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Cocke County

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    • TravelerHeading North on AT from GA/NC
      Day 19

      Day 19 of AT in TN NOBO

      May 20, 2023 in the United States ⋅ 🌧 72 °F

      Mt. Cammerer Lookout Tower (mile marker 233.9) to Green Corner Road pick-up spot (241.8).
      Daily Mileage: 8.0

      Rained a bit last night (with no bear activity!) but not bad when I started hiking at 9am. It’s 0.6 miles to get back to the AT from the lookout tower, but I have plenty of time today to go the mostly downhill 8 miles to meet Nate the shuttle driver at 2:30 for my off day tomorrow in Newport TN.

      A rainstorm was supposed to hit the Smokies today, and I was hoping for dry hiking weather down the mountain (4,000 ft descent to the valley floor)…. Success, it stayed dry! A fairly uneventful and relaxed trek down and was able to talk to a fair number of the day hikers (it’s Saturday) coming the other way and hear their itineraries for their hikes.

      One interesting thing of note was having to break through the cobwebs going across the trail every couple of minutes as I was the first one trail blazing this part of the trail this am. It’s actually pretty annoying and was happy this was the first (and last 🤞) time I’ve had to do this. 1st world problems!! 🙂

      I took my final steps in the Smokies and left the boundary @ 12:30. I had to deposit the other half of my Smokies permit into the box to conclude my stay in this National Park. See the attached video for a cute story of who actually put my permit in the box.

      That last 1.3 miles upon leaving the Smokies was a blast back to reality. I passed a couple of roaring streams, I crossed a bridge that spanned a river filled with rafters and kayakers, and I walked under Interstate 40 that connects Asheville NC to Knoxville TN. (See pics & video).

      Nate picked me up at 2:15 and ushered me 25 mins down the road to the beautiful (?) 🙂 hamlet of Newport TN and my modest accommodations at the Best Western. It’s actually been the perfect place for a 36 hr stay with on-site laundry, a great breakfast included, and less than a 5 min walk to Ruby Tuesday, a Papa John’s, a Cracker Barrel AND a Walmart to re-supply. 😋      Read more

    • TravelerHeading North on AT from GA/NC
      11
      Day 17

      Day 17 of AT in TN NOBO

      May 18, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 77 °F

      Newfound Gap Parking Lot (mile marker 207.8) to Peck’s Corner (#218.2).
      Daily Mileage: 10.4

      Mike the shuttle driver picked me up at my hotel in Gatlinburg and dropped me back off at Newfound Gap at Noon. A very funny 65 year old guy with Dad jokes galore. The 25 min drive back up the mtn went by quickly.

      My hike began by checking out the bathrooms where many a hiker has had to camp out (sometimes for days) during winter weather when the road down to Gatlinburg is closed, which it often is in bad winter weather. They keep the bathrooms open all year round just in case. The opposite is also true that sometimes a hiker will get down to Gatlinburg in Jan-April, but then they close the road for up to 6 days and you are stuck in G unless a nice snowplow dude takes mercy on you and agrees to take you back up to Newfound!

      It was a much more moderate afternoon as far as hills go, so it was a very pleasant ridge-run to Peck’s Corner Shelter in the nice but cloudy 50 degree weather. The highlight of the afternoon was getting to Charlie’s Bunion, a jagged, rocky outcropping that tests your nerves with severe drops to the valley below. I got close to the Bunion itself, but was happy to stay back a bit and take a picture of a young couple sitting mere feet away from doom. You know, no big whoop.

      Got to the shelter at @ 6pm with 12 hikers already sitting around eating and swapping stories. This was a new crew I hadn’t met before. More than half were men & women in their 60’s & 70’s out for 1-2 week section hikes. 8 of us stayed in the shelter that
      Night and had some great discussion (or at least I sat back and heard some great “life observation” stories I may or may not have asked to hear! 😉).      Read more

    • TravelerHeading North on AT from GA/NC
      1
      Day 18

      Day 18 of AT in TN NOBO

      May 19, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 79 °F

      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.      Read more

    You might also know this place by the following names:

    Cocke County, مقاطعة كوك, Кок, কোক কাউন্টি, Condado de Cocke, Cocke konderria, شهرستان کوک، تنسی, Comté de Cocke, Cocke megye, Քոկ շրջան, Contea di Cocke, コック郡, Cocke Comitatus, Cocke Kūn, Hrabstwo Cocke, کاک کاؤنٹی, Comitatul Cocke, Округ Кок, کاک کاؤنٹی، ٹینیسی, Quận Cocke, Condado han Cocke, 科克縣

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