Appalachian Trail - Carvers Gap to Erwin - Day 2 4K

Seventh backpacking trip of 2024 ... August 22-25, 2024
included ... me, mom & Sally
Day 2... 11.04 miles / 3,373’ elevation gain
(Greasy Creek Gap to Unaka Mountain)

After getting a reasonable night's rest... and discovering that I don't enjoy flat lay hammocks - we packed up camp while enjoying the early morning sun! Our day started out with a climb right out of camp. There was a nice campsite up on the ridge... but you'd have to haul water up to this point and again it was good for a tent or 1 hammock setup. We continued going up and down over the ridges getting brief glimpses of the surrounding mountains. We passed through an old orchard that had several old looking apple trees - much to mom's dismay the apples were all in the tops of the trees which were unreachable for us. There was also a side trail to a water source (we didn't use it - but according to FarOut it's a good source). We crossed at Iron Mountain Gap - where we saw a fairly large group getting their backpacks on - which made us nervous they'd pass us and get the campsites up on top of Unaka.

We just kept our feet going ... dreading the upcoming 2000’ climb up Unaka! We took a nice long break at Cherry Gap shelter - where the piped spring was flowing nicely and we were able to grab an extra 3L and top off all our bottles! With the packs heavily laden with that liquid gold ... we made our way slowly up to the summit of Unaka. Along the way we enjoyed the change in the forest and the noticeably cooler temps! We passed a nice campsite about a ¼ mile before the summit... once we reached the Summit - there was already one large group of guys with a dog and a couple with a dog - so we had to keep going and found ourselves a nice quiet campsite just below the summit. Once we settled in and got camp setup we enjoyed our meals (no hot pepper was included this round!) and watched the sun set as it's illumination of the dense forest around us faded and it's orange glow slightly obscured by the smoke from our small campfire.

Things to note ... once again water was scarce and required taking side trails. The climb up Unaka - while tiring especially with the extra weight wasn't intolerable since it was well graded and not a complete sufferfest. The campsites directly on the summit were very nice - but definitely heavily used (so if you intend on camping there - try to get there early). There's also a really nice campsite with a fantastic fire ring about a ¼ mile south of the summit (going towards Erwin). The forest is very enchanting and beautiful ... it's a great place to hang a hammock and read.