Day 21, Enloe Creek to Mt. Sterling

Leaving camp, we crossed the iron bridge over Raven Fork. It would have been impossible to cross the stream today without a bridge.

Yesterday's rain made the creek a torrent. Water crashed over and around large boulders as it thundered through the gorge.

The bridge we crossed was constructed several years ago after a backpacker attempted to ford the creek in similar conditions and drowned.

We followed a very wet trail up a long but not-too-steep climb. In the next 2.7 miles, we climbed 1,400 feet. The route took us to a long ridge, where we left the Enloe Creek Trail and turned onto the Hyatt Ridge Trail.

This area of the park was home to the Enloe family. Although their name might not be familiar to you, they are part of a fascinating legend connected with a familiar name.

There are, in fact, multiple versions of the story, and historians are quick to call it a myth. As it is usually told, for several years the Enloes employed a servant girl and farmhand. When she became pregnant, she was quietly sent away to Kentucky.

There she met and married an illiterate widower named Thomas Lincoln. They called the child Abraham. Yes, that Abraham Lincoln.

Those who tell the story about Nancy Hanks and claim to have researched it say young Abraham looked more like an Enloe than a Lincoln.

A marriage certificate for Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks was discovered in 1878. It shows they were married nearly three years before Abraham's birth date.

Still, the story persists with claims his real birth date and parentage were part of a centuries-old coverup.

At the top of the ridge, I texted Kim to let her know we didn’t drown in yesterday's rainstorm. Then I turned from the Hyatt Ridge Trail to the Beech Gap Trail and began a long descent.

The forest here was a mix of second-growth hardwoods. According to Hiking Trails of the Smokies, most of the trees removed from this area were red spruce and Fraser fir.

After dropping more than 1,800 feet in three miles, I reached Beech Gap and a gravel road. The trail followed the road over a bridge crossing Straight Fork.

We stopped on the other side of the creek at the junction with the Beech Gap Trail to dry out our gear and eat an early lunch. We were grateful to have some sunshine. Everything we owned was damp if not soaked.

The trail didn't quite crest Balsam High Top but passed near the summit. The weather here was significantly different. A low layer of clouds enveloped the ridge, making the temperature noticeably cooler.

Dropping gently from the top, the trail headed to Laurel Gap. At this elevation, spruce and fir trees were the dominant species. The cooler air and the character of the forest made me feel as if I had teleported to Maine.

The trail followed an old logging road, but it didn't look like a road because of a deep groove carved in the middle by hikers' feet.

I arrived at Laurel Gap Shelter at 3 p.m. Tengo Hambre had been there only a couple of minutes before me. We hadn't seen Just Awesome since our lunch stop.

The shelter was constructed like those found in the park on the Appalachian Trail. It was the third and last shelter we would see on the BMT.

Though we were tired, we didn’t take a long break. We stayed just long enough to eat a snack. We still had nearly six miles to go to reach our campsite with less than three hours of daylight remaining.

We decided to save time and get water on the trail and not at a stream located 500 feet downhill from the shelter.

I knew some of the next section of the trail would be easy because I had hiked it several years ago. After continuing another two-tenths of a mile, the BMT turned to follow the Mount Sterling Ridge Trail.

The next three miles were flat, and we tried to motor along as quickly as possible. This trail was popular with horse riders, though, so it wasn't always in the greatest of shape.

The trail traversed along the slope of Big Cataloochee Mountain, which is one of the twelve mountains in the Smokies that stand above 6,000 feet.

The low clouds became thicker as we got closer to our destination and sundown. The air was so damp that trees were dripping water. Until I realized this, I thought it had started to rain.

Darkness came early, and I needed to wear my headlamp for the last half mile. I arrived at the campsite on Mt. Sterling at 6 p.m.

This was the highest point of the BMT. An old fire tower stood near our campsite, but by now the sky was so cloudy and dark I could barely see it.

A few other hikers were camped nearby, though too far away to socialize with them. They were the first people we had seen since leaving camp this morning.

After setting up my tent, I sent Kim and Polecat text messages to let them know we had arrived at our last campsite. Then Tengo, JA, and I enjoyed our last dinner together on the Benton MacKaye Trail.