Grave marker of Uncle Nick Grindstaff

Down at the end of Lonely Street

Day 35, Iron Mountain Shelter to Campsite at Mile 462.7

Monday, May 15, 2017

On any given day in the spring, summer and fall, thousands of people are hiking the Appalachian Trail. Not all are thru-hikers, nor are they even heading in the same direction.

Nevertheless, no matter where you are, there are likely to be many hikers near you on the trail. This is especially noticeable around shelters, hostels, and other places hikers gather at night.

The trail isn't as crowded as it was when I started in Georgia. Several hikers have dropped out and several have sped ahead or have fallen behind me, but I usually see many hikers each day.

Despite that, there can be long miles and time in which I never see another soul. It may be that hikers are just a few minutes behind me or in front of me, but I'm not aware of that because of the curvy trail and thick forest.

This isolation means there are stretches of time when I have only my thoughts to walk with me through the day.

Weather Clear, then mostly sunny and warming to near 80 degrees
Trail Conditions Gently rolling and occasionally flat
Today's Miles 19.8 miles
Trip Miles 462.7 miles

Much of today was like that, alone in stretches of the trail, but occasionally with groups of hikers.

As I was packing my gear this morning I told Kickatree I had been able to get my phone fully charged overnight, so at least for now the situation for using it to navigate and communicate with my wife wasn't as bad as I feared.

Although I still didn't feel confident I had fixed the problem I discovered yesterday, I may have found why I had trouble charging it. Dirt may have gotten into the connection port.

I used the plastic toothpick from my pocket knife to scrape out the port, so perhaps that fixed it.

I also talked to Miss Bobbie. She told me she was expecting to see her husband at the next road crossing, and he'd probably have trail magic there.

Easy trail

As I set off down the trail, it continued the pattern of easy ups and downs that started yesterday. I was glad for that, because the easy terrain allowed me to walk at a faster pace.

My goal for today was to get as close to Damascus as possible. Then tomorrow I would have only a short hop into town, where I could do a quick resupply, then get back on the trail without wasting much time.

Most hikers look to Damascus as a good town for a zero day, and perhaps under a normal circumstance I would too.

This time isn't normal for me, though, because I must get to a spot on Friday where Kim can pick me up. There are only a few satisfactory choices for that. The trail doesn't cross many roads after leaving Damascus, and some of those road crossings would be difficult for Kim to find.

I had never hiked into Damascus before, so I wasn't certain the trail would as forgiving as it turned out to be. I did know, however, what the trail would be like after Damascus.

A few sections won't be quite as easy, but there won't be many long climbs.

Uncle Nick Grindstaff monument

A little more than a mile from Iron Mountain Shelter I reached a ragged, beat up stone monument that looked like a fireplace chimney. It was standing on a slight rise and just off the trail.

Inscription of Uncle Nick Grindstaff monument

The monument identified the gravesite of Uncle Nick Grindstaff. An inscription on it read, "He lived alone, suffered alone, and died alone."

Uncle Nick was a hermit. He lived alone in this area for forty years, and died long before the trail was constructed here.

No one knows for sure why he chose a hermit life, though there are various stories of how his bride left him or had died, or he was beaten and robbed while living in Missouri.

Uncle Nick would go into town twice a year to resupply and get a haircut. It is said his only companions were his dog, a cow, and a pet rattlesnake.

He died in 1923 at the age of 71.

Plank walkway

The trail began a long descent after the monument. Along the way, there was a section that has a reputation for being boggy.

Planks were laid out to keep the footpath above water, but they weren't necessary today.

Trail magic provided by Yard Dart

When I reached Tennessee Highway 91 I found the hiker feed Miss Bobbie told me to expect.

Yard Dart and Miss Bobbie

Miss Bobbie and her husband, Yard Dart, started hiking the AT together in mid-March. When Yard Dart injured himself in North Carolina, he decided long distance hiking wasn't his passion, but he offered to follow Miss Bobbie in their car so that she could continue hiking.

Now he stops to meet up with her as many times as possible, and when he does he often provides trail magic. Today he was sharing cheese sandwiches, salad, and soft drinks.

More than one hiker noted that Miss Bobbie was someone they wanted to hike with all the time. The odds of finding trail magic go way up when she's around.

Osborne Meadow

After crossing the highway, the trail entered a large grassy meadow.

View from the meadow

The meadow is known as Osborne Farm. The Appalachian Trail Conservancy acquired this land in 2001 to protect it from development.

Because it was so open, the horizon stretched for miles.

Grassy path across the meadow

Being a clear and sunny day, the meadow could not have been more beautiful. The trail continued on, passing old barns and fences of what used to be a working farm. A few benches were provided to allow hikers to sit and enjoy the view.

Trail in Osborne Farm meadow

The trail was easy to walk, but there was no incentive to walk fast. This was too nice to speed through.

Re-entering the forest

The trail crossed a fence, continued on through another pasture, then finally re-entered the forest.

Dan Firth

In this section I met Dan Firth, a member of the Tennessee Eastman Hiking and Canoeing Club. He volunteers regularly to maintain the trail and report on trail conditions.

View of Shady Valley

The Appalachian mountain range was, during a much earlier geologic time, a string of much larger mountains. Over the ensuing eons they have been eroded and shifted, but even today they carry with them some of their former ecosystem.

Though glaciers have retreated and the Ice Age has ended, there remain in these mountains microclimates and cold-adapted plant life. One such climate-dependent plant still living in this area is the cranberry.

Cranberries are typically grown in northern states like Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oregon, Washington, and Wisconsin, as well as Canada. Because the right conditions still exist, they can be found in Shady Valley, which could be seen in brief glimpses from the trail.

At one time there were up to 10,000 acres of cranberry bogs in the valley. Even today the cranberry is celebrated with an annual festival in the Fall.

Until 1972, the AT went over the southern ridge line that forms the valley below. A trail is still there, but today it is known as the Iron Mountain Trail. The path of the AT was moved to avoid too many signs of civilization, particularly communication towers.

Trail magic sign

Leaving that ridge, the trail descended to U.S. Highway 421. As I neared the road I could see there was more trail magic ahead.

Jenny and Mike

The table of food was provided by Jenny and Mike, who live in nearby Bluff City, Tenn. They told me they wanted to give back to the trail in this fashion because their son had thru-hiked last year.

Stone wall

After the highway the trail made another climb, this time up Queens Knob. Nearby was a stone wall, I'm sure constructed many years ago when settlers attempted to make the area tillable or grazeable.

At the top of the 3845-foot mountain were four concrete pedestals, which were the only remnants of a fire tower that stood here.

Queens Knob Shelter

A few hundred yards away was Queens Knob Shelter. It looked so old and in poor shape I was surprised it was still standing.

Constructed in 1934, the shelter is one of the oldest on the AT. Today it’s considered an emergency shelter because it doesn’t meet AT shelter standards.

I only took a quick look. There wasn't much to offer here. There were large gaps between logs that made up the walls, so rain and snow could easily blow in. Also, there was no water nearby.

It’s no wonder the shelter is sometimes affectionately but ironically called the "Holiday Inn".

I left Queens Knob at 4:30 p.m., with only 1.5 miles to reach Abingdon Gap Shelter. I decided to just stop there to cook dinner, then put in a few more miles before dark.

Roy, Flatline and Ancap arrived shortly after I did and we ate together. Then I packed up and continued on.

After hiking nearly four more miles, I began to wonder if maybe I'd made a mistake. It was getting dark and I was not finding a spot to pitch my tent.

Then, just as I was about to concede I would have to hike in the dark, I found a space just off the trail in a small gap.

I saw and spoke to many people today on the trail. Now as I set up my tent, I was completely alone, but I was too tired to feel much loneliness.

Certainly, at least, it wasn't the kind of loneliness Uncle Nick knew.

Well, since my baby left me, I found a new place to dwell
Down at the end of Lonely Street at Heartbreak Hotel
Well I get so lonely, baby, I get so lonely, I get so lonely I could die

Always though it's crowded, you still can find some room
Those broken-hearted lovers cry away there in their gloom
I get so lonely baby, I get so lonely, I get so lonely I could die

This trail report was published on