My feet still hurt. I lay in my tent in the field by the river and pondered staying there all day. It would be such a good day for it. But despite relative freedom, hikers do have at least one responsibility, and that is to hike, so I drug myself out and packed up. We only had 6 miles to go to a nearby hostel where we would charge our phones and get some food.
When we arrived, the place was deserted. It was clearly someone's home and I guessed not many thruhikers stopped there. We awkwardly waited on the porch for the owner, the security cameras in the corner watching us. Looking around, we decided to move a mile or so up trail and find a nice place by the creek instead of staying there for our easy day.
Further up the trail a beautiful spot awaited us. But I was not content; although swift, the water looked unclean and there was no shade. I felt like I should move on. I decided I would rather do two 10 mile days instead of a 6 mile and 14 mile. Feet usually don't hurt till after mile 10 anyway. Studying the guidebook, I realized that moving on would but me at a prime spot to go in to a hostel for pizza. I informed Firefly of my decision to move on for 4 more miles, and after thinking it over she agreed to go with me.
I pondered how just one little decision could change the course of our whole hike. One extra day here would put us there at a certain time, which would mean being with different people. Different people, different places, a whole different experience. Moving on could mean hiking into a situation that wouldn't have happened if we had stayed. One little decision. That's all it takes.
I arrived at the new campsite and pitched my tent behind a bush, for it was the flattest ground I could find. As I read and journaled, I heard airplanes and jets flying over head. Be quiet! This is the wilderness. I wanted to say. Little did I know they were trying to save the forest.
After dinner, as I was hanging my bear bag, I heard people coming up the trail. They were talking very loud and I wondered if it was those two crazy guys from the Smokies again. As I headed back I heard the static of a radio and decided that it was perhaps some friends on an overnighter keeping in touch with each other. I stopped at my tent behind the bush, so the visitors were hidden from my view, but I listened in on their conversation. Forrest fire? I realized they were officials as the man talked into his radio. I wasn't sure if it was supposed to be a private conversation, so of course I listened in. Then I realized Firefly was over there so I joined her and the two rangers.
I slowly pieced together what was happening. There was a wildfire North of us. We were safe tonight, but tomorrow we would have to hike back South 4 miles to a F.S. road, then up the road 7 miles to rejoin the AT. Nooo! I thought, for we would miss a 4 mile section of the trail, plus add additional mileage. Were there any other options? Talking to the rangers we learned we might be able to make it through going North early tomorrow, but we may get turned around by a ranger. They had already stopped others at the road and made them detour, but since we're past that point we had options. In the end, we were told we could either backtrack South tomorrow, risk going through North tomorrow morning and maybe have to turn around, or pack up and leave that night. The choice was ours. I looked at Firefly, and though I could tell what she was thinking, I asked, "Can you hike?"
I ran to my tent and ripped up the stakes, shoving everything mercilessly into my pack. If we were truly going to leave tonight then we would have to MOVE! The fire fighters ran past us, heading to a shelter a few miles north to evacuate everyone.
My lungs burned as we practically ran up the hills and my mind turned toward the situation. We were hiking toward the fire just to avoid missing 4 miles of trail. "Be smart," my dad's voice echoed in my head. "Daddy, I'm always smart," I had assured him before I left for the trail. Now I was questioning if that was an accurate assessment. I recalled all the news articles of hikers who had ignored rangers' warnings and ended up dead. But the fire fighters wouldn't have left it an option if it was unsafe, I rationalized. Plus if they said we might get through tomorrow morning, we should be fine now. Unassured, I pushed myself, adrenaline taking over. My goal was to catch up to the rangers so they would know we made it.
As we crested a hill we saw smoke pouring from the valley. Holy cow! Within a mile we had caught up the the rangers. Safe. Following them into the empty shelter area, I was encouraged by their relative ease. They didn't seem too worried about potentially being burned to death. We must be ok. I was thankful for their slower pace as we followed them out.
We stopped along the ridge as they pointed out the flames slowly approaching, maybe 100 meters from the trail. They laughed at my astonishment and excitement.
We pulled out our headlamps as we passed out of the danger area and into a field, where we sleepily set up our tents for the third time that day. "I think you made the right decision," the ranger said, giving us some bottles of water. I thought back to how one decision could change everything. One decision, and we would have had a whole different experience.
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