Greetings from Hot Springs, NC!
SOOO much crazy has happened since I left Fontana Dam and entered: THE SMOKIES! Let me fill you in:
Dayt 18: After staying in the lodge with Buscuits and Gravy we had a wonderful breakfast with our friends Chris and Cassandra before hitting the trail for Great Smoky Mountain National Park. We hiked a fairly strenuous 15 miles up into the park to Russel Field Shelter. It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining, and we were hopeful for a fabulous week of sun through the Park. So were quite a few other hikers. The shelter claims to sleep 14, but we crammed 19 hikers! This was actually quite wonderful; though it had been sunny all day, the evening temperatures around 5,000 feet were still quite chilly, and the company was wonderful. This large crew would become like family over the next few days, including fellow thru hikers: Ben (Corduroy), Jerod (Witch Doctor), Kat, Julian, Chris, Cassandra, Biscuits and Gravy, Trail Movin, Blue Moon, AYCE, and City Slicker (a guy from South Boston who has already Southbound hiked the whole trail and is now yo-yoing back up).
Day 19: Surprise! Woke up this morning to see Chin Strap's (remember, this is Robbie now) tent set up outside the shelter. He pulled a 20 mile day to catch us that evening around 9:30 pm (hiker midnight), when we were already hitting the hay in the shelter. Today had some of the best views yet! And was another wonderful clear day. It was also my longest day of hiking up to this point: 16.4 miles to Double Spring Shelter, and another full one at that - 17 in a 12 person shelter. But again, it was wonderful to have everyone, because it was a cold night -
Day 20: Woke up to a fresh 3-4 inches of snow! It was quite beautiful however, and made for a fabulous hike up to Clingaman's Dome, the high point for the entire trail, at 6,644. We didn't stay atop the lookout tower for long; the wind was blowing something fierce, and we were all eager to make it the next 8 miles to Newfound Gap and get a ride into Gatlinburg, TN to warm up and get some grub. The outfitter in town runs a free shuttle, and took us straight to the Grand Prix Motel: hiker trash hotel at its best! After a shower, it was off to KFC for a pre-dinner Famous Bowl, followed by the Brew Pub for some dinner and beer. We spent most of the evening hanging out with two guys from Colorado, known across the trail as "The Colorado Bros." Tom and Jack (now Dry Spot and Gollum) are quite the pair and made for energetic and fun company.
Day 21: Zero Day! Spent the day hanging out in Gatlinburg with Corduroy, Biscuits and Gravy, and Chin Strap. We played indoor mini golf and wandered around gawking at the insanity that is Gatlinburg. I broke off from the boys in the afternoon to return to the Great Smoky Mountain Institute at Tremont (GSMIT) to visit friends. I had worked here with the environmental edu. team during the summer of 2010, and there were still a few old familiar faces lingering, and some fabulous new faces that I already miss.
Day 22: Back to the trail - took the 10:00 am shuttle from the outfitter back up to Newfound Gap and hiked 11 miles to Peck's Corner Shelter. (Biscuits and Gravy continued further, and it would take Chin Strap and I a few days to catch back up to him). The snow was in between a state of ice and slush, which made for wet walking, especially in the new trail runners I had just replaced my boots with (WAY more comfortable to hike in, but also WAY wetter....). This was the beginning of the terrible weather.
Day 23: Rain. It started raining in the middle of the night as we, and a crew of others, slept safely in the shelter. Three boys from L.A. choose to hang out most of the morning, not wanting to hike in the rain. I didn't want to hike in the rain either, but what else are you going to do? It can't be sunshine, rainbows, and unicorns everyday. Turns out those of us who choose to hike through the wetness made the right choice. By early afternoon, the clouds parted, the sun returned (if only briefly), and it was beautiful. I spent the entire afternoon hiking with Trail Movin, a rockin 61 year old! He was a medic in Vietnam and is hiking in memory of all the men lost on his watch. Super cool guy, and man, can he crush some miles. I only hope I'm that badass when I'm 61.
We hiked 13 miles to Cosby Gap Shelter, where it looked like it would be only a few of us at first, but then a hord of 7 spring break hikers (5 middle/high school boys and 2 dads) showed up, and a few late coming thru hikers, leading to another packed shelter, and another cold night.
Day 24: Woke up to semi-fozen shoes. After bending them around a bit to loosen them up and a couple of hard shoves of the foot, I was able to get them on and hit the trail. Only 11 miles to Standing Bear Hostel just on the other side of where the trail crosses I-40. This was also the end of the Smokies. Eight miles down hill, and we were at Davenport Gap with the Park behind us. We celebrated thinking that the worst was behind us. Everyone says, "Once your out of the Smokies everything is better." Everyone lies! (But I'll get to that).
I don't know that I have covered Trail Magic yet - this is simply something that someone (usually a non thru hiker) does for you along the way. Most often it is leaving a cooler of sodas by a trailhead or handing out candy bars as a day hiker passes you on the trial. Then there is Fresh Ground. I have never met anyone with a heart a big as his. Fresh Ground section hiked a portion of the Southern Appalachian Mountains last year, and this year before he started his section from Damascus, VA, he decided he would send some trail magic love first. We first came across him at Woody Gap, GA, where he had hot chocolate and coffee. Then we saw him again outside of Franklin, NC, where his spread had grown to hot dogs, salad, hot chocolate and coffee. But, seeing him coming out of the Smokies, set up near I-40 was by far one of the best moments on the trail! He had run out of funds for trial magic, but the thru hikers he has helped couldn't stand the thought of him leaving us, so the donations started flowing, and man can you tell. When we reached him, his spread included, hundreds of hot dogs (I ate 3), salad, fruit, twinkies, swiss rolls, chips, hot chocolate, coffee, and just about anything else a hungry, cold thru hiker could dream of. He has even decided to cancel his section hike and continue following this bubble of hikers up the trail as long as funds keep flowing. He plans on seeing us next outside of Erwin, TN near Roan Mountain. He is truly a trail angel and I can't wait to see him again; not only for the snacks, but mostly for his joyful spirit and positive attitude - he can lift your moral with just a smile!
After leaving Fresh Ground (dragging my feet every step of the way), Chin Strap and I, as well as three others, Corduroy, Dumbledor (a girl named Mollie), and Grasshopper (Ian) arrived at Standing Bear Hostel where we stayed in a cabin together. Nice enough place, but a little sketchy. The owner, Curtis, is not the person you want to be on the bad side of... we will leave it at that. But non the less, the 5 of us had a wonderful night, laughing and enjoying each other's company in our cabin.
Day 25: And so it begins. You may recall earlier in this post, I mentioned the beginning of the bad weather. Well, as we enjoyed our afternoon in our cozy cabin, it continued to snow all day and night. From 1,800 feet at Standing Bear, the snow was only an inch or so, and not even sticking to the road. Chin Strap and I were in a pickle. We really didn't want to spend another night at the sketchy hostel, wasting money that didn't need to be spent, but we also didn't particularly want to venture out into the snow. We decided continuing on was the only thing to do... after all, there wasn't that much snow. WRONG!
It didn't take us long to work our way back up into the mountains and into 6-8 inches of snow. We managed to drag ourselves 7 miles to the first shelter, where we stopped for lunch and to ponder our situation. We decided again, that it was only 1:00 and we could easily push on another 8 miles to the next shelter. In hindsight this was the right choice, however that afternoon we both felt a bit differently.
Not long after leaving our lunch shelter the snow got much worse. As we walked along the ridge line, (now with fellow thru hiker Chickadee) the wind got worse, and would blow the snow over the tracks we had been following. We had to plow our way through knee deep snow (about 3 feet in some places). We were lucky though, we were able to follow a combination of tracks in front of us and blazes on trees to make our way to what is supposed to be one of the most beautiful stops on the trail, Max Patch. This is a bald summit that had "beautiful views" all around. Our experience was a bit different. I was leading the pack up the mountain, and trying to break my way through waist deep snow, but could literally not move. Every time I attempted to move a leg, snow would fill in the empty space. I was stuck. I turned, and saw that two guys, Snowman and Not It, had caught up to us. They were also trying to follow the trail I was failing to blaze up to the summit. I believe my exact quote was: "I can't move. Do one of you want to try to break through?" Snowman, in a bit of an adrenaline rush, plowed his way up to the summit, and we followed. Just when it seemed it could get no worse... It did!
Atop the summit the snow was only a few inches, if that, because the wind had to be blowing 40 mph or more. It was miserable! We walked at an angle, following the white blazed posts that had been placed atop the treeless summit. We managed to make it across the summit and back down into the trees, where we were again in about a foot or more of snow, but at least the wind wasn't blowing.
After an intense day of plowing through the snow, we finally managed to make it to Roaring Fork Shelter, where we found Biscuits and Gravy, nestled into his sleeping bag, and a few other familiar faces. We took the last remaining spots, removed our ice covered outer layers, ate, and hunkered down for the night.
Day 26: The only thing better about today, was we made it to Hot Springs, NC! Woke up to some pretty cold temps. Ate breakfast and made hot chocolate from the warmth of my sleeping bag. I had to put my water bottle in my sleeping bag with me in order to thaw the liter of water that had frozen over night. My shoes were also ice sickles. There was no way I could bend them around enough to get my foot in - they were frozen solid. I whipped my stove back out and hovered over it with my shoes, melting them enough to jam my foot in. (I know all of you are wishing that you could start your mornings this way). To make a long, story shorter, we hiked 18.8 miles into Hot Springs finding that the trail the second half of the day was mostly snow free.
So we are here now, taking a couple of zeros, hoping that the warm weather moving in will melt the snow, and SO happy we made it out of the Smokies when we did. The park got 4-5 feet of snow, and has been closed. There are hundreds of thru hikers stuck at Fontana Dam and Gatlinburg just waiting. Some have shuttled up to Hot Springs, choosing to just skip that section of trail. It has been crazy, but we are hopeful that the crazy is behind us.
Uploading pictures to the blog didn't work, but I will be putting them on facebook, so check there!
Until the next stop!
Kensey
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