Bud and Vicki Hogan's 1996 Appalachian Trail Journey
June 10
Icewater Spring Shelter to Tri-Corner Knob Shelter .........................11.5 miles
Hiking on the knife edge today, ridges with huge drop-offs on either side of the trail, could be really dangerous if not for the trees and brush to break a fall. Passed Charlie's Bunion, a craggy outcrop with a great view. Dangerous drop from here. Be careful.
All the way through the Smokies we cursed the elevation profile because it looked so easy on the map but wasn't really that easy in reality. Maybe it wasn't really so bad, but it looked like it should be easier. Passed a young couple hiking the other direction. They warned of us that if we stayed at TriCorner Knob that we would be kept awake all night by a screaming child. They were doing double their normal mileage to avoid another night with the kid. Turns out that the child was having some physical problems. The parents were both educated professionals, engineers, I believe. They had brought a one-year old child backpacking in this terrain, intending to hike the entire length of the Smokies before they were finished. They didn't count on the kid having allergies that would swell his eyes shut.
This was their second night out and the kid was getting worse. The poor little fellow was in a lot of pain, and handling it better than most adults would. We encouraged them to get the kid to a doctor, and before we left the next morning, the little boy was in such a bad condition that the mother was in tears and unable to do anything for him out here. The parents told us that they were taking the shortest route out to get the child some help. We felt much better.
Even if the kid had been perfectly well, I have a hard time imagining carrying a wiggle-wart one-year old in a child backpack around the drop offs at Charlie's Bunion. This is not the place for small children.
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