Day 24, Saturday, September 26, 2020

Smokemont Campground to McGee Springs Tentsite

Mile 270.4

Miles Hiked: 11.3 + .9 side trail to tentsite = 12.2

More funny questions from day hikers/overnighters, of which there were more on trail today. A man overheard me telling a fisherman about my 500-mile hike and he came up to me while I was collecting water.

He asked, “So, what do you eat out here?”

He thought I carried 40 days worth of food in my pack till I explained about resupply.

Getting close to the stream. Praying for a bridge.

Full-On Heebie-Jeebies

Gorgeous section of trail today. It ran parallel to a full, rushing creek with cascade after cascade after cascade. The one unexpected ford across the creek—it came up to my thighs—made me realize how every time the trail moves close to one of these big creeks, I get a little flutter of the heebie-jeebies because I AM SO OVER THESE RIVER FORDS!

So, lots of the H-Js today.

Standing in the creek, praying I don’t drop my phone in the water. Success!

SO.

MUCH.

WATER!!!!!!

AND, MINOR MIRACLE, A BRIDGE. YAY!

MCGEE SPRINGS TENT SITE

I did the unthinkable at the end of the day and hiked an extra .9 miles to a remote tentsite. The site wasn’t the prettiest place I’ve ever spent a night in my tent, but I’d go there again.

Two things made it worth the extra mile.

The springs. Not just your run of the mill box spring or seen-one, seen-them-all pipe spring. Down in this cove, the water bubbles up from the ground from a hundred little breaches in the earth. It just oozes up from what I imagine is an underground pond (but probably isn’t—geology isn’t my area of expertise). It reminds me of geothermal springs out west, in California at Lassen Volcanic National Park. Only not hot. And maybe underwhelming if you’re only able to appreciate nature when it’s epic.
The quiet. It’s no secret that finding a sliver of quiet in the world today can be a daunting, but worthy, task. Quiet Parks International has an interactive map to help make that task easier for seekers of silence in a noisy world. Yep, they’ve put a pin in the Great Smoky Mountains. And I believe they had McGee Springs campsite in mind when they made the call. I strained my ears listening for something, anything, with no luck at all. Not one rustling leaf. Not one burbling stream. Not one bird. Utter, magical silence and a bright moon sliding across the sky.