This year, I started on March 15th, figuring the added years and body weight might slow my progress. Even so, tonight I am at Cable Gap shelter, mile 159. Tomorrow will be about 7 miles to Fontana Dam, NC and the next day I will again enter GSMNP. It will take three days to reach Mt Collins shelter again. So, 25 days instead of 21. And I can say, this has been a bit more fun!
I'm a bit worried, Tucson hasn't made it to camp. I guess he's gonna camp somewhere south of Cable Gap shelter, but exactly where I don't know. I'll have an easy seven miles to Fontana but he will have seven plus. And it looks like rain moving in.
4/6/15 - It started to rain as I left camp at Cable Gap this morning about 8:45am. Tucson still hasn't shown up. I hate hiking in rain. I get soaked from either rain or sweat. And if I can't get dry, it's a real problem. I'm supposed to start the Smokies tomorrow and rain is forecast all week. Sigh. Not sure what I'm gonna do. Hike through it somehow, that's for sure.
Tucson showed up at Fontana Dam just before 4pm. He's pretty beat after doing a 12 mile hike in the rain. It's still in the fifties outside. We've agreed to take a zero here at the Hike Inn tomorrow and start the Smokies on Wednesday.
4/8/15 - We left the comforts of the Hike Inn around eight thirty and waved goodby to Jeff at nine. He and Nancy are great folks, and I was very happy to stay at their place this trip.
4/8/15 - We left the comforts of the Hike Inn around eight thirty and waved goodby to Jeff at nine. He and Nancy are great folks, and I was very happy to stay at their place this trip.
A local was nice enough to take our picture as we crossed Fontana Dam. Then we started the loooong climb up Shuckstack Mountain. At the fire tower, I inhaled some beef jerky, two Snickers bars, and a liter and a half of water. Then it was back to the climb. Arrived at Mollies Ridge shelter about three thirty. Two familiar faces showed up, Shaken and Nature's Own, who had given Trail Magic back at Albert Mountain. They got laid off from work recently I think. Johnny Adventure showed up, but not his girlfriend Snapshot. They had been a couple day ahead of me, but she tripped coming down into Fontana and messed up her ankle. It had been previously injured a few years ago. She tried zeroing in Fontana, but no go. Her sister picked her up this morning. Another good hiker down.
Wilson and Coed are here this evening, as is Sublime. Some folks from Germany stopped by, but they pushed on another three miles to the next shelter. Tomorrow will be an eleven mile hike to Derrick Knob shelter.
4/9/15 - Someone decided to start moving around with a white flashlight in the shelter about five-thirty this morning. In the end, I was on trail a little after seven. Blerk! Later this spring, it will be normal but now it's still dark until seven.
It's a twelve mile day from Mollies Ridge to Derrick Knob shelter. Elevation drops from 4600' to 4100' at a gap about mile out, then climbs as the trail goes over Rocky Top/Thunderhead Mountain at 5530' at mile 8. I was surprised, I made Rocky Top by noon. Out of my group, only Wilson was ahead of me and that only by a few yards. And yes, it's That Rocky Top from the song. The trail bounces along the NC/TN border from just south of Mollies Ridge to a little south of Damascus, VA.
I made it to camp about three, and managed to get a cell connection a quarter mile from the shelter for about ten minutes. My friend Tony the Tiger, from 2007, texted me that my SPOT had quit around noon. At the shelter I noticed it had somehow turned off, so I installed a new set of batteries and turned it on for a while.
All day today, the wind has been strong and the clouds have been thickening. I checked the forecast before I lost coverage and there's a 90% chance of thunderstorms tonight/tomorrow morning. So the current plan is wait and see and maybe have a short day tomorrow after noon.
Tonight the shelter is full: Tucson, Coed, Wilson, Animal, Hounddog, Johnny Adventure, Sublime, Orly and her friend Georgia, the German twins, Fancy Pants, who has been hiking with Lolly and her service dog Bentley (who has his own trail name of Potato Wedge), and several others I haven't met.
4/10/15 - The wind picked up pretty strong last night and grew cold. This morning it was still whipping and around seven thirty the rain began. Between the rain, wind and cold, we decided to sit things out this morning. Several people left around eight; shortly after it began to pour. I fell back asleep, and at 945 it is still drizzling with the same strong wind, this isn't over yet. Well, the shelter is dry and I've now had breakfast. My companions are all sleeping, my bag is warm and Maine can wait a day.
A hiker just got in at ten from the last shelter back, soaking wet. He left at seven thirty into the rain.
Eleven, and the rain has returned, cold and heavy.
In the end, the day became a zero. Even at three pm it rained, cold. Hopefully tomorrow will dawn clear. Low Profile and Right-click came in, Sourpatch and Gummybear also, I last saw them at the NOC.
4/11/15 - I got a late start out, waiting for the wind to drop this morning. Finally left out in my long pants, long sleeve shirt, windbreaker, my buff pulled up over my ears with my Tilley hat jammed down over the buff. Of course, within a mile I started pulling stuff off. The wind settled some during the day, but all day it was occasionally cold until I hit a stand of trees or got behind a ridge.
I made Double Springs Gap shelter by noon-thirty and took a break. Johnny Adventure, Wilson, Coed, and Tucson all showed up. Then it was time to climb Clingman's Dome. At 6643ft, it is the highest point on the entire Appalachian Trail, and this day was perfect. I got to the lookout about three-thirty, and met a Trail Angel named Tyler Reich. He and his dad Pete were giving a Trail Magic in the form of Oreo cookie packets. People are so nice to thruhikers. Tyler will be joining Cub Scouts next year and Pete can't wait until he can retire and do a thruhike. He's already racked up an impressive amount of section hiking on the AT. We spent a while discussing gear, did the usual pictures and then I headed for the shelter about 3 miles away. I noticed that I'm already cinching my pack waist belt nearly to all the way down, so I called home to get the smaller replacement sent to Hot Springs, NC, about a week away.
Mt Collins shelter is off the AT about a half mile, down in a spruce grove. And man is it packed tonight! The shelter is mostly empty, because we were told to expect some dayhikers, who have reservations and priority over thruhikers. They of course, didn't show, but us thrus tented to avoid being tossed out. Oh well.
Tucson and Coed are planning to hike to Newfound Gap in the morning and hitch into Gatlinberg. Wilson and I decided to hike past and stay on schedule to Pecks Corner shelter at 15 miles. Hopefully we can avoid most of the coming rain as we head for Hot Springs.
4/12/15 - Tucson and Coed hiked down to Newfound Gap and hitched into Gatlinberg. Wilson, Johnny Adventure and I kept going to Peck's Corner shelter. Which is full of hikers coming out of Gatlinberg. Sigh. Tomorrow is a 20-30% chance of rain.
Today was a 16 mile day, what with Mt Collins shelter being ½ mile off trail and this one 0.4 miles off. We have to hike back up tomorrow and then pop above 6000ft two or three times over 13 miles. Hope the rain holds off.
4/13/15 - It was forecast to rain today, and sure enough at seven-thirty this morning it started to drizzle. And it continued off an on all day. I used my umbrella out of camp with my rain kilt. It worked well all the way to TriCorner Knob shelter. Then the wind turned cold, so I had to break out my jacket. My short sleeve shirt, short pants and undershorts are slowly changing from wet to damp on a line in the shelter.
Made camp at Cosby Knob shelter. It's full of thruhikers, and at 4pm, a group of six section hikers showed up. We had to squeeze them in as they have priority over thruhikers. Tomorrow it's an eleven mile hike to Standing Bear Farm hostel, and out of the Smokies. Then two and a half days to Hot Springs, NC. And rain the whole way. Sigh.
I've met hikers Flash, Tortoise. In camp tonight with Wilson and I are Just Dave, Animal (who carries a 3gallon plastic bucket in addition to his pack), Huck, Wild Turkey, Chipmunk, and a bunch of others.
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