April 27, 2021

I got the early shuttle back to the trail at 8am.  Just me and a couple from Framingham, MA. Everyone else would be catching a 9am shuttle.  Nice people I would guess in their late fifties maybe 60ish.  They have been section hiking the trail.  They have already completed from PA to Gorham, Maine.  I started up the trail while they adjusted some equipment.  They would eventually catch up and pass me about mid afternoon.

I was glad I got the early shuttle for two reasons.  First to be able to start hiking in the cooler morning hours and second to escape a hiker who had joined me hiking yesterday but was getting to clingy.

Today’s biggest challenge is Big Bald Mountain.  I feel a lot of energy today and the climb, while long, was more gradual until closer to the top.  Saw an old structure out in the middle of nowhere long since abandoned.  These make me wonder about their history and purpose.

Big Bald Mountain stands 5,516 feet tall.

It’s a bald so it’s pretty much grass at the top.  The view was great.

This is lookin down at Little Bald and I will be hiking the path you can see cross over it.

As is usual, the day involved several climbs of differing elevation gains.  I usually note the highest or biggest elevation climb.  In this case, Big Bald.  An interesting afternoon climb at High Rocks was steeper and much narrower and rockier than the balds I crossed.

Today’s plan was to hike to at least Spivey Gap and camp there and that is what I did.  This left me with about an eleven mile hike tomorrow into Erwin, TN.

Late in the afternoon a woman hiker popped out of a camp area next to the trail where she had been resting and joined me for a while.  Trail name is Tobasco.  She is late 20’s I would guess.  She has dual citizenship of US and Israel and said she had lived in Israel for a while and served 3 years in their army.  She moved back to the US a couple of years ago and now lives in Maine.  

Late in the afternoon I found a spot to camp just off the trail at the gap.  Set up my tent and started dinner.   Tobasco showed up and decided to camp there as well.  I think she was looking to be around someone where she was camping that night.  It was a pretty remote section of the trail.  As she was walking in I noticed she was pregnant.  What in the world is someone doing hiking like this while pregnant?  I admire her determination but worry about her health.   She said she was taking her time and doing fine.  Based on how she was showing I guess maybe 4 months pregnant.  Never thought I would see this on the trail.

After dinner I tied my Ursack food bag to a tree about 40 yards from tent and helped Tobasco hang her bear bag.  Then I was off to bed.  It was hard to sleep because it had gotten warmer and the humidity had gone up.

Completed about 13.4 miles and climbed around 3,500 feet.