In search of a weekend fastpacking adventure with plenty of views and miles, my boyfriend Seth suggested that we do a 57 mile loop linking the Bartram Trail and Appalachian Trail. From his brother’s house in Nantahala, we would be able to complete the loop in true door to door fashion – no cars required!
What is fastpacking? I’m still not sure exactly, but we interpreted it to mean cutting our pack weights down to about ten pounds, and hopefully getting to run some sections in addition to hiking. I tested out a new pack (!), the Ultimate Direction Fastpack 35, and Seth took his 26L pack. Just for fun, neither of us brought a watch so that we could hike without worrying about how slow or fast we were moving.
Note: Seth took all of the pictures! Check out more of his photography here.
Day One: 30 miles
Nantahala Lake to Wayah Bald (Bartram Trail section), Wayah Bald to AT Mile 137ish (AT section)
After a hearty breakfast of coffee and poundcake, Seth and I walked out the front door around 8am and strolled half a mile down Wayah Road to intersect the Bartram Trail at Nantahala Lake. Our pleasant road walk spent gazing at the gentle pink and blue sunrise colors on the mountains behind the lake abruptly ended at a few flights of steps that led straight up the mountainside. Steps soon gave way to switchbacks, and for the next 7.4 miles we climbed up to Wayah Bald, where the AT and Bartram Trail share a few miles. We took this climb pretty easy, as we were still waking up our legs for the day. We stopped for ten minutes or so at the Wayah Bald tower to chat with some northbound thru hikers. I didn’t sit down, fearing the inevitable loss of momentum that sometimes accompanies resting the legs.
Views from Wayah Bald
Then the fun part of the day began. For the next 11.5 miles, we traversed a beautiful ridgeline on the AT. Coming down off of Wayah Bald, we settled into a comfortable jog on the descent. ‘This is what fastpacking is all about,’ I thought to myself. Jogging felt like such a natural way to move down the mountain, especially once I settled into a rhythm with my trekking poles. I couldn’t stop delighting in how light my pack felt. Soon we reached Burningtown Gap and transitioned to a hike as we began the climb up to Copper Ridge Bald Lookout. We continued this pattern of jogging the descents and hiking the climbs for the rest of the ridgeline. There was trail magic at Tellico Gap, so we rested for a few minutes, tucking into Golden Grahams while listening to thru hikers who were indulging in fruit and beer. Again I didn’t sit down, instead pacing around to look at the views on both sides of the parking lot. Since we didn’t have watches, we asked what time it was and were pleasantly surprised to find out it was only 2 pm. Plenty of daylight left! A thru hiker who was hiking with his dog Bandit had left his collapsible dog bowl and water bottle behind and without a second thought, Seth strapped the bowl and water bottle to his pack, and we took off to track down Bandit.
After climbing up to incredible views at the Wesser Bald Tower, we began the 6.5 mile and almost 3000 ft descent to the Nantahala Outdoor Center (NOC). Some of this was too steep to run, but the second part of the descent suddenly transformed into perfectly flowy singletrack. Seth was hiking in front at this point, so I made some engine revving noises (silly, I know), and he stepped aside for me to open stride for the first time that day. Too fun! At the A. Rufus Morgan shelter, Seth asked some of the hikers if Bandit was nearby, and we learned that he had passed through ten minutes ago! We continued our way down, though slightly more conservatively, since my knees felt quite achy after the bout of ambitious running.
Views from Wesser
We entered the NOC parking lot, and immediately saw a dog that matched the description of Bandit sitting outside of the store. Seth placed the bowl and water bottle next to the dog, and we ducked into the convenience store. When we left the store, beer and Gatorade in hand, we were greeted with a heartwarming scene – Bandit’s owner holding the bowl and wildly looking around the parking lot, mouth agape. As we walked by he asked if it was us, and we confirmed. He responded by thanking us again and again. It’s the little things on trail!
Crossing the footbridge over the river, we found ourselves a picnic table and cooked a small first dinner of ramen, hot tea, and a slice of poundcake. There was a restaurant on the other side of the river, and Seth remarked how all of the diners seated by the window probably pitied us, since it was cold and gray outside, and we were huddled together at a picnic table drinking river water. The contrast of this scene, however, made me realize that I would choose the picnic table in the cold over the warm restaurant every time if it meant I could enjoy a long adventure in the mountains.
The NOC marked mile 26 of our day, so I was a bit stiff as we started to hike again. We decided to drink our beers (which I should mention were IPA tall boys) as we started climbing out of the gorge on the AT. At first, we were amused – there were fist bumps exchanged, and maybe even a bit of hollering. Soon though, I just felt sluggish and sleepy. Hiking uphill while tipsy ain’t fun. We ended up stopping for the night about 4 miles later, at a small gap just before Grassy Gap. We dropped our packs, and I made myself really useful by shivering and marveling at Seth’s one handed trucker hitch as he set up the tarp. After a Ramen bomb dinner, with Fritos added for texture and calories and pure enjoyment, we drifted off to sleep.
Day Two: 27 miles
AT Mile 137ish to Cheoah Bald (AT section), Cheoah Bald to Nantahala Lake (Bartram Trail section)
It was drizzling so we slept in a bit. We only had enough water to share one cup of coffee, but that did the trick and soon we were off hiking towards Cheoah Bald. My legs felt surprisingly good, but we agreed that today we would only hike and leave the jogging for another time. My favorite part of the 6 mile climb up to Cheoah was the view to the north, where the Smoky Mountains displayed a magnificent, deep blue color.
The Bartram Trail’s northernmost point is Cheoah Bald, so once we reached the Bald we said goodbye to the AT and started south on the Bartram, hiking home to Nantahala Lake. The Bartram was alarmingly steep right off the bat, pitching us 6.6 miles straight back down into the gorge. For a lot of this section we followed a green, lush creek with countless water falls and small swimming holes. I can’t imagine many people get to enjoy them, however, since the climb to get there would be so steep and rugged.
After a short road walk we reached a river launch site, where we sat to eat some lunch. This would turn out to be our only break for the day. Staring up at the climb awaiting us while burning my mouth on oatmeal (lava!), I gathered my resolve to finish the final 15 miles of the hike. From our less than scenic lunch spot, where we were sitting on concrete next to a cluster of porta potties, it was only a short ten minute drive back to the house. The temptation to have Seth’s brother pick us up almost proved to be too great as the oatmeal settled in my stomach and I got sleepy. It probably didn’t help that I was drinking Sleepytime Honey tea. After a brief conversation, however, we decided to push on and finish the loop.
We hiked up to Rattlesnake Bald (spoiler alert: no views), and then began a long, gradual descent back to Nantahala Lake. Nothing too remarkable, except for an afternoon hail-producing thunderstorm and some young, green ramps. The cloudy weather started playing tricks on our sense of time. We kept thinking the sky was darkening, anticipating sunset. On multiple instances, it seemed to get lighter again, making us feel like we were losing our minds. We trudged on to the Appletree Campground. This section really dragged on for me, and I began to feel the familiar fatigue of a long day spent on foot.
We finally reached the campground, and then my spirits lifted as we entered the home stretch – a road walk followed by a short two mile trail section. Seth picked up the pace at the end, and we managed to reach the Lake just as dusk turned to total darkness. No headlamps required!
Back at the house, one plate of barbecue turned into three, one beer turned into four, and I all but tumbled into bed.
