Sunday, May 1, 2022
Tengo Hambre and I agreed to get an early start this morning. The reason was the same as it often is for thru-hikers on the day they walk or hitch into a town. We know our time there is always precious and want as much of it as possible.
I've made this point before about giving ourselves time to complete town chores. Except this stop was slightly different. We were heading to Dalton. Of all the long-distance trails I've hiked, no trail has passed through a city of its size.
| Weather | Thunderstorm and showers early, then partly cloudy; temperatures from the mid-60s to upper-70s |
| Trail Conditions | Old logging roads and single-track, then asphalt highway |
| Today's Miles | 13.3 miles |
| Trip Miles | 283.8 miles |
It's common for a long-distance trail to pass directly through a small town. Examples of this on the Appalachian Trail are Hot Springs, N.C., Damascus, Va., and Duncannon, Pa. None of these are larger than a few hundred to a thousand people.
Dalton, Ga. has a population of more than 34,000 people. It's located next to Interstate Highway 75, a vital north-south route connecting major cities like Atlanta, Cincinnati, and Detroit. Many businesses are located here, and some happen to be the kind thru-hikers look for when they go into a trail town.
Instead of being limited to one or two motels and restaurants, and maybe a small grocery store or Dollar General, Dalton offers several of everything. All of these businesses will be within a short walking distance from each other and directly along the trail.
Sunrise was at 6:50 this morning, and we left our campsite about 25 minutes after that.
We didn't get far down the trail before thunder began rumbling across the mountain ridge we were descending. Rain began falling a short time later and lasted about 30 minutes.
When the rain ended, Tengo and I didn't take off our rain gear right away because thunder continued to rumble for several minutes. We thought we hadn't seen the end of the storm, but the thunder eventually ended and no more rain fell.
We stopped to remove our rain gear at a junction where the trail met a gravel road at a wide turnaround. A large pile of garbage was nearby, looking much like what we saw on Day 17.
I'm sure the distractions of seeing the garbage and stopping to remove our gear were the reasons for what happened next. Tengo and I both failed to notice that the trail made a sharp turn here. Instead of turning to the left, we continued straight down the gravel road.
This turned out to be a costly mistake in our attempt to reach Dalton early. We continued down the road for nearly a mile before realizing we missed the turn. Including the time it took us to get back on the trail, we wasted almost an hour.
Once we were back on the trail, we hiked up a ridge toward Hurricane Mountain. This section was two miles in distance with a gradual climb. Shortly before reaching the mountaintop, the trail made another sharp turn and began another section that was mostly downhill.
The trail took another sharp turn at the end of that two-mile stretch. The trail's sharp turns were like switchbacks on a steep mountain, though that wasn't the case here. The trail was following contours of mountain ridges.
Including smaller zigzags on the trail yesterday before Snake Creek Gap, there were ten tight turns in about 12 miles. This wasn't the most efficient way to hike. Figuring the linear distance from the first turn to the last, we traveled less than three miles.
The next 6.3 miles took us from the last turn to Interstate Highway 75. This included a gradual climb and a slightly steeper descent on Stoney Face Mountain. We met a couple of day hikers from Atlanta on the descent and later passed a trail runner.
Along the way, I noticed a granite marker next to the trail. It marked where a single-engine, single-seat plane crashed on a stormy night in 1943. Theodore B. Marxon, a 24-year-old second lieutenant in the Army Air Forces, died here when his Curtiss P-40E Warhawk slammed into the mountain and exploded.
The trail remained mostly smooth and easy the rest of the way. There were no steep climbs or descents. We passed communication towers on the top of Dug Mountain. From there, the trail went steadily down, dropping about 700 feet in 2.5 miles. The first seven-tenths of a mile past the top followed an old gravel road.
The rest of the way down to Interstate 75 was on a paved, narrow, and winding road. It didn't have a shoulder, so we had to remain alert to passing cars on the descent.
The road took us past the entrance of Dug Gap Battle Park, the site of a skirmish between Confederate and Union soldiers on May 8, 1864.
The fighting took place on the western side of the ridge we followed on our way down from Dug Mountain. This was one of the first fights in Union Major General William T. Sherman's campaign to take Atlanta. Though his soldiers suffered 357 casualties and the Confederates lost 58 men, the action did little to deter Sherman's march to Atlanta.
The Pinhoti crossed Interstate 75 on a busy overpass at one of the main exits from the highway into Dalton. After spending most of the last 20 days in the quiet of forests and rural landscapes, Tengo and I suddenly found ourselves in a much noisier world.
Vehicles sped across the bridge, turning to merge onto the highway or exiting from it. Either way, drivers were not expecting to see two backpackers. A sidewalk and crossing lights were provided for us, but we knew to stay alert and wary of every car and truck.
We arrived at the Super 8 on the road into Dalton at 3 p.m. We had chosen this motel because it had laundry facilities, but when we arrived we were told there was no quarters for the machines. The front desk also didn't have any detergent to sell.
What's more, the desk clerk wouldn't let Tengo and me split the bill for two credit cards, which we usually do. This was not a helpful start to our stay.
Tengo offered to walk next door to a gas station for change and detergent. When he discovered a bottle of detergent sold there for ten dollars, he wisely decided to walk across the street to a Days Inn. A small box of detergent was purchased there was just two dollars.
After dinner at a Mexican restaurant, we shopped at a Kroger store for the food we needed for the remainder of our hike. I didn't buy much because I will be picking up a box I sent ahead to a mountain bike resort just off the trail.
Although I appreciated the conveniences of being in a city, I am looking forward to tomorrow. Our shuttle driver will take us far away from Dalton's endless array of fast-food restaurants and return us to the peaceful quiet of the forest. We'll go the Pinhoti's northern terminus in the morning and begin our walk back to Dalton.
Tengo and I expect to wrap up this hike in four more days.
This just might be our kind of town
Big enough to turn around
Small enough to spit from side to side
Well this might be our stomping ground
Not too lost, not too found
Not too high, too lonesome, or too wide
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