Day 48, Friday April 16, 2021

 

Hosea 1 - 14

Relax Inn to Knot Maul Branch shelter campsite- 14.7 miles hiked today- 560.4 total  AT miles hiked.

Today was a big milestone for us.  At 9:09 am today we reached mile 548.28, exactly 1/4 of the 2193.1 mile AT. It took us just over 47 days to get this far, with an average daily mileage of 11.7 miles per day.  That includes the NEROs and ZEROs taken.  Now that we’ve gained some experience and stamina, our daily average should exceed 15 miles per day (give or take) for the rest of the journey.  That would put us finishing sometime in early to mid August.  We’ll see if we can maintain that pace.

Milestones aside, today was a relaxing and stress free day.  We determined that we’d do just under 15 miles today stopping at Knot Maul shelter.  The terrain was forgiving, with very little in the way of razor rocks or egregious climbs. Crossing on old covered bridge, we left Atkins (after breakfast at the Sunoco station), walked under Interstate 81 and headed back into the woods.  As noted, early on we passed the sign designating our completion of 25% of the trail, and continued on.

Beautiful rolling hills, rustic farmhouses and homes, and meandering streams dotted the trail throughout the morning.  After cresting Walker mountain, we descended into Old Rich valley, where we stopped for lunch on a grassy hillside with views of mountains, farmland, and more forest.  We stayed there soaking up the perfec t sunny day for about an hour before moving on.  

After lunch, the trail was a little more challenging as we climbed up Brushy mountain, but nothing compared to what we had faced only a few days ago.  We did have to climb over 1/2 dozen fences using trail ladders provided for that purpose.  Not a fun proposition when burdened with a backpack, but we survived.  Along the way we passed two groups of trail maintenance volunteers working to clear the trail of downed trees from the March ice storm we’d gotten a part of in the Smokey’s.

Finally, around 4 pm we arrived at the shelter, set up our tents, had dinner, and hung our bear bags.  I do have to say that this shelter had one of the cleanest privys yet, obviously recently maintained.  It’s amazing what becomes important to you when on the trail.

We will be