We left the feed the next morning, but not before partaking in another delicious breakfast.
Our first task was.to summit max patch, which supposedly affords views of the highest points in 7 different states. U fortunayely, the day was dominated by fog. But being up there on that bald in the fog and strong wind was a cool experience nonetheless.
We ended.up.doing about 16 miles, leaving us a 9 mile hike into hot springs.
Also, I saw a giant mushroom.
NoAnother replacement post. This one is particularly a sad replacement because I wrote a lot on this day.
We had heard of some amazing trail magic at brown gap, but we weren't too sure how talked.up.it was compared to reality. When we got there, we were blown away. It was amazing!
The Rat Patrol was started by rat 25 years ago. The people rat fed then came back to help him and they have provided trail magic together for 24 of 25 years. That missing year was due to the road to the gap being closed because of a rock slide.
We got to the gap for breakfast of eggs and sausages and coffee. We pretty much had to stay for lunch. Burgers and fresh cut french fries. All the soda in the world. How could we leave this place? Somehow, Ghost pulled himself.away from the amazing free food and hiked on. At lunch time we decided 3 miles was enough for the day and made camp. So we settled.in for dinner, with rumors of pork chops or steak and potatoes.
At dinner we were blown away by the presentation of not 1, not 2, not 3, but 4 types.ofeat for.the main course! Chicken, marinated pork chops, steak and salmon. Holy jamoly these folks are amazing trail magicians.
After the feed, the home brewer of the group gave us a glass of his IPA and a saison. After that was gone there were plenty of pbr to go around before hitting the hay around 11. Which is super late for us, actually.
And finally, Becca is totally a turtle.
Another replacement post to a frozen one.
On this day we woke up to freezing weather again. Ghost had left his socks on the tin roof and they froze solid.
We ended up.hiking to within a few miles.of the northern boundary of the park. We are almost free.from the restrictions of sleeping in shelters. Being a shelterling by force sucks ass.
This is a post just to replace the broken one. I can't remember the details of the text but here are some pics.
I remember we woke up to the sunrise but instead of a beautiful sky it was cloudy and there was snow! It was so cold.
The hike was aost entirely on ridgeline with steep drops. A lot of them were steep drops.on both sides. Really.awesome part.of the smokies.
Town Day!!! Hot springs NC
There's a library and heroin! (Wet hot American summer reference)
Hot showers and cold beers are all we need right now. We are at a motel right behind the tavern on main street, not that there are too many more streets more than the main one anyway.
The 9 or so.miles.into town flew.by since most were.downhill anyway. Hanging out with Howsit and a bunch of other familiar faces from the hiker feed and previous weeks on the trail. unfortunately ghost got here last night but had to call up his friend immediately because there was no room at the Inn. Its highly likely we may never see ghost again :(
Today may have been one of the best for hiking yet.
We woke up in our tents in about 33 degree weather. Maybe coldest yet.
The hike up Clingman's was easy but crazy as we gained elevation and saw iced plants with wind blown frost like capes for each stem.
Clingman's itself was ok. Good views and we were lucky to be there on a clear day. We were more excited about the possibility of getting snacks at the gift shop. Sarah and Becca went down to the store and came back with chocolate bars, gronala cubes, a jar of preserves, and a jar of pickles. Sward and I devoured the pickles while becca spooned the unadulterated preserves straight into her mouth. She was very hyper for a long time. Her name should be sugar high.
After Clingman's we had the best trail ever. It reminded me of Oregon with the moss and evergreens. It continued nearly all the way to Newfound Gap.
I was the first to get to the gap where a guy walked uo.to me and like a drug dealer mentioned trail magic under his breathe. Our magic dealer turned out to be Trail Hard, a very nice trail angel who had provided a much lauded BBQ for many people the day we left. Fontana Dam. Unfortunately we had left too early catch his BBQ.
Trail Hard explained that for some reason the NPS charges $50 for a permit to give trail magic at the gap, hence he was keeping it on the DL. He had to leave soon and so offered.me.to take all the snacks and soda I wanted and said it was OK to stash some.for.becca Sarah and ghost. Becca came up just before he left and Sarah and ghost.got.to dig into the stash I had hoarded.
3 miles.from the gap is the shelter and Becca and I just enjoyed buffalo chicken flavored rice with a chicken packet and a bag of cool ranch doritos crunched up into the rice. Maybe the best dinner yet.
Hopefully we wake.up.to see the sunrise on the ridge we are looking over as we eat.
Today was the kind of a day that really makes you think, what's the difference between partly sunny and mostly cloudy?
At 5am someone's alarm went off in the shelter. Within five minutes the rain started and quickly turned to hail. Flashes of lightning lit up the seven people on the top bunk as our heads were right under the mostly cloudy corrugated plastic that acts as a skylight.
But the rain let up and we finally saw a tiny bit of sun off and on throughout the day. Including on top of the famous Rocky Top mtn.
Sarah's ankle is acting up, ghost fell on a log landing on his nalgene and hurt his rib, and Becca's feet are soggy and cold. I'm OK so far. The smokies are treacherous, but tomorrow we are expecting beautiful weather as we summit Clingman's Dome ,the highest elevation of the AT.
We took showers at the Hilton and got.on our way. Today begins the 3 day slow climb to the top of Clingman's Dome. We crossed the dam with Ghost and hiked pretty much all day with him.
On the way across the dam they apparantly require horse rescue rings to be spaced every few dozen feet.
Midway up the mountain we had to decide whether to take a 0.1 side trail farther up hill to the fire tower.The biting flies drove ghost, Becca, and myself up the tower while Sarah I guess just dealt with the flies.
The tower was.sketchy as hell. Though the steps had relatively new wood stairs, the missing handrail, and many rusted pieces of tower that littered the hill around it shook my confidence. The top of the tower was worse, with rotten floor boards covered by two layers of water logged plywood too shore it up. Oh, and a huge mound of birdshit. It looks like some eagle routinely perches in the same corner of the tower to create the mound. Becca ate lunch with her legs swinging off the top pstair platform like a skyscraper construction worker. She was braver than I as I had to descend several levels before feeling comfortable enough to eat.
Next awesome thing was acres of tiny flowers creating a virtual flower carpet along a ridgeline. Eventually the beauty ended and we hiked the last miles to the shelter.
The smokies require a shwlter.to be filled.up before anyone is allowed to camp. Rumors of a storm led.me to.convince Becca to try the a shelter for the first time despite the fact that 15 people were needing to tent camp. She begrudgingly agreed. Fast forward to the morning and she loved being out of the wind and rain and we didn't get any mice on our faces.
