Ahhhhhh slackpacking! Could be the best ten dollars I’ve spent. Hiking without the pack was incredible, it felt odd at first, like a part of me was missing, but everything was so much easier. The first part of the day was down from the road to Hampton to Laurle Falls, and a nice stretch of trail along the river. For a few feet the trail became part of the cliff wall right along the river, just inches from the water. Most importantly, we got to do Pond Mountain pack free. All I was carrying for the 3.5 mile climb and most of the day was my camera and a 20 ounce gatorade bottle, and a cliff bar, even left the trekking poles with the pack. Strider, Pockets, and I all regrouped near the stream on top of the mountain to have ‘lunch’ (cliff bar) and refill on water. Just a ways down from there we saw a guy running up the hill – nearly at the top of his 3 mile+ climb, and not even out of breath. A little while later he passed us as he was going back downhill, I was kind of inspired, and thought I’d take advantage of my lack of pack and give it a try. A couple weeks ago I was gingerly stepping down every rock step, and even a week ago many steps were painful, now i started running downhill. It was a blast, I was surprised how it was almost easier to avoid stepping on rocks and roots running downhill at full speed than it was when walking. Maybe someday I’ll try it uphill too…
We eventually made it to Wilbur Dam Road, Strider was the first one there and called back to Black Bear to have them deliver the packs. About 30 minutes later, we had to face the agonizing reality that it was time to put on a 30 pound pack again and climb the last 4.7 miles to Vandeventer. The first few minutes readjusting to the pack were brutal, five hours without it and I wondered how I had made it up and down so many mountains with it on. Luckily it didn’t take too long to return to backpacking form. Even though it was the hottest part of the day, the last few miles went by quickly.
The shelter tonight is an old one, but in pretty good shape. I was built back in 1961, and it has a decent view back to Watuaga Lake which we hiked near earlier in the day. Neat day – slackpacking is a definite win and I’ll be ready to do i again anytime, the sun being out and staying dry all day was a nice plus too. Only two days from Virginia now!