davenport gap shelter to roaring fork shelter

slept pretty well, despite the overly packed shelter. got a late start none the less because i took my time packing up and breakfasting.

what i’m calling ‘tramily prime’ all left at the same time. we hiked together down the rest of the way out of great smokey mountain national park and after a few miles got to another metal box to deposit our permits.

we crossed a road and climbed up and over another mountain and back down the other side. there was a small road walk to cross under a highway, with a shot up stop sign, and then we were back in the woods for another mile and change until we got to standing bear farm, where there is a hiker resupply and hostel, and the end of farout (guthook) section 1!

we hiked up to the hostel to do our resupply. it was a pretty neat place. like a tiny hiker town. i resupplied, including a few snacks, and a pizza, which i heated up in the kitchen and ate in its entirety along with a sleeve of powdered doughnuts and a bear claw pastry.

quick and i headed out without intel and yogi, who decided not to push miles today. we’re trying to get to hot springs tomorrow night for a shower and some hostel.

the afternoon was rough. it started raining and gale force winds threw it at us sideways. we hiked hard just to stay warm. it was mentally taxing hiking in such conditions. i definitely wondered at some point why i was out here doing this and not sitting comfortably at home by the fire.

we hiked down to a gap just before max patch, and found trail magic. we arrived and i tried to put on another layer and couldn’t get my fingers to work. it took me probably 10 minutes of struggling to get into my pack, get the layer, get my jacket off, get it on, and get my jacket back on. the menu at the trail magic was spaghetti and salad. normally i’d have been so psyched for such trail magic, but i was so cold i could barely eat it. i literally didn’t have the manual dexterity to twirl the spaghetti. i also attempted the salad, and had to resort to stabbing it like a little kid to get it on the fork. we took off pretty quickly, and literally ran for a few minutes to get warm.

we climbed max patch, which i’m certain is a beautiful place on a normal day, but it was a bitter windscape. we saw for a split second a mointain in the distance, but by the time we got to the top, we were alone on a grassy field in a white freezing wet hellscape.

thankfully, from max patch to roaring fork shelter wasn’t far and pretty flat. we jogged a bit of it to keep warm. the rain stopped just before we got to camp. we arrived at the shelter soggy and frozen. i negotiated some space in the already full shelter for quick and me. we changed into some dry clothes and spent the rest of the afternoon in our sleeping bags.

interestingly, folks that got to camp after us reported great views and arrived with smiles. they had only some of the wind and rain we had, and had warmed up and dried out before they got to camp.

some additional images from today: