Pinhoti Trail Day 8. Bulls Gap to Mile 53.8
Today started a 14-mile water carry. We started strong today, and even though we had no plan to do the entire 14 miles, at the end of the day, if we had not had to stop to take care of an unattended fire and then hike two bonus miles, I do think we could have made it.
Today was SUPER eventful! The climb to the ridge was not nearly as bad as I thought it might be. We stopped for lunch just short of a super beautiful powerline view.
After lunch, we stumbled across an unattended campfire that was still going. The firefighter wife/mom/auxiliary support team in me could NOT let it keep going. The problem was we had no water to spare, and the dirt was compacted hard dirt. I did what I could to remove any fuel from around it and was able, with the help of my husband, to get ahold of one of the rangers to let them know the location. Ripley and I did our best to gather what little loose dirt there was; however, we eventually had to keep going as we had already been there several hours.
We decided to make camp near an old fire tower with a pavilion, picnic tables, and benches. It would be a short way off trail (so we thought), but we felt it would be worth having a picnic table to eat at and benches to sit on. We were wrong. Don’t always trust the guidebook!
The tower was about a mile off the trail. At one point in time, years ago, I assume, you could have made your way up following the powerlines, but that was no longer the case as they are completely overgrown. This meant taking the Pinhoti near a Forest Service road and then taking that road to the tower.
Once we got to the tower, we realized the mistake we made. The tower had long since been abandoned and was in disrepair. The picnic tables had fallen apart and were in 6ft high grass and weeds. The Pavillion, while still standing, was covered in hornets and spiders. There were two benches inside for those who were brave enough.
The grounds hadn’t been taken care of in a VERY long time, and the ground was covered with bees. I got stung.
We abandoned the idea of camping here and walked the mile back to the trail to try and find the first flat spot we could. It was getting late, and we were more than likely going to be setting up camp in the dark.
We finally found a small flat area for me to pitch my tent and two trees for Ripley to hang her hammock. It was next to the Forest Service road, but we didn’t care AT ALL, lol.
We decided that we needed to go to town tomorrow for a zero. The trail was kicking our butt, and we needed a pick-me-up. So I made a request in the Pinhoti Facebook group for a ride, and a trail angel, David, said he’d not only pick us up but would take us back to the trail when we were ready!
Sleep came fast tonight!
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