After two attempts, 289 miles and 68,000 feet I arrived at the northern terminus of the Benton MacKaye Trail. Last year I made it to mile 127. This year I started at mile 127 and, after 2-1/2 weeks reached the end.
My first night after leaving my re-supply in Cherokee I camped with the only other north bound BMT thru-hiker I met on the trail… Flyover.
On my shuttle back to the trail from Cherokee I saw a couple of elk on the side of the road.
This last section (from Cherokee to the end) was three days so I had a light pack for the one 4,000 foot climb day.
The last 8 days were in Smoky National Park and that was definitely the highlight of the trail.
All my nights were spent at either designated (in the park) or random primitive camp sites. The sole exception was the last night, which was spent in a the lone shelter on the trail. This was also the only time it rained really hard.
And it was still raining (though not as hard) as I left the shelter.
I was joined in the shelter by four young men from Ohio doing a three day hike in the park.
I caught up with these fine gentlemen and they gave me a cold beer and a ride to Standing Bear Hostel. Now that was some real trail magic! I spent one night at the hostel before shuttling to the airport.
And no hike would be complete without at least one equipment failure…. On day 10 I blew out one of my crocs and had to do a field repair that lasted the rest of the hike.
One final comment. While I was hiking deep in Trump country, both of my shuttle drivers were ardent anti-Trumpers and there were signs of discontent…
Our Adventures 