Day 2 dawned clear and cold- the amount of stars out the previous night was amazing. Today we have to get 12 miles over terrain that Christine had never seen before, so this was going to be the most remote section of the trail with some 6 to 7 miles without any other trail crossing.
The temperatures got down to about 34 degrees, making getting out of the warm sleeping bags difficult.
The sun came out early and the walk was flat and pleasant for the first half of the day.
We came across the old Calhoun House that the park service uses as a storage and base facility. There used to be an entire town here including a railroad for the mining.
After the Calhoun house the trail began to disappear. the last half of the day was spent on a barely there horse trail and lots of painful side hilling as the trail was not well defined at all. The last 5 miles of the day was not fun!
The Hemlocks are dying in the Park thanks to the Woolly Adelgid and they lay on the ground like pick up sticks
We finally arrive at camp 77. the section from 81 to 77 was rough and remote.
Camp site 77 was nice and open with a nice stream running right next to it for water
Rain was threatening but a great fire again makes everything warm and great.
Day 2:
12 miles in 7 hours
many blow downs along the trail and hard going from campsite 81 to 77
Animals Heard:
Coyote
Hoot Owl
