Cocke County

Peck’s Corner Shelter (mile marker 218.2) to Mt. Cammerer Lookout Tower (#233.9).
Daily Mileage: 15.7

Everyone left the shelter this am at @ 8am for what would be a long & eventful
Day. We knew that it would be hilly and we knew we’d need to go longer today as one of the upcoming shelters that would’ve been a convenient day end stopping point has been closed due to a recent bear attack and subsequent euthanization of the bear. That shelter is 12.9 miles down the trail, so the decision would be to either find a stealth tenting spot along the way (not ideal due to lack of flat spots), or hoof it to Mt. Cammerer Lookout (16 miles) and camp somewhere near there.

There were 2 interesting spots of note today. One was the official Smokies Rescue Squad helicopter pad (see pic) that sits right in the middle of the trail at mile # 225). It’s still in use to extricate stranded or injured hikers.
The other interesting spot was at mile # 227, where the wreckage of a 1984 plane crash exists that spread plane parts over a 20 acre area. A U.S. RF Phantom fighter jet from SC was on some sort of training mission when it crashed into the mountainside going 500 mph. The 28 yr old pilot and 36 yr old co-pilot were killed. I spent @ 30 minutes walking off the trail a bit and found 5 different areas of wreckage (see some of the pics). A very sobering
Experience.

I decided to go all the way to the Mt. Cammerer Lookout Tower to find shelter for the evening and to see what all the talk was about re how beautiful a spot it is when clear. What I found was nothing short of stunning. I got to the tower (at 5,000 ft elevation) at 6:15pm with the partly cloudy skies casting beautiful shadows and rays of light onto the countryside. One of the most beautiful views I’ve ever seen (including the Grand Canyon, etc.). See the pics and video attached. I sat down inside the tower by myself, had dinner, set up my tent, and slept fairly comfortably the whole night (save for waking up every 2 hrs thinking I was hearing a bear entering) 😳
Truly a memorable evening.Leer más