Nort Smoky Mountain National Park - Newfound Gap to Davenport Gap

Day 0

I left Texas on a Wednesday to be able to start hiking on Friday morning. It took me two days to get to eastern Tennessee. I stayed at the Standing Bear Farm and Hostel. Lumpkin was a great host. He even cooked me a spare steak. I was the only one in the bunk house that night and had a 6AM shuttle out.

Day 1 At 6AM it is still dark around here - my shuttle driver picked me up a bit after 6 an we headed out to the gap. It takes about 90 minutes to get there - a distance which will take me two hard days hiking to return to.

PICTURE HERE

I left Newfound Gap just before 8am an headed into the park. In a couple of hours I made it to Ice Water shelter where I ran into a gentleman who spent all week fishing in the lower valleys of the park. He didn’t catch much - but he enjoyed it.

Just a bit further on is Charlies Bunion. It is a rock outcropping facing two valleys with massive drop offs.

PICTURE HERE

I stopped at the spur trail for Pecks Shelter at about 2 for lunch. I had already put in a solid 10+ miles of hiking, but still had 5.2 to go to make it to Tri Corner. That 5.2 was a pretty tough hike - but I made it to camp about 5:30. Total today: 15.6 miles

There were six others in camp tonight. It was a pretty good time except that a couple of the older gentleman got a bit loud with their “special water”. Sunset was about 9 PM.

Day 2

Two other hikers showed up about 1 AM - still not sure where they came in from. I didn’t sleep great, but it was cool and clear. It was in the upper 50s in the morning.

Broke camp about 8AM and headed toward the northern terminus of the park.

Lunch as Crosby Shelter with a trail maintenance guy. That shelter was closed until recently because of bear activity.

PICTURE HERE

PICTURE HERE

Once you get to Cosby, it is basically all downhill. As you descend into the valley it gets hotter and hotter. It will be in the mid 80s by the time I get to the bottom.

I hit the spur trail for Mt Cammerer - there is a fire tower at the top that is supposed to be really nice, but I am not making good time and the extra hour or more to check out the view did not fit in my schedule. I have made a mental note to head back there.

While at the spur, a horse train came up the trail - there were 14 or so horses and riders. 5.2 miles to Davenport Gap from here.

Long hard decent to the gap. There is nothing really at the gap. Just a Forestry Service road. I debated calling a shuttle for the last couple of miles but decided to hike with a day hiker who was doing an out and back from I-40. I could not keep up over the hill - which is not surprising considering the heat and the distance I put in.

I crossed the Pigeon River and both a motor cycle and pickup truck stopped. The truck gave me a lift to the top of the road and back to Standing Bear. Total today was just about 18 miles.

The Smoky’s are done. Total mileage completed on the AT is about 238.