Elizabeth's+Scripts+Episode+Two

Day One will begin at Sams Gap, right on the border of North Carolina and Tennessee and also on the border of the Cherokee and Pisgah National Forests. At an elevation of 3,800 feet, the hike begins where the trail intersects US Highway 23. With ample secure parking at this location, we will leave behind cars, computers, and cell phones for the next four days. City streets and high rise buildings will be replaced by a single footpath winding through mountains and forests.  During the course of the Day One hike, we can expect to see plenty of tulip-trees, hickories, jack-in-the-pulpits, black locusts, red maples, spring beauty, hepatica, blackberries, apple trees, beech, sumacs, rhododendron, white pine, fringed phacelia, and Fraser magnolias growing all around us. Some of the manmade features we can expect to encounter on Day One are old barns, a tiny cemetery, and the remains of a log cabin. The hike will pass notable physical landmarks such as High Rock, Rice Gap, Big Flat, Frozen Knob, Sugarloaf Gap, and Devil Fork Gap. The Day One Hike will involve walking through forests and fields. Creeks will be crossed via stepping stones and foot logs. On this first day, the hike elevations will range from 4,460 feet to 3,107 feet over the course of this 10.5 mile hike. At the end of the day, we will set up camp at Flint Mountain Shelter. This log shelter was built by the Carolina Mountain Club in 1988. It features a table, benches, fire ring, roofed privy, and piped water. On Day Two, we will set out on the trail passing several waterfalls at the beginning of this day’s hike. We will also see the gravesites of Union soldiers killed while returning home on leave during the Civil War today. There will be several spots for viewing both the Nolichucky River and Mount Mitchell (the highest peak in the United States east of the Mississippi) along this hike. We will be walking through yellow birches, sugar maples, mountain laurel, rhododendron, hickory, wild ginger, and blueberries. Along this segment of the trail, bear-hunting dogs are used to track bears. Radio collars worn by the dogs send a signal to nearby campgrounds when a dog is standing on it hind legs. Standing on hind legs suggests that the dog has chased a bear up into a tree. I really hope that I don’t hear any of those signals while I’m out on the trail. During the course of the Day Two hike, we will pass physical landmarks such as Flint Gap, Big Rock, Bearwallow Gap, Blackstack Cliffs, White Rock Cliffs, and Camp Creek Bald. After hiking 11.5 miles over elevations ranging from 3,425 feet to 4,844 feet above sea level, we will set up camp at the end of Day Two at Jones Meadow. This large grassy area offers excellent view of both the Smokies and the Black Mountains.

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