#8 Devil’s Fork Gap to Erwin

4/22: After taking a zero for Easter, we were ready to get back on the trail. It was a late start because our shuttle driver (the legendary Miss Janet) didn’t exactly know where we were and took a few wrong turns when we were in the car. That’s ok though, because she gave us lots of good advice about how even though we have a group that we’ll hike with called a tramily (trail family), everyone else on the trail is family too. Anyway we started hiking around 11:30 and our legs were upset and confused about the decision. The days after zeros or neros are not our legs’ favorite day. We slowly got back into the groove of it though, and by lunch at 3pm we were back to our usual 2mph. We hiked about 2 miles to Sam’s Gap and there was trail magic! We ate pizza and candy and pickles and cuties and it was wonderful. Then we hiked another mile to our campsite, so we logged in 10 all together, ate a small dinner, and went to bed content and ready for our legs to work again.

4/23: We started off the trail at a steep incline. It was a beautiful day out already and trees were starting to sprout leaves and flowers. We came across a meadow and enjoyed the rare open space, and then we got back into the woods. We struggled up the next mountain, got a break, and then struggled up more mountains. Sometimes the trail turns into boulders, and we had to climb those too, but at the top was a wonderful view. There were so many white flowers on the ground that it looked like snow. At the very top was Big Bald, which is exactly what it sounds like. It was a large grassy field with views of the mountains on all sides.

This time it’s flowers! Not snow

Big Bald on a clear day

We ate lunch up there and sat around for a lovely break as our friends, Sunshine and Otter, and Lolly and Pop joined us. We finally left the bald and hiked on to Spivey Gap. We set up camp and had dinner with Sunshine, Otter, Keebler, Lolli and Pops. We played some cards and went to bed early.

4/24: We woke up this morning hoping for a trail magic breakfast since we slept right near a gap on a road. Sadly, we had to settle for some poptarts and a protein bar. We had a steep incline for the first part of our hike and then it leveled out a bit. Part way through the hike Hawk saw a snake cross her path on the trail! After 5 miles, we sat by a small stream for a good snack break and chatted with other hikers. The last 2 miles to our shorter day were supposed to be easy, but we came across 3 downed trees in a row. We had to take our packs off and weave in and out of the trunks. We made it to our campsite just after 1pm. We had another snack, and played some cards. Sunshine, Otter, and Keebler have the same tents as us. We set our tents up in a triangle and listened to Disney music and talked until it was time for bed.

Our tents at the campsite

So now we’re hanging out in Erwin with Otter, Sunshine, and Keebler. We ate Taco Bell and pizza for dinner and large quantity of raw spinach to make up for it :)

Happy Trails!