Allen Gap, NC to Watauga Lake, TN

Day 9, Thursday, May 31

Elk Park, NC to Kincora Hostel, Dennis Cove, TN, 19.6 miles

Last Day of May. I'm up a couple of times during the night, each time gently stretching my right leg. Sometimes it hurts, sometimes it doesn't.

I get up at 6:10 AM and head to the Times Square Restaurant for breakfast. Eggs, bacon, grits, toast, pancakes, and coffee. Best breakfast of the trip.

I'm back in the room by 7:10 AM packing up. I'm going to walk to the convenience store with my pack on to test my leg. I need some film, batteries, Gatorade, and water so that'll be a good test. My leg does surprisingly well. Maybe I can do this.

I buy the things I need at the convenience store and keep heading out Highway 19E toward the trail. I don't have any luck hitching a ride to the trail this morning, so I have to walk the whole three miles from Elk Park to the AT. My leg is throbbing by the time I get there. I decide to test the uphill for a few hundred yards and see how I can do. Surprisingly, it doesn't hurt as much going uphill, so I continue on.

The first miles this morning on the trail are through pastures with plenty of cows and some horses. As I climb higher, I can look over my shoulder and see Hump Mountain, Little Hump, Beech Mountain, and Grandfather Mountain around me. My pace is certainly slower, but I think I can make the miles. There are several roads ahead that I can bail out on if worse comes to worse.

I take a break at Isaac Cemetery at 10:00 AM. It's a beautiful sunny morning. There are high clouds, but it is still nice and warm. My leg feels ok, so I head on.

I meet "Salty" and "Moonman" breaking camp at 10:45 AM. They camped just short of Buck Mountain Road last night. I stop and talk a few minutes while they finish packing up. I head out a few minutes ahead of them.

At 11:30 AM, what had been a perfectly clear sky is now clouded, and it's raining. Not very hard at first, but soon it's pouring. I take a break at 11:45 AM and eat lunch under a hemlock tree.

Sugar Hollow is a steep descent and climbout, coming and going. I cross Walnut Mountain Road an hour later. Although this section of the trail looks flat on the profile map, it is deceivingly hard. Lots of ups and downs one right after the other.

The rain starts coming down harder. My right leg is killing me, but I keep plugging along. The uphill stretches of the trail don't hurt nearly as much as the downhill. The rain finally passes, but I'm more wet from sweating than from the rain.

Moreland Gap Shelter, my destination, just won't appear. I pass one elderly couple hiking southbound. They tell me the shelter is still a couple of miles away. Uphill. I finally give up looking for the shelter. I figure it will appear when it's ready and not a minute sooner.

At 4:00 PM after climbing down a very steep hill, I find Moreland Gap Shelter. It is a rather dismal looking shelter. I rest for thirty minutes, eat some crackers and cookies, and drink a quart of lemonade. While I'm resting, I decide to push on for Dennis Cove, six miles away. I figure that if I can't walk tomorrow, I'm better off being close to the highway. I leave "Salty" and "Moonman" a note and head on.

In an hour, I'm climbing White Rocks Mountain and a few humps later, White Rocks Mountain Firetower is just ahead. The road up to the firetower is harder than anything I've done today! When I finally reach the tower at 5:35 PM, I throw my pack to the ground and stumble up the tower as far as the stairs go. They don't go to the top anymore. I take a couple of pictures and then climb back down.

When I look at the map, I realize that I've covered three miles in a little over an hour. If I can keep that pace I'll be at Dennis Cove before 7 PM.

The next mile of downhill is tough, but my leg is now numb and I can keep up a good pace. At 6:45 PM, I walk into a field with an old barn just above the highway at Dennis Cove.

Once I'm on the highway I decide to head to Kincora Hostel to see if any of the gang is there. There are two hostels at Dennis Cove, one east, and one west. I decide for Kincora because it's closer to the trail. I head west up the hill. When I get to Kincora I find everyone that I've met on the trail over the last ten days there plus a few I haven't met, including "Ramsey". "Venus", "Fried Fender", "Lucky Duck", "Ropeyarn", "Yellow", "Whitey", Tom, "Belu", "Slo-Motion", and Linda "Wassabe". "Venus", "FF", and "LD" have been shuttled around to various points on the trail by "Miss Janet" from Erwin over the last several days, and they have almost caught us with us now.

It seems that there are a couple of spaces left at the hostel. I check in with Pat Peoples, meet Bob, her husband, throw my pack on a bunk, and head for the shower. The gang has already been into town and bought pork chops and chicken, and corn-on-the-cob, enough for everyone, including me. What a feast! One of the best meals that I have had anywhere, anytime.

We mess around sorting gear, food, etc. talking until midnight. The rain begins to fall softly on the metal roof of the hostel as I drift off to sleep.