I think we were honestly in shock when we reached state #13 – North Carolina. We still had a ways to go, but nothing compared to the distance we had already hiked. The majority of this section traveled right down the border between NC and TN.

The Roan Highlands are just absolutely amazing. This picture reminds of the Lion King for some reason (so Shawn would be..Simba??)

Did we mention it was dry? This is Waterboy trying to salvage a couple of drops from a little pool of water we found under some rocks. I must say, it is nice to just turn on the faucet now that we’re home….

But I’d give it all up again for views like this.

We stayed the night at the Overmountain Shelter – it’s an old barn that has been converted into a place for hikers to stay. And as an added bonus, it was the night of the super moon.

Typically, you don’t set your tent up in the shelter. But this particular night was very chilly and we were pretty high up in elevation. There were only two other SOBO hikers staying with us that night and they said didn’t mind if we set up camp inside, so we were able to get up off the ground and guarded away from some of the wind.

Because we were hiking along the state line, we kept going in and out of each state and therefore saw several “Welcome to – here!” signs

A see-through tree haha

And some times, when you’re lucky, you come to a road crossing and find TRAIL MAGIC

Hot tea or coffee, cold lemonade or iced tea. Cookies, brownies, fruit…and CHAIRS. And of course, an adorable pup.

We couldn’t pass up a night at the infamous Uncle Johnny’s in Erwin, TN. For $50 we had this cabin to ourselves and a shuttle ride to & from town. The best part? Netflix was included on the cabin’s tv and Uncle Johnny sells Snickers bars for 45 cents.

We stopped for a break and I took out the guidebook while drinking my Gatorade and having a Snickers…it was too hiker cliche to NOT take a picture of it happening in real life.

As the daylight hours grew shorter, we started catching more and more sunrises and sunsets. I definitely did not mind that part of it.

LOOK HOW FAR WE’VE COME

This was one of the first pictures I took in the Great Smoky Mountains. While we were there, they were in fact very smoky. The wildfires were growing stronger and stronger every day (and eventually forced the whole section through the GSMNP to be closed off to hikers just a week later).

While the quality isn’t that great in this pic, it is one of my favorites. People say a big downside of hiking SOBO is loneliness. They say that there won’t be anyone else around you on the Trail. Well, here we are a week out from summiting Springer and we spent the night in this shelter with a total of 14 SOBOs. Fourteen isn’t a lonely number (and it definitely helped us to stay warm).

The shelters in the Smokies had huge tarps strung across the open side to help keep the heat in.

Half way through the Smokies is Newfound Gap, which is pretty much one of only two roads that you can take down off of the AT in the park. You come to a huge parking area filled with tourists that drove up to the top and you feel as if you entered a completely different world. We got to this parking lot on Thanskgiving Eve and decided to grab a ride down into Gatlinburg to spend the holiday. It was fun spending a day in the tourist town! As soon as the car dropped us off we passed a Dunkin Donuts and Shawn had to run in and grab two donuts and an iced coffee. Not even five minutes later we passed a Coldstones that he ran into to and ordered a chocolate covered three-scoop waffle cone. It was like watching a kid go to Disney for the first time hahah

When we checked into our hotel, we had a box from my mom. But not just any box – Thanksgiving in a Box!! It was so amazing to open and was the perfect touch of home when we needed it most.

But then, because we didn’t have ENOUGH food already, we emptied out our backpacks and brought them to the grocery store to stock up on some more food.

Then we finished up the night at Pizza Hut (what, it’s the hiker hunger!)

We spent Thanksgiving morning watching the parade in bed with the fireplace roaring 🙂

Our feast!! We both agreed it was our best Thanksgiving yet.

That pile of sheets is Shawn, who was out like a light by 5pm.

After we checked out the next morning, we had to reorganize our food bags on the street…something we added to the list of “Things we won’t miss”

Because of the drought and all the trail magic that has been provided to us throughout our journey, we decided to bring a couple of water gallons back up to Newfound Gap with us for other hikers behind us.

That night we summited the highest point on the entire AT – Clingman’s Dome

And of course! Thanksgiving leftovers. They didn’t look super appetizing all mixed up together in ziplocs, but they still tasted great. The really gross looking one was the chocolate pudding pie…just be glad that I don’t have a picture of that one.

The Smokies have some pretty great shelters.

These pictures really show how ice covered the trees were.

2,000 miles!!! Almost there!

As we traveled further south, more and more shelters had bear cables. These made hanging our food at night much safer and easier.

The Trail travels right across the top of Fontana Dam, the tallest dam East of the Mississippi River.

Unfortunately, the wildfires closed a 63 mile stretch of the trail during our hike. While we are still considered thru-hikers even though we had to shuttle around it, we are going back this summer to finish up the section we missed.

<<Back to Tennessee // Less than 70 miles to go!>>