I started section hiking the AT last year, and do not intend to post most of my reports. I thought this one was kind of interesting though do to the crappy weather at the beginning. So enjoy.

Myself and a buddy went on this trip that was from February 29 to March 2, and went from the parking North of Watauga Dam (TN) to TN road 91 (TN). The total mileage was about 15.5 miles. We wanted to do something a little shorter since we hadn’t been out in a while so I looked over my maps, and this looked like a relatively flat short section. So it fit the bill.

In general, this section was fairly flat with a couple of climbs, and not overly scenic. There are some nice views of Watauga Lake while hiking over it, but the views are through trees and in summer are probably hard to see due to the leaves. The rest of the hike offers views of a valley to the East with farmland and a couple of small towns in it, and views of mountains to the West.

DAY 1 (Parking North of Wataugua Dam to Vandeventer Shelter)

I headed out late as usual. I was to meet my buddy at 11:30 at the parking at TN 91 so we could shuttle down to the parking North of Watauga Dam, and start the hike. As I got closer I took a wrong turn, and ended up going out of my way which further exacerbated by lateness. I had to drive up 421 from Mountain City, and man that is an annoying road. It had a lot of really tight curves and progress was slow.

I finally got to the parking at TN 91 and my buddy was hanging out there. I jumped out of my car and yelled an explicative as I was irritated about my wrong turn, and getting stuck behind a bunch of slow vehicles throughout the entire drive. Right after arriving at the parking area it started to snow a little. The forecast called for snow this evening with things clearing out overnight, and then a warm up over the weekend.

I threw all my gear in his car and we headed to the other end. The ATC map we were using doesn’t have all of the road names on it in that area, and was confusing at best to follow. So after several wrong turns and some guessing we finally made it to the parking. The key was to veer off onto Steel Bridge Rd. from Blue Springs Rd., and stay on it all the way to the parking. We got to the parking, got ready to go, and hit the trail. There was no precipitation at this point in time.

The trail started off with a climb that wasn’t real steep, but it was a bit of a huff. The trail from where we started almost all the way to the end was covered in snow. The snow made progress a little slower as there was a lot of slipping with most steps, and that loss of energy transfer made it hard to keep good momentum when going up. There was a single set of fairly fresh boot prints in the snow, so somebody was not too far ahead of us. We later found out from another group heading South that the footprints belonged to a thru hiker that started some time in early January. We never caught up to him. There are not an abundance of blazes on this portion of the trial, so the tracks from the thru hiker were quite nice as without them the trail would have been hard to follow in spots.

After some climbing things flattened out, and the rest of the hike to our first stop wasn’t too bad except for the issue of the snow. Once we got on the ridge the snow varied from a few inches deep to about a foot deep in spots where it had drifted. It had started snowing lightly off and on prior to us getting to the shelter. Once we got to Vandeventer we surveyed the area, and there was not a whole heck of a lot of room there to set up 2 tents. So we sat in the shelter for a little while contemplating what to do. It was cold, and the snow was starting to fall more steadily. The shelter itself is kind of dingy and small. The overhanging portion of the roof on the front wasn’t even high enough for us to walk under, and we were constantly hitting our heads on it and the Vandeventer sign, which partially hung down below one of the main roof supports. That sign got us so ticked it almost became fuel for a small fire we had later, but I am not one to vandalize public property.

We decided we better at least get water before dark so we got out our filters and water containers, and headed to the spring. On the map the spring appears to be a few tenths of a mile away. Doesn’t sound like a big deal, but graffiti on the shelter would suggest otherwise. There was an official sign on the shelter that gave directions to the water. It said something along the lines of taking the blue blazed trail that we had passed about 100 yards back, and from there it was 0.3 of a mile down to the spring. I found one thing somebody had written kind of amusing. Someone had put up a piece of tape tacked on to the official sign that said something along the lines of “0.3 of the most hellacious miles ever discovered…quest for water”. My impression was that the first half of the trail isn’t too bad, but it did get sketchy after that. The trail basically goes almost straight down the side of the ridge. I welcomed the hike back up cause I was cold, and that warmed me up. If it were a hot summer day I could see that trail being a son of a gun though.

We got back to the shelter, and sat around being indecisive for a while. This was technically my first time camping in the snow. I had awoken to snow once before, but I had never actually hiked in and set up in it. So finally after sitting around for a while I whipped out the tent and set it up. Then I got inside and situated everything. After that I had some dinner and sat around for awhile. The weather got really weird where it was switching between heavy wet snow, sleet and rain. All of this was of course collecting on top of my tent, so I periodically had to go out and knock it all off. I had brought my new Bushbuddy stove, which I had intended on using as a stove, but just wasn’t interested due to the nasty conditions (I had my canister stove as a backup). That’s when my buddy suggested having a fire using the Bushbuddy. Duh, why didn’t I think of that. So we fired it up using one of his fire starters, and had a nice little fire for a while. The stove actually even warmed up the shelter. After a while the ash started accumulating, and the Bushbuddy isn’t that big so I let it burn out. After hanging out for a while it was time to hit it.

Normally sleeping is uneventful, but not this evening. I decided to sleep with my inner tent door open. I awoke at about 3:30 in the morning to what felt like something running across the top of my sleeping bag. I jumped up and threw on my headlamp. I saw nothing. I figured that I was either dreaming or it was a mouse. So I inspected everything, and it all looked ok until I noticed a tiny little hole chewed in an OP Sak I had up by my head. Hmm…well I decide to get up and go to the bathroom, and that’s when I found the evidence that proved that a mouse most likely had run over me. There was mouse poop in my left boot. Man, do hate those little b!#&%$#s. I was concerned about this since we were near a shelter, but we really had no choice as there is not much flat real estate up by Vandeventer. Guess I should have shut the door. I also had my food in the tent with me which I typically don’t do. It was just so nasty the evening before that I didn’t feel like hanging it. So back to sleep I went with the door zipped closed this time.

DAY 2 (Vandeventer Shelter to Iron Mountain Shelter)

Got up at about 8:00, and it was really cold. The sky was clearing, and it was just going to be a matter of time before the sun would hit camp. I was moving really slow cause of the cold. I just lack motivation when it is that cold out. I brought out all my cooking stuff and made breakfast. I told my buddy about the mouse incident, and he said that he had a small hole chewed in his tent. Geesh.

We did the rest of the morning routine, packed up and hit the trail nice and early around 11:15 (notice the sarcasm) to clear skies. It was pretty darn cold though, and there was a stiff breeze coming from the West. Since the entire day was spent on a ridge this wind got a little irritating at times. The first part of the hike involved some climbing, which warmed me up nicely. We hiked for maybe 1 ½ hours during which we passed 13 people going South. I think it was a solo dude and a group of 12. They had stayed at Iron Mountain shelter, and were commenting on the bizarre weather. We stopped for lunch in a somewhat sheltered area, which is marked as a campsite on the map. There also happens to be a marked spring (with blue blazes and a sign that says “Water”) there. I dug out a spot in the snow as it was significantly deeper in this area, threw my pad down and had lunch. By the time we were ready to hit the trail again my hands were numb. It took a while to get them warm again.

The rest of the way to Iron Mountain shelter was a slushy slog as the sun was melting the snow. I found that hiking on slushy snow with a pack is quite strenuous. We got to Iron Mountain shelter, and it was a little nicer than Vandeventer. It also had quite a large area in front of it for tent camping that wasn’t right on top of the shelter.

After we got to the shelter we sat around for a little while, and then started checking out the spots for setting up the tents. The previous occupants had cleared off the snow in some small areas. I didn’t like any of them so I spent a while clearing the snow off of another area. After this it was off to get water. The spring here is about 0.2 mile Southbound on the AT, and thus we had already seen it. The spring actually cross the trail. We got back to camp, set up the tents, ate and then hung out. My buddy had cleaned out the fire pit, so we had a small fire. It was a little breezy for a while, so the fire didn’t work out real well as that smoke kept switching directions. There was also the issue of the wood being wet. We were able to find some wood that was sticking out of the snow and was dry, but most of what we found had some dampness to it. After hanging for a while we hung our food and hit it.

DAY 3 (Iron Mountain Shelter to TN 91)

I slept surprisingly well the night before. It was a little tough to get to sleep because the woods were totally silent. I have never heard it that quite before. When I woke up the sun was already up. I think it was around 8:00 again. I got up and looked around for mice cause I was paranoid from the previous night. After I was satisfied that they had not messed with me or my stuff I started packing up some things, and got out of the tent. The first thing I noticed was the lack of condensation. My tent was totally dry. This almost never happens.

I got my food down and started breakfast. It was warming up quickly, and I was concerned that the snow might start melting and condense on my tent. So once I got my breakfast to a point where it could reconstitute for a while (scrambled eggs and grits), I took everything out of my tent and took it down.

We continued getting ready, and hit the trail at about 10:00. The rest of the trail out to the parking was not overly scenic. It flattens out, drops down a short steep section, and then traverses a wooded area out past the ridge. The only point of interest in this Section was the Nick Grindstaff Monument, which is nothing more than his gravesite I believe. There is a large brick and cement pillar there about 5’-6’ tall. I found the epitaph quite bizarre, “Lived alone, suffered alone, died alone”. Hmmm…strange. I later looked it up on the net and found out that he was something of a hermit. That makes sense.

At any rate, we hit vehicle and loaded up to head to the other end to get my buddy’s car. After that we headed into Elizabethton, TN for some grub. First place we saw was the Lone Star Steakhouse, and they had a wait. It was lunch time on a Sunday in the South (all the church folk usually eat lunch after morning services adjourn)...what were we thinking. So we hit a Wendy’s. After lunch we headed our separate ways.