Day 44 - 14th May - Kincora to Lake Watanga - 11 miles

The trail follows the river down to the Laurel Fork Falls. These are some of the most spectacular waterfalls on the whole trail, and we don't even have to detour to see them.

We see evidence of beavers for the first time and are amazed by the gnawing effects of their teeth on the trees which are still standing. What an effort.

The next part of the day is soul-destroying. We climb up a mountain and down the other side for no reason, other than that is where the white blazes send us, and we follow like lambs to the slaughter. If the white blaze goes that way, so do we. We climb 2000 ft for no reason and then descend 2000ft for no reason. On the climb, we meet a hiker from Kincora hostel who is doing a slack pack backwards to the hostel. We can hear her on the phone as we climb the zig-zags. She has found a place where her mobile phone works, and the strongest southern accent floats across the forest, so thick that we cannot understand a word. Her trail name is Serenatina, and we are to share the trail with her over many days into the future. Today we learn that she is a 'talker', and we keep walking to escape the voice and reach the silence of the forest.

We also meet two young women hiking with a huge dog - one of the young women has a beard, and they keep to themselves. The dog barks as we pass them resting on the trail. We wonder what the story is here, but are too polite to ask.

We arrive at Lake Watanga - people picknicking and swimming, fishing and just relaxing on the lawn. We stop on the grass for an hour and watch the Canadian Geese at the water's edge.

We phone Mike and Theresa in Georgia - Theresa answers the phone in the middle of a bridge game. We imagine her telling her bridge friends 'those two aussies are still on the trail', as they all follow us vicariously through our trials and tribulations.

We start walking around the lake and keep going into the afternoon until we find a flat spot on a ridge with lake views to camp.