Unfortunately, the weather forecast was correct and it rained. There was no space on the bunk in the shelter so I set up my pad on the dirt floor. Being on the floor was preferable to being out in the rain. When morning came I was a bit worried about being trampled by everyone else so I packed up and got out quick when I heard people start to rustle.
I was on the trail by 7 am with Pin Drop and Kiwi. We made the 13 mile trek to Cosby’s Knob Shelter by quarter to one and stopped for lunch. We did some quick math while we ate and realized that no thru hikers would get a spot inside the shelter tonight. We decided to press on after lunch and try for Davenport Gap Shelter, making it my first 20 mile day if we succeeded.
Most of the day was spent hiking through fog and rain but the gamble paid off, there were three open spots at Davenport when we arrived. We hung everything out to dry, but since it’s just supposed to keep raining I expect it’ll still be wet in the morning.
So far I’ve really liked and would recommend the Z Pack Arc Blast as a lightweight backpacking bag. However, it is advertised as “highly water resistant” but I’d call that false advertising at this point. The fabric soaks through fairly quickly and I’m so very glad that all of my important things for sleeping were inside of a garbage bag. With a dry sleeping bag and pad I was at least able to avoid a very long cold night, even being inside of the shelter.
This shelter, like a few of the others in the Smokies, had a fireplace inside. Kiwi picked up some marshmallows at the last re-supply because she’d never had one before. We introduced her to toasting them in the fireplace. Her technique needs some work, it really sucked, but I think she enjoyed the experience overall.
Day 25 Mileage: 19.7 mi [Pecks Corner -> Davenport Gap Shelter]
Total Mileage: 245.7 mi