As a group we decided a few days back that we wanted to hike to Clingman's Dome super early and watch the sunrise because a few of us watched the movie Trek about the AT. It had been raining the night before but we went for it anyways. We set an alarm for 5AM and we hit the trail a little before 6 AM. It was pitch black so we all had our head lamps on. The ground was very wet and quite slippery and my pace was a little slower. The hike was about 3 miles but it was a tough climb to the tower above the summit. We got there in time and the clouds did part. The wind was ridiculous and my watch read 11 degrees not accounting for the crazy wind. After a few pictures we got off pretty quick and hiked on to Gatlinburg, TN where some people were going to resupply. We also heard rumors of the temperature dropping in the single digits and it fueled us to want to get a motel room. Gatlinburg was going to be a short hike of only 6 more miles and it was before 9AM. The hike after Clingman's Dome was the scenery I was expecting from the Smokies, very thick evergreen forest with mad green moss covering every part of the woods for as far as you can see. The entire day was extremely picturesque, but my phone was dead so there were no pictures actually taken. I know, bummer! We got to Gatlinburg where I have been many times before with Wito and Wita. It wasn't really what I remember but it was a pleasant surprise. We got two cheap motel rooms and stuffed four people in each room for a fair price. As soon as that was done we went straight for the only "All you can eat" restaurant in town, Shoneys. We rolled in there 8 deep, all super hungry, you can definitely say they lost some money on us. We walked around the various shops the town had to offer then went back to the hotel to retire for the night, in a bed. How nice! It was an awesome day.
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| Sunrise at Clingman's Dome |
March 18th -
The second day of the Smokies was much the same as the first, not as impressive as I was expecting. The day was going by pretty normally except we all knew it was going to rain sometime that day, no one knew when. It was one of my absolute roughest days and I'll tell y'all why, it was the end of the day and I was very close to the shelter with no rain yet. Then I hit a sign that had the name of another trail that joined with the AT. I was jamming tunes on my iPod and quickly read that I was 0.4 miles away from the shelter we were going to stay at; I was pumped to end the day and eat some food. Sometimes the shelters are off the trail a little on a side trail that gets you right to it. I thought this was one of those side trails and the shelter was 0.4 miles down the way. I was super mistaken. I went down a random trail that joined up with the AT and went off track 1.8 miles. I just thought it was a super long 0.4 miles. I hit another sign that said the AT was 1.8 miles in the direction I just came from and I was pissed. This meant I would have to turn around and do a total 3.6 mile detour at the end of the day with no water left... I was super pissed. It still hadn't rained until I took about 4 steps to head back to the AT and it started pouring. It rained so hard and it did not even think about stopping. It did stop raining though, the rain very abruptly turned to hail, large hail I was soaked and mega pissed. No water and very hungry and still more than 2 miles away from food and warmth. I would have been there if I wasn't an idiot. It took a while but I finally made it and my buddies got a good kick out of it but did say they started to worry for a bit when the girl behind me got there before me and didn't pass me. They thought it was pretty funny and one dude now calls me Left Turn Clyde. I deserve it. I will forever be cautious of all the signs. It was a miserable day.
March 17th - the beginning of the "Smokies"
After a zero at the Fontana Hilton I left with a somewhat new but familiar group, Matt, Michael, and Gummy moved on the day before so it was just Ross, Nate, G, Ben, Z, and I (yes we have a G and a Z in our group). We planned a 16.7 mile day to Spence Field Shelter, the distance wouldn't be a problem but the first climb going in to the Smokies was a tough 8.2 miles up to elevation. I was surprised how fast the day went by, the hike was very pleasant but the scenery was just the same as GA and the rest of NC. Once in the Smokies I thought it was a different game. I was mildly disappointed. The shelters in the Smokies were awesome, most likely due to the fee they charge hikers to walk through their park, very worth it though. They all sleep 12. I'm pretty sure we could fit 16 in some of them and have a dang stone fire place for the super cold nights. We all made it to the shelter before 5pm and the weather was great.
