Day 20, Smokemont Campground to Enloe Creek

Joe and Mary's kindness and generosity extended through the morning, starting with a tasty breakfast.

There was another break in the rain when we finished, and they said they would walk with us for part of the way up the trail.

We could have taken a shortcut through Smokemont Campground, but we chose to go back to where we left the trail yesterday. We wanted to stay true to the BMT's path.

An evenly-spaced pattern of trampled depressions left no doubt the route was used for many tourist trail rides. The rain overnight made it less a trail and more a string of mud puddles.

The rain held off for most of our 2.5-mile hike with Mary and Joe, though the air was a little misty.

However, as soon as we arrived at Chasteen Creek Cascade, rain began to fall again. We didn't stay long at the waterfall.

The horse rides route stopped at the waterfall, so the rest of the way wasn't as muddy.

After putting on our rain gear, we said thanks and goodbye to Joe and Mary, then continued up the trail. We didn't get far before the rain stopped again, and we had to stop to take off our rain jackets.

We were now going upstream next to Chasteen Creek. This was a four-mile climb to Hughes Ridge, which used an old railroad bed for the first couple of miles.

As the climb to Hughes Ridge continued higher, the trail got steeper and steeper. Part of the way up, I could see the ridge ahead.

We stopped several times to put on or take off our rain jackets. During one stop, we did both because the rain resumed as soon as we removed our jackets.

The Chasteen Creek Trail became narrower toward the top. I didn't want to wear my rain jacket unless I had to because I was getting too warm with it on.

There was a junction at the top of the ridge with the Hughes Ridge Trail. This could have taken us to Peck's Corner Shelter in just five miles. I stayed at that shelter on Day 18, my last night in the Smokies during my AT thru-hike.

I stopped at the trail junction to send a text message to Kim and eat lunch by myself. Tengo and JA were somewhere ahead of me.

The BMT followed the Hughes Ridge Trail for just four-tenths of a mile before turning to take the Enloe Creek Trail down from the ridge.

In all, the climb from Smokemont had gone up 2,655 feet. Now, the descent was not nearly as steep nor as long. It was an easy 2.5-miles to our campsite from there.

This was one of the most remote areas of the park. Remarkably, it had not been touched by logging operations before the land was purchased and became a national park.

Part of the way down was a stream to ford, Hideaway Brook. JA and Tengo had stopped on the other side and waited for me to catch up.

We had just one more mile to go. Although there weren't any more stream crossings marked on our navigation app, we had to cross a small one. I wondered if maybe this one only appeared after heavy rains.

We arrived at Enloe Creek Campsite at 2:45 p.m. One other hiker was already set up there with his tent. He said his name was Jacob and he was from New York City.