Great Smoky Mountains National Park - Day 4 [Lakeshore Trail, Forney Creek Trail]
We began Day 4 with a breakfast of biscuits and gravy (review posted separately) at Kirkland Creek Campsite (Site 76). By this stage of the hike, Mike had begun to develop blisters. It's important to take care of your feet when hiking in wet conditions, and it's equally important to tend to issues as soon as you notice them developing, to prevent the situation from worsening. After ensuring the injured areas were properly protected, we hit the trail for our last "full" (10+ mile) day of hiking.
The start of Day 4's hike was similar to the end of Day 3's, providing consistent glimpses of Fontana Lake through the trees, with an occasional scenic overlook. The views had a different tone this morning, as the sun had been replaced by thick, dark clouds. On this section of trail, we continued to encounter stone walls, rusted metallic relics, and other evidence that human civilization had once thrived in the area. We continued to enjoy the prevalent mountain laurel and, at one point, noticed (and made sure to keep our distance from) thick vines of poison ivy encircling trees in the lakeside forest.
We stopped for a snack in a cove that was, unfortunately, surprisingly marred by litter and debris. By this time, the clouds had cleared, and we spotted a salamander sunning on a log not far from us. Tom had been lamenting our lack of wildlife sightings, thus far, and this encounter provided some additional hope. It would not be the last wildlife sighting of the day. Also, just before noon, we crossed paths with a couple of backpackers doing the same loop, in the opposite direction, and paused to share our experiences and suggestions. It had been over 24 hours since our last interaction with other humans.
Hiking a bit ahead, Tom noticed some movement in the ravine to his right. A couple of stories below him, a large wild hog and several piglets made their way through the forest. Eventually, we reached a section of the forest that had been impacted by a forest fire. The trail was cut into a hillside, with steep inclines and brush on either side. It was here that we were stopped in our tracks by a large timber rattlesnake coiled on the right side of the path. The snake made its presence known by emitting its trademark rattle, and after determining the snake was not immediately interested in moving, we decided to back up a few yards to break for another snack. Once the rattler no longer perceived us as a threat, it eventually made its way back up the hillside, allowing us to continue on our route.
The trail continued to meander along hillsides and through the forest. We enjoyed an occasional view of the mountains through the fire-thinned canopy. By mid-afternoon, we had reached the intersection with Forney Creek and took a break for lunch in a small cove, observing fisherman casting from a boat not far from the shore as we ate.
Setting out after lunch, only a few miles remained between us and our goal of Campsite 70. The trail followed Forney Creek, occasionally diverting away from the creek and up the hillside to navigate around locations where we speculated previously-existing bridges had been washed out. We reached Campsite 71, the "CCC" campsite, and rested for a few moments while examining the chimney and fireplace that remain from the Civilian Conservation Corps days.
The last mile and change from Campsite 71 to Campsite 70 was an uphill trudge. It was a pretty tough way to end the day, and at certain points, we wondered if it would have been advisable to have reserved Campsite 71 and saved the climb for the following morning, even though there would already be a good amount of climbing on Day 5. Ultimately, we ended up glad we had settled on Campsite 70, though.
Shortly before reaching camp, with Tom again pushing slightly ahead, Mike was startled by a noise on the trail behind him. Expecting to see a hog, or even a bear, based on the day's experience, he was relieved to see another backpacker approaching. The kind stranger apologized for startling him, introduced himself as Eric, and they began chatting. Upon rejoining Tom, we learned that Eric and Tom hailed from the same hometown.
We shared a campfire with Eric that evening and had such a good time, we really didn't do any filming in camp. We learned that Eric works for a company called RightOnTrek, which is focused on backpackers and making backpacking more accessible to newcomers. Specifically, Eric leads development and production for the company's meal kit unit and was testing some recipes and cooking methods in the field. We eagerly agreed to share some of our freeze dried meals, in exchange for some of the egg scramble Eric was working on. Eric's scramble, with mushrooms, onions, and cheese was far and away the best food we had on this trip! We'll be exploring more of their offerings, in the future. In addition to backpacking meals, RightOnTrek offers some tools you can use to find your next trail or plan your next backpacking trip.
We stayed up a little bit later than normal, conversing beside the fire, but eventually, knowing there were miles that needed to be covered in the morning, we retired to our tents. As would be the case each and every evening of our trip, the sounds of the nearby creek lulled us to sleep.
Comments
Post a Comment