Appalachian Trail SOBO Day 79 – Bald Knob is not bald
13th october 2023
Piney River, North Fork (1377.2) - Punchbowl Shelter (1400.6)
Daily miles: 23.6
Total miles: 1408.7
Drifted off to sleep with the sounds of the Coyotes and other forest creatures, safe in the knowledge that my cowboy camping companions would be eaten first.
I was pleasantly surprised to wake to everything being dry. I was expecting a condensation station but it was totally dry. I set my alarm for 6:20am and ignored it. I ended up leaving camp around 7:30am after eating 4 Chocolate Chip Brioche Rolls and drinking an Apple Cider. I had to take my last antihistamine tablet because something had a feast on the back of my legs and they were itchy like you wouldn’t believe. I have about 8 bites.
I was swirling my apple cider around in my pot thinking it was a bad idea as I was doing it and, of course, I spilled it on my sleeping bag.
I was first out and I swept so many cobwebs; they were tickling my legs and stuck in my eyelashes. I hiked with Cal for about 15 minutes before I got far too hot and had to delayer and he went ahead. Unfortunately I think he stopped to poop because I was getting a face full of webs again.
I had to stop for a nature poo
After a series of ups and downs through the forest I came up to Tar Jacket ridge where there was a great view where you could see all the layers of the mountains. Toe and Cal caught up to me and then May Queen. We stopped to take a small break.
Morning views
Those layers
The climbing wasn’t done for the day so we carried on. Toe was out ahead of me and when we came to Cole Mountain Bald I could see her over on the other side. It was so beautiful. I wanted to stop and sit and appreciate being there but there was no time, I had to keep going. It’s about a half mile stretch of open meadow and when I looked back I could see Cal over on the other side.
The colour of that sky
Cole Mountain Bald
I wanted to stay here for a while
Soak in the views and the blue sky
Photo taken by Cal. Can you see me?
By the time I had reached the summit of Bald Knob (not bald but in fact wooded) Cal had caught up to me. I go a similar speed to him on the downhill so I stayed behind him and we chatted until we caught up to Toe. We had 2500ft to descent until we got to water which, at 13 miles, would be the first water since camp. It was pretty warm today and I had drunk all my water so I was looking forward to getting there.
It was a pretty intense downhill. A lot of the trail was loose stones so there was the ever present threat of slipping. Down down down. It felt like one of those never ending downhills and we all had achy legs and knees.
Cal in the distance
Hazy cloud
The never ending descent with Toe and Cal
Love the light in the leaves
It was fantastic to get to the water because it meant we could sit down. I collected water and went to get up and slipped, used my hand with my freshly filled bottle in to save myself and I leant on the bottle and squirted out half the water, almost soaking Toe in the process.
I had noodles for lunch. And cheese and crisps and brownies. I don’t usually eat this much for lunch. We stayed there for over an hour I think. I lost track of time. At 2:30pm there was still 10.5 miles to go but I think I was in a slightly better position that I was yesterday at this time.
Lunch break
I left first and the trail was nice, still descending but a lot less steep and I was making good time, despite not feeling that great. I felt a bit sicky, like my food was coming back up into my throat. I loosened my hip belt slightly and it helped a bit. I don’t know what caused it but I was farting up a storm on my way down the trail all afternoon. I went though a stage where I was super tired. I could have just laid down in the trail and gone to sleep. I felt like you do when you’ve taken a tablet that’s made you drowsy.
The trail was covered with crispy leaves and it was the sound of autumn.
Autumn colours
The trail was so pretty today
Big bridge energy
Green tunnel
800 miles to go
Look up
I got a bit of a second wind and then that was really knocked out of my sails when the trail started climbing again, but instead of nice switchbacks like there has been it was steps and straight up and it was a killer!
There was a trash can at a road crossing though which was perfect. I could get rid of my trash and also throw away the ham I got from Walmart that has been festering in my bag because I didn’t like it.
The holy grail
After the last 0.4 mile straight up push, and a 0.2 miles side trail, I got to the shelter at about 6:45pm, just before it got dark. My legs were telling me they had enough today. I don’t think I could have gone any further.
This way
Sunset
There were a couple of ladies there already set up in the shelter. One lady form Chile who didn’t speak English and her friend who we found out was 77 years old and still hiking the AT in sections.
I had another packet of noodles for dinner and a hot chocolate and then it was my priority to be lying down as quick as possible. Plus I was getting cold so being cosy in my sleeping bag was also a priority.
My legs are so sore tonight. They are really throbbing and my feet are really feeling it too. The good news is that my ankle is still ok and not causing me any pain. It’s still a 1 out of 10 because it’s not healed completely yet. I was lying down and cosy by 8pm
