkletoes), and Driftwood, with whom I had some great conversations to be unpacked later, saw me off as well. This TN hostel / B&B was great, including a bar just for hikers, and for some reason there was less green remedy around it than in NC.

The breakfast at Mountain Harbor was, as Chipmonk noted, “better than at any five-star hotel.” Truly, it made me think of Annie Gunns / Jane S’s catering from Smokehouse.

Oh man, I need more tomato pie in my breakfasts — and Mountain Harbour, which also plays all of my music at the bar, would be a better finish than a pic from Katahdin!

If you look closely between my bag and St Francis, you’ll see Twinkletoes setting out for another day on the trail:

Is it arrividerci or adieu?

Well, I’ve been extracted on time for family vacay in Cape Cod — thanks to Mike for driving to get me. I’m looking forward to seeing Christine S’s place there!

Will my trail continue north from Mass. and then back, flip flopping, down to Mountain Harbor and Boone for an actual stay at Dustin’s mountain retreat? (It was fun meeting Dustin at the hostel, if only for a mere hour or two…) Will it cross through Harper’s Ferry, WV for a train ride to see friends in DC? I have always felt as if this sabbatical needs to include a coffee in DC… Or will I vanish from the AT like a ghost?

There are some good posts to come, stay tuned. In the meantime, check out the podcast here of my three one-hour retreat conferences for the Catholic Renewal Center — I’m really proud of them and feel as if they could benefit anyone. Plus, future posts will tie the two together, bringing the Grace of Nothingness and the AT posts together.