(Davenport Gap Shelter (mile 238) - Stealth Campsite (mile 253ish))

I woke up about 7:30am to a series of muttered expletives from Grok. Apparently a mouse had pooped in his mug during the night! Despite this unfortunate wildlife encounter, the morning air promised a beautiful day and an opportunity to dry out.

After stretching, I bid farewell to Grok and made my way back to the trail. After digging an emergency cat hole, I finally started to hike at around 9am. The trail was squishy with mud and gave me vivid flashbacks to Canadian portage trails. I soon reached the northern boundary of Great Smoky Mountain National Park at Davenport Gap. I left the other half of my Smokies permit in the dropbox and officially hiked out of the park.

Officially exiting Great Smoky Mountains National Park!

As I descended the ridge, the trail wound over Tobes Creek on several occasions. The creek was swollen from the recent rains and bubbled furiously as I hopped across the rocks. Tobes creek carved a little valley off the side of the mountain which the trail followed into the foothills of the smokies. The valley was filled with wildflowers and blooming trilliums. It was beautiful!

The trail intersected and merged with a little country road. As I hiked out onto the road, a mail truck pulled up next to me and the old mailman offered me a bag of hard candies and peppermints, which I accepted with many thanks. Taking candy from strangers… oh boy😂

I crossed over the Pigeon River Bridge a little after 10am. The moderately lengthy road walk wound me under interstate 40 and then back onto the trail.

I soon reached a gravel road featuring a small sign with “Standing Bear Farm ←” hand painted across its face. I had heard a lot of things about Standing Bear Farm. Some good, some bad. Standing Bear is a legendary AT hostel - one of the longest oldest hostels on the trail and also the first chance for resupply after the Smokies. Grok spoke many praises for Standing Bear. I have heard it compared to a hippy commune. I have also heard that the resupply ranges from tolerable to terrible. I had no idea what to expect. I was excited!

Standing Bear Farm Hostel is the first resupply opportunity outside of the Smokies

Standing Bear Farm gives off major hippy commune vibes and was fittingly described to me as “a cult without a leader" — Standing Bear Farm gives off major hippy commune vibes and was fittingly described to me as “a cult without a leader”

I left Standing Bear around noon and began the long gradual climb out of the valley. Early in the climb, I realized I had reached a major landmark: the end of my first Guthook section. My navigation app, Guthook, divides the AT into nine downloadable sections, each approximately 250 miles in length. The first section was 240 miles from Springer Mountain to Standing Bear Farm. The next section was 230 miles from Standing Bear to Damascus (the first town in Virginia). Fortunately, I had just enough LTE service to download the next section after a few minutes. I then continued up the ridge.

After hiking a little over 2 miles I stopped for lunch and ate my Standing Bear breakfast burritos near a small stream. I also helped myself to a Little Debbie Oatmeal Cream Pie - delicious!

The climb up to Snowbird Mountain included this super cool blaze sign

Another 2.5 miles led me to the top of Snowbird Mountain, home to a "communications facility" that looks pretty funky. I am pretty sure they’re trying to communicate with aliens up here😂

The view from Snowbird Mountain was spectacular

I hiked another 5 miles and stopped for a snack at the junction of Rube Rock Trail. I decided to take a break to air out and elevate my feet while also starting my dinner soaking. After another half mile or so, I stopped for water at Brown Gap Spring. At this point, I was only 3.5 miles from Max Patch, so I decided to keep hiking for 30 minutes and then take the first suitable tentsite I came across. This would hopefully put me approximately 2-2.5 miles from Max Patch. That would be plenty close to night hike and catch the sunrise.

After hiking for 30 minutes, I made my way into a gap where I spotted a single tent pad a few yards off trail. I first set about hanging my bear line. After a poor throw, I got my line hopelessly tangled on a branch. I struggled for a long time, including using the trusty “reach with a long stick” method. I was able to recover my rock bag, but eventually accepted that the line was a lost cause. This was devastating because I pride myself on my bear bag hanging technique. Unfortunately, on this particular evening, I was tired and got lazy with my rope management. It cost me my bear line.

Fortunately, I'll be able to get a replacement bear line from AC when we meet at Hot Springs in two days.

In a rather grumpy mood, I ate my dinner and set up my tent. It got cold and windy and I retreated to my tent for the night along with my food bag.

My camera did a poor job capturing the incandescent sheen of this beetle’s abdomen