The night in the hotel’s king sized bed was heavenly. The guest laundry and endless hot water were excellent perks as well. We had a fairly lazy morning, Kacy’s shuttle to Atlanta wasn’t schedule to arrive until 11 am and he would also be dropping me back at Unicoi Gap to resume hiking.
After checking out of the hotel we meandered up the street to Betty’s Country Store, an amazingly well stocked local grocery that encouraged patrons to enjoy a beer while shopping. I resupplied with 6 days of food while Kacy tagged along, taking the store’s advice and sipping a beer. Shopping complete, we relaxed on the store’s patio eating snacks in the sun – it really was a lovely morning.
Inevitably, Kacy’s shuttle arrived and it was time to part ways. The church group was back at Unicoi Gap handing out burgers and hot dogs which made a great second lunch before starting the climb out of the gap, back on the trail of white blazes. I’m definitely lonely now that Kacy’s gone, finding motivation to get up the hills is a lot harder alone.
I did catch up with Kiwi about halfway up Tray Mountain and shared a snack break with her. She stopped for the day at Tray Mountain Shelter, but I kept going. The forecast on the peak was a low of 31 deg with 20-35 mph winds, I really wanted to find a more sheltered campsite.
The next handful of campsites weren’t any more protected so I ended up covering more miles than I’d planned for the day. This whole area was devoid of springs and streams so I was carrying 2.5 L of water along with 6 days of food, needless to say it was a long day with a heavy pack.
Finally arriving at Addis Gap around 5 where I met a whole new group of hikers. With the pace the others are keeping I’m not sure how many of them I’ll see them again, hopefully I’ll get to catch up with some of them at Trail Days. The new group was just as welcoming as the last, just a few of my new friends include DrThoreau, Buck Wild, The Machinist, and Bus Boy.
I was rewarded for the long walk with a cozy tent site completely protected from the wind partway down the trail to the water source. The water was half a mile from camp so I made use of what I’d carried all day for dinner will top off the bottles tomorrow.
Day 8 Mileage: 11.3 mi [Unicoi Gap -> Addis Gap]
Total Mileage: 72.1 mi