Wednesday, March 10th, 2021
I tell you what, this trail has bridges! I wasn’t complaining. My feet were staying dry for once while hiking the Lakeshore Trail. We’d see the lake through the dead trees as we hiked on top of thick leaf litter. You couldn’t even see the trail most of the time. We hit stretches of mud and unmaintained trail after our lunch break.
There were plenty of blowdowns as we hiked on the “North Carolina slant”. Passing through this state on the Appalachian Trail is much more maintained, but the angle of the trail is no different. Traveling through the Appalachians in North Carolina will make your ankles sore as you try and stay upright while hiking.
We would have one final climb for the day and the guys were ahead of me. They saw a wild hog at the water source ahead and both mentioned they were very hesitant to approach it, not wanting to feel it’s wrath. Wild hogs either react skittishly, or they go into attack mode. It’s the luck of the draw!
We finally reached the ghost town in the woods known as Proctor. It was an old community turned logging boomtown back in the early 1900’s. Most of the town has crumbled away, leaving little evidence of foundations and debris. But the old Calhoun house had been restored and still stands today. We explored it and debated sleeping on the porch, but decided to keep moving. We still had plenty of daylight left, and wanted to make it to Possum Hollow for the night at mile 83.3.
On our way there, we’d spot several ruins tucked away in the forest. My feet were getting blistered, likely due to all the creek crossing we’ve been doing over the past few days, so I was glad to be done for the day.
22.7 miles (36.5 km)
Jump Ahead to the Benton MacKaye Trail: Part 6
Jump Back to the Benton MacKaye Trail: Part 4
or
Start from the Beginning: Benton MacKaye Trail: Part 1
Stubbs Rambles On 
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