The Smokies were amazing, and probably my second favorite section of the entire trail (behind Maine at number 1). Maybe it is because I was back in the home state, but it was awesome. The colors were great, I had some visits from friends, nice weather, and the views were spectacular! The Appalachian Trail in the park is really nice, and follows the ridge the entire way. Clingmans dome was packed on the Saturday that Nathan and I got there. I'm not a big fan of crowds anymore, but the view from the cement tower was great!
Saturday I hiked into Siler's Bald Shelter, and was so beat from doing long days that I slept from 7:30P to 8:20ish AM. It was glorious. There was a big ole crowd at all the shelters in the park, which made it fun. I met some nice sectioners who gave me fruit, some scouts who had just got back from a trip to Glacier last month, and a bear at the southern end of the park. It was dusk, my favorite time of the day to hike, when I turned the corner of the trail to find a big black bear standing in my way about 40 yards. It really startled me at first! "woah bear, WOAH BEAR!!" I ended up making it climb up this tree, and it wasn't a small one either! So, that was cool. I walked over Fontana Dam around 7:20P, and it was completely pitch black dark out already. There is a shelter there which took me a good while to find in the dark.
Sunday the rain started. All night at Fontana Dam Shelter it poured down rain, and when we woke up it was still raining. Luckily the rain died down for most of that day, but the ground remained wet. My socks weren't even dry for 30 minutes after I started that morning, and stayed wet until Thursday of this past week! I have been super fortunate with weather, having had mostly sunny days for the majority of my hike, and haven't had to deal with continuously wet feet for longer than a day. Well this past week was a dose of reality, or what I'd imagine most hikers go through. Wet leaves are super slick too, and I must have fallen at least 8 or 9 times a day while it was wet out.
The really miserable day was this past Wednesday. Rain, Rain, Rain. The wettest day I have had on the trail yet. My shoes turned into water pumps, and the trail turned into a creek bed. Every 5 to 7 miles I would stop and ring out my socks, which were usually holding a few ounces of water, so I could at least not have the squishing water effect for a small portion of the hike. But again, I is super hard to complain about it all. Thursday the sun came out, everything dried, and I had clear blue skies all the way to the finish. Thursday I also hitched into Hiawasee, Georgia for lunch and my last resupply. It was not the best hitch, but I got a ride from some nice locals after about 20 minutes of thumbing (the second longest I've ever had to wait for a ride). By then I was pretty beat. The rain takes a lot out of me, especially doing large mile days.
The trail has taught me so much. One of the things is being humble. I don't like to talk about miles too much, as some hikers really like to do, but I have to brag just once about this lower section. If I could have slowed it down, I would have without a doubt. I wanted to make it on the weekend though so Dad could come, and I would have more time to pack up, move and visit. Anyway, from Hot Springs, NC to Hiawassee, GA is about 203 trail miles which I completed in 7.5 days. That averages to 27 miles a day! I would have loved to do 15 miles everyday, and slowed it down. The Griswolds and I had this joke going about "slowing it down" which they were going to do after Hot Springs. Again, I don't like to brag about miles, but that I'm pretty proud of, and it is cool to know and find that I'm capable of doing it.
Dan and Summer (The Griswolds) were slowing it down a lot after Hot Springs. They had a friend doing the Smokies with them, and are planning on summitting Springer this upcoming weekend. They were probably my favorite people to hike with. We had a blast together, and I was sad to leave them. Antspants was I lot of fun to hike with as well as Guac and Queso. I have all of their phone numbers and will be keeping in touch for sure. There are some people I would love to talk to and/or visit from my Northbound section, but all I have is their trail name. Oh well, next time I know!
Crossing into Georgia was one of the best feelings I've gotten on the trail yet! There was a sign that simply said "NC-GA" and I let out a big ole yell when passing it; 76.4 miles to Springer from there. O.k. on to the next post about my last 3 days on the trail. Thanks for reading!!
1 comment:
love that picture dude!
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