Day 11, August 1, 2020

Loss Creek to Sandy Gap

Mile 140.4

Another 18 mile day. 18.7 to be exact. Only because there were long dry stretches. Even if there were a flat spot to put a tent, there was no water for morning coffee.

Nothing to do except put one foot in front of the other and try to talk myself out of quitting.

That was easy enough after a rare view and then drying my stuff in the intermittent sun on the side of a road.

It was harder when I realized the infernal no-see-um bugs were able to get in my tent and contribute to my growing collection of bug bites and overall itchiness.

And don’t get me started on the blackberry brambles, though someone did manage to weed whack a small section between Loss Creek and Coker Creek, bless their hearts.

There was even a view.

I decided to quit.

Then I decided to press on to the Smokies where, surely, the trail will be better maintained.

Quit.

Keep going.

Quit.

Keep going.

18.7 miles of indecision until two things happened to bolster my mood.

I heard from my friend Early Bird. We met in 2017 on the AT, hiked around each other for a week, and he reached out to tell me he’d just finished the BMT on July 26. I was motivated.

Then I saw a flower. Something I’d never seen before and would never have seen if I hadn’t been at that precise place at that precise time, thru-hiking the Benton MacKaye Trail.

A Yellow Fringed Orchid.

This trail strings you along with tiny rewards that are, in fact, huge.