Hot Springs – mile 273.7
May 2nd – Clingmans Dome Tower Path to Icewater Spring Shelter
Total miles on AT – 10.6
Elevation gain – 1592ft
Elevation loss – 2296ft
Weather: cool and overcast with evening showers and thunderstorms I was very fortunate to be in Smoky Mountain National Park at the same time my friend Mariah and her family were here on vacation. They picked me up on Monday morning from the motel where I stayed Sunday night. We drove up to Clingmans Dome and we all walked up to the observation tower. It was another misty day and we couldn’t see anything from the top. Mariah’s husband Kevin walked with me over 7 miles from Clingmans to Newfound Gap where Mariah met us with the car. It was cloudy the whole way and we were lucky enough not to get rained on. I said goodbye at Newfound Gap and headed on another 3 miles to the shelter. It rained part of the way. My dad and I hiked this part of the trail in 1994 in February. The trail was icy then. To be honest I was kind of already depressed to get back out here, and the weather didn’t help any. Both knees were painful. I will continue to do short days.
The shelter is full tonight and I don’t know anyone except for one couple whom I had said hi to on my first night on the trail. They are nice. I recognized a couple others: the Librarian, so named because he started the trail with 12 books. He’s now down to six, and Lazy Eagle, so named because he is an Eagle Scout and because he carries a two pound bear canister so he doesn’t have to put up a bear bag every night.
It rained hard through the evening and I was happy to be in a dry shelter even though it was crowded. I could have dealt perhaps with half as many people. In the Smokies you are not allowed to camp at the shelters unless they are full. It was so wet outside that the shelter was the better option anyway.
May 3rd – Icewater Spring Shelter to Tri-Corner Knob Shelter
Total miles on AT – 12.1
Elevation gain – 1453ft
Elevation loss – 1482ft
Weather: chilly, misty and showers with patches of sun
There was plenty of thunder and lightning last night and I spent a good deal of time in the middle of the night awake.
Chilly today and not many views cause we were in a cloud.
I got a good spot at the shelter tonight – it pays to get here early.
It seems that when I meet a new person it is often accompanied with a fist bump. Is this a thing out here? I suppose it makes sense so as to not spread germs. The Noro Virus went around the Smokies earlier in the season and I heard that people were afraid to even sign in in the trail registers in the shelters for fear of catching it.
My knees were not as bad during the second half of day as I feared they would be.
Just an observation, but I’ve seen a lot less weed in the past few days. It was everywhere in Georgia. 19 years ago when I was out here I only saw it once in three weeks. I guess the trail has had a way of “weeding” out the stoners in the Smokies. (sorry, couldn’t help myself) A lot of folks got stuck in Gatlinburg for days partying. There is a moonshine tasting distillery there. Ooh, that’s dangerous!
I heard a story from another hiker tonight about a couple that brought a cat and a dog with them on the trail. Sadly the cat went missing after ten days – there are a lot of birds of prey out here.
May 4th – Tri-Corner Knob Shelter to Davenport Gap Shelter
Total miles on AT – 14.8
Elevation gain – 1205ft
Elevation loss – 4511ft
Weather: cold and misty in the morning, partly sunny and mild in the afternoon, cold and rainy in the evening
Coldest morning on the trail to date. Woke up in a wet mist. It was hard to get going.
I’ve gotten to know a few more people over the last few days. One of them is Captain Planet. He got his name because one day he was removing snails from the trail so people wouldn’t step on them. He graduated from JMU two years ago and continued to live in Harrisonburg for two years after that. He studied political science but his real passion is music. He would like to organize music festivals. As is the case with everyone I know who went to JMU, he’s a real nice person.
Captain Planet, Lazy Eagle, and Candy Man saw a rattlesnake at the top of Mt. Camerer. I told them I thought that rattlers were better than copperheads because they usually make a noise to warn you, whereas copperheads you can hardly even see. Lazy Eagle says copperheads smell like cucumbers so that’s when you know when one is close. I took his word for it, he is after all an Eagle Scout.
I had intended to do just 7.7 miles to Cosby Knob Shelter (insert Bill Cosby jokes here). When I arrived a 70 year-old Tennessean veteran and an older couple from Wisconsin were there. There were scary warning signs at the shelter about bear activity. Something like “There is an active bear at this shelter. Do not approach the bear. Bears have attacked and killed people.” Sure enough, a bear showed up. He hid himself up in the woods and just stared at us. When he got comfortable, he walked down to the open meadow in front of the shelter. We watched him for a long time as he ate the grass there. He looked up at us once in a while. He got closer and closer getting to within 20 yards. We finally started yelling at him and he slowly retreated to the woods. Apparently bears have been a problem at this shelter for years. Supposedly the older ones teach the younger ones that they can get food at the shelter.
I had heard and talked to too many people who had already had run-ins with bears in the past few days. One women had her pack slashed, another guy at this shelter couldn’t get to his bear bag because the bear sat right under it like he was guarding it. Bears have come right into the shelter and gone after people’s packs. I was sure that this bear would do just that tonight and I didn’t want to spend the night sharing the shelter with a bear. There used to be caged fences on the front of each Smoky Mountain Park shelter but now there are just tarps. The tarps keep the warmth in better but don’t protect anyone from bears. Apparently they got rid of the fences because people would lure bears into the shelter and then lock them in.
I did 14.8 miles on the day and much of it downhill. My knees survived, sort of. I heard later that the bear didn’t come back that night.
I talked tonight with Kate who has not taken on a trail name yet. She is an ESL teacher in Boston and wants to teach in Spain. Margarita was also at the shelter. She is only 19 and is cousins with Librarian. Not naming any names, but a horrible snorer made the night in the shelter miserable. The upper platform of the shelter vibrated all night. My earplugs were useless. I slept very little.
May 5th – Davenport Gap Shelter to Green Corner Rd.
Total miles on AT – 3.6
Elevation gain – 415ft
Elevation loss – 1218ft
Weather: cold and rain
I left Great Smoky Mountain National Park and a few miles later passed under I 40, a surreal moment where the trail meets a gateway to the rest of America.
There were snow patches on ground this morning, and lots of snow higher up according to hikers who caught up – I’m glad I pushed on yesterday and descended 2500 feet lower out of most of the snow’s reach. It began to rain as I arrived at Standing Bear Hostel to resupply. This hostel is on a gravel road just a few hundred yards off the trail – a quant backcountry paradise for hikers. The rain intensified and the thermometer at the hostel read 42 degrees. Despite such a very short day the cold and rain were a good excuse to stop and rest my knees after a good long day yesterday.
Candy Man, who is from Germany and speaks better English than most, twisted his knee while here at the hostel. He decided to stay the night as well.
I also met Iron Butterfly. She must be well into her 60s. She served in the Peace Corps in Lesotho and is hiking to raise money to stop animal poaching in Africa.
There was a wood stove in the hostel and a nice hot shower. I warmed up a microwave cheeseburger and a quesadilla in the kitchen. There were three dogs and two cats. One cat kept sitting in front of the microwave making it very difficult for folks to warm up their cheeseburgers. One of the dogs liked to play fetch. The poor dog needed a ball. He made us throw him a piece of plywood and a rock! Yep, I felt good about staying here for the day and night as I watched the cold rain fall all day outside.
May 6th – Green Corner Rd to a mile or so before Cherry Creek Trail
Total miles on AT – 11.5-ish
Elevation gain – 4200ft-ish
Elevation loss – 1702ft
Weather: chilly and overcast with a short-lived drizzle
The day started with a steady climb of 2400 feet. I ate lunch at a shelter and had a nice chat with a 21 year-old student from Jacksonville. He was with his father who was deaf. They were joined with three other deaf hikers who do a section of the trail every May.
I got about 3/4 of a mile down the trail when I realized I didn’t have my AT guide. I looked throughout my bag then backtracked to the shelter. Nope! Not at the shelter. I found it at the end of the day in my food bag! I was so enthralled with my conversation with the guy at the shelter that I wasn’t paying attention to what I was doing when I was packing up. Mindfulness.
About ten miles into the day I came to a US forest road and a man was there waiting to be picked up by a shuttle. He was from Queens. He has started the day before at the hostel and was planning to go all the way to Maine. He had all the nicest new gear. But he was quitting.
“It’s not for me.” He said. “I enjoy hiking and I enjoy camping, but I am just not enjoying it out here.” We talked for a while and I tried in vain perhaps to slightly coax him to try it a little longer. He admitted after a while that he had a depressive personality and was having panic attacks out here.
“Me too!” I replied. We chatted a while until Iron Butterfly came along.
“So are you just going to go back to Queens?” I asked.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do.”
His shuttle had called and was on its way.
“Well whatever you do, have fun.” I said. “That’s the point anyway.”
“Thanks,” he said and bid me a kind farewell.
I felt bad for him. He had decided not to start in Georgia because it was late in the season, but he would have probably been better of doing so. By this point, most hikers are getting into good shape and have made hiker friends. The cold weather didn’t make it any easier. His hike was a bit doomed from the start.
I heard that someone made the mistake of sending home their warm clothes after the Smokies. Margarita had planned to do the same thing. Hopefully someone talked her out of it! It’s been cold all week!
My knees didn’t feel as good as I thought they would with nearly an entire day off yesterday. Lots of sharp pains. “Icing with cold water in my water bag seems to help.
May 7th – Less than a mile before Cherry Creek Trail to the gap before Bluff Mtn.
Total miles on AT – 10.6-ish
Elevation gain – 2063ft-ish
Elevation loss – 1911ft
Weather: windy – chilly and overcast in the morning, sunny and mild in the afternoon
I iced twice today and my knees felt better, but it was an easy day. I enjoyed taking advantage of a short day by stopping a lot and talking to people, but I only met one new thru-hiker. The trail seems to be thinning out even more. I met a 2006 thru-hiker who was out with his two dogs.
The views from Max Patch this morning were stunning but it was cold and windy. It did warm up in afternoon.
I am camping with Iron Butterfly for the second night in a row. She’s quiet but I admire her grit. I started well after her this morning and finished well before her, but here she is 262.7 miles into the trail and still going! The older people out here are really inspiring.
May 8th – The Gap before Bluff Mt to Hot Springs
Total miles on AT – 11.0-ish
Elevation gain – 625ft
Elevation loss – 3985ft
Weather: sunny and mild
Great to be in town! Nice hot shower! Going to get some eats soon! Last night I finished reading Way of the Peaceful Warrior by Dan Millman. A lot of insights to remember. To attain unreasonable happiness – Live in the present; there is no such thing as ordinary moments. Act happy, feel happy, be happy without a reason in the world. Happiness = satisfaction/desire.